Personal and Social Responsibility: Sample Newspaper Layout

Personal and Social Responsibility

Sample Newspaper Layout

Newspaper Layout

Newspapers are designed to appeal to a wide range of readers, so they cover a broad range of topics and subjects. Large newspapers are divided into sections so readers can quickly go to the section that interests them.

For example:

News
Business
Sports
Arts and Entertainment
Classifieds

Within each section, pages are laid out in a consistent manner to provide a visual cue to the reader of what type of information they convey. For example, headlines are set in large, bold type. The body copy (the main text of the story) is set in small type that's easily read and neatly aligned on both left and right sides of a column. Small type that looks different from the body copy is used for the story's location.

Here is a list of the elements on the front page of a newspaper.

Element	Information contained	Location
masthead	name of the newspaper set in large, bold type often incorporates the place name of where the newspaper is published (e.g., The Vancouver Sun, The Abbotsford Times, Prince George Citizen)	top of the front page spans across the width of the page
splash	most important story in the newspaper has the largest headline accompanied by a large photograph	front page of the newspaper under the masthead usually takes up at least the top half of the page
headline	title for all stories and editorials consists of a few words to give a glimpse into the content set in large, bold type the larger the headline, the more important the story scanning headlines is a good way to figure out what stories interest you	top of each story
deck	a secondary headline provides more information about the story set in larger type than the story, but smaller type than the headline	under the headline
dateline	identifies the location of the story	under the headline
byline	identifies the reporter or news agency responsible for the story	under the headline
body text or body copy	the main text for a story	under the dateline/byline
cut	a photograph or illustration that accompanies a news story	with the body copy
cutline or caption	a short description of the cut (photograph or illustration) often describes the event, names and location	under the photograph or illustration
index	alphabetical table of contents for features in the newspaper	usually in a small box on the front page

Look at the front page of either a print or online newspaper (or both!). Can you find all the parts listed in the table? If you're looking at both print and online, what are the similarities and differences between the two?