Newspaper Terminology and Structure

ARTICLE: artículo // A text or piece of writing

BROADSHEET: periódico serio// A large-format newspaper with usually serious content

CENSOR: censurar// official with the power to stop publication of certain articles

CHEQUEBOOK: talonario de cheques// the obtaining of exclusive rights to a story by payment of large sums of money

JOURNALIST: periodista // person who writes articles for a paper

CORRESPONDENT: corresponsal// 1 person who writes a letter to a paper 2 person who writes articles for a paper

CRITIC: crítico// a person who writes articles, especially stating opinion, about art, music…

CROPPED: recortado

CAPTION: subtítulo

DESK: sección// a department of a newspaper

EDIT: editar// to check, modify, and generally prepare written material for publication

EDITOR: a person who edits// the head of a newspaper or newspaper department

EDITORIAL: an article written by the editor stating his opinion

EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS: derechos exclusivos// rights or permission for one paper to publish a story that no other paper can

FEATURE: artículo destacado// a special or regular article in a newspaper, usually displayed prominently

FRONT PAGE: primera página// the first page of a paper, usually carrying the most important story

HEADLINE: titular // the title at the top of an article// headlines the most important stories

JOURNALIST: periodista // a person employed to write articles for a newspaper

MEDIA: medios de comunicación// all the means of mass communication (papers, TV, radio..)

OPINION: opinión// what a person thinks about a particular subject, a subjective point of view

PAPER: thin, flexible material for writing or painting

STORY: a news article or report

TABLOID: a small-format paper, with short, sensational stories

NATIONAL: A newspaper which covers news across the whole country, together with international news. EX: The Daily Express, The Guardian, The Sun

REGIONAL: Contain some national and international news, but focus on news relating to a specific area of the country. EX: The Sussex Time, South West Mercury.

LOCAL: Contain some national and international news, but focus on fairly local news topics in detail. Usually based around towns, cities or groups of villages. EX: Bath Chronicle, Bristol Evening Post

TABLOID: Cover all national and international news. Often contain a certain amount of more “gossipy” or scandalous news items, or more personal stories. EX: The News of the World, The Daily Mirror, The Sun

BROADSHEET: The largest type of newspaper. Cover all national and international news, often in a serious or formal way.

PARTS OF A NEWS STORY: 1. Headline 2. Lead 3. Nur Paragraph

TYPES OF HEADLINES: - Sentence headline (has a verb) – Phrase headline (no verb)

CHARACTERISTIC IN HEADLINES: - Omissions: article, verb, auxiliaries - Vocabulary: abbreviations, short words – Verb tenses: present tenses

ANALYZING LEADS: main verb, main subject, and source (fuente).

STRUCTURE OF A NEWSPAPER:

-First section: with major news, world news and sometimes, editorials. The most important news articles are on the first page, the top half of the first page is referred to as “above the fold”

- Local news section: with local news and weather.

- Sports section

- Lifestyle section: often containing feature articles, entertainment, travel, fashion information, cooking, puzzles…

-Classified ads section: in which people and businesses advertise items for sale and post job notices.

-Paid advertisements are scattered throughout the paper except on first pages.

TABLOID/ BROADSHEET

Tabloid: - Mixes fact and emotions – Shorter sentences – Uses biased and emotional language – Stories are mixed together – May have less news so that there is room for stories about famous people. – Less complex vocabulary – Focus on famous people, private lives, and scandal

Broadsheet: - More facts than emotion – Longer sentences – Complicated vocabulary – Divided into clear sections – Focus on major world events and politics – Generally concerned with events in major cities of the world