Project

Creating your own newspaper article

STUDENT OBJECTIVES

Students will
• Identify the parts of a newspaper
• Identify the format of a news article
• Write a newspaper story
• Edit newspaper articles
• Use ICT equipment and software
• Layout and publish a newspaper article

Assignment 1
• Have a good look at the ‘Flanders Today’ copy in front of you.
How does it differ from the newspaper you read this morning at home?

Flanders Today Your paper

Front page
Entertainment / Celebrity News
Comics
Horoscopes
Business/Finance/Investment
Sports
Employment
For Sale
Opinion
General News
Classified Ads
Life Style
Science & Technology
Editorial
Human Interest
Table of Content
International News
Travel and Tourism
Obituaries
Weather
Parts of a Newspaper

Layout, typical features and technical terms

Assignment 2

Look for examples in Flanders Today

 Box-out – A small part of the page, shaded in a different colour.

 By-line – the name of the reporter, if they are important is often included at
the beginning of the feature, rather than at the end, or not at all.

 Caption – typed text under photographs explaining the image.

 Credits – the author of a feature may be given credit in the form of a beeline.
Photographs may have the name of the person who took them or the agency
that supplied them alongside them.

 Crosshead – this is a subheading that appears in the body of the text and is
centred above the column of text. If it is to one side then it is called a side-
head.

 Exclusive – this means that newspaper and no one else solely cover the story.
The paper will pay their interviewees, buying the story so it cannot be used by
another paper.

 Feature – not necessarily a ‘news’ item (current affairs), but usually with a
human-interest angle presented as a spread.

 Headline – this is the main statement, usually in the largest and boldest font,
describing the main story. A banner headline spans the full width of the page.

 Kicker – this is a story designed to stand out from the rest of the page by the
use of a different font (typeface) and layout.

 Lead Story - the main story on the front page, usually a splash.

 Lure – a word or phrase directing the reader to look inside the paper at a
particular story or feature.

 Masthead – the masthead is the title block or logo identifying the newspaper
at the top of the front-page. Sometimes an emblem or a motto is also placed
within the masthead. The masthead is often set into a block of black or red
print or boxed with a border; the ‘Red-tops’ (The Sun, The Mirror, The News of
the World) are categorised by style and the use of a red background in the
masthead.
 Menu – the list of contents inside the paper.

 Pugs – these are at the top left and right-hand corners of the paper and are
known as the ‘ears’ of the page. The prices of the paper, the logo or a
promotion are positioned there. They are well placed to catch the reader’s
eye.

 Secondary Lead – this is usually only a picture and headline, it gives a sneak
preview of a story that you might find inside the paper.

 Sidebar – when a main feature has an additional box or tinted panel along
side of it.

 Splash – the splash is the main story on the front of the paper. The largest
headline will accompany this, along with a photograph.

 Spread – a story that covers more than one page.

 Standfirst
– this is an introductory paragraph before the start of the feature.
Sometimes it may be in bold.

 Strapline – this is an introductory headline below the headline.

 Tag – a word or phrase used to engage a reader’s interest in a story by

categorising it e.g. ‘Exclusive’, ‘Sensational’.

Assignment 3

If you were a journalist, what kind of article(s) would you want to write? Why?

Subject Why? (Your reasons to choose this kind of article)


Assignment 4

Now start writing your own contribution to the newspaper.

Follow this step by step guide to a good article:

1. Decide what your article will be about.

2. Research the topic of your article.
3. Write your own article using the template below use at least 150 words. Do
NOT go online (plagiarism will be punished).
4. First paragraph: In the first few sentences, answer these questions!
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why
5. Grab the reader's attention by using an opening sentence which is a question
or something unexpected!
6. Now, give the details. It is always a good idea to include one or two quotes
from people you interviewed. Write in the third person (he, she, it or they). Be
objective. Use active verbs so the reader feels things are really happening!
7. Last paragraph: Round off your article. Try ending with a quote or a catchy
phrase!
8. By-line: At the end, state who wrote the article; 'By ....'.
9. Decide where appropriate illustrations/pictures will be placed.
10. Proof-read your article and edit where needed.
11. Spell check your article!
Greek sues over photo on 'Turkish' yoghurt in
Sweden
A Greek man is suing a dairy in Sweden for 50
million kronor ($6.9m; £4.5m) for using his image
on pots of Turkish-style yoghurt, Swedish media
report.

The man only found out his moustachioed face featured

on the containers of Turkisk Yoghurt made by Lindahls
when a friend living in Stockholm told him.

Athanasios Varzanakos told Swedish Radio his friend "was

annoyed and asked how it was possible" when informed.
The image still features on the Lindahls website
The dairy said it bought the photograph in good faith from despite the legal action

an image library.

Chief executive Anders Lindahl said it had come as a shock when the Greek man lodged a
40-page legal complaint saying that the company had used a misleading image because he
had no links with Turkey.

"We bought it from a photo agency so we assumed that everything was in order," Mr Lindahl
told the AFP news agency.

The image remains on the Lindahls website despite the legal action.
Relations between Greece and Turkey have long been strained and at times have turned into
outright hostility.
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