Track 62

Track 62.

You will hear someone giving a talk about writing for a newspaper and the printing process.

First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 10.

Good afternoon, everyone.

So today’s talk is divided into two parts.

In the first part I’m going to try to explain the decision-making process behind choosing what stories to publish in a newspaper.

Later, in the second part of my talk, I will explain the process of producing a print newspaper.

So, first of all, I’d like to consider the question ‘What is news?’

It’s a question I get asked all the time.

Well, to put it in very simple terms, it is ‘anything new’.

However, that definition is extremely vague and open to interpretation.

In other words, it doesn’t really help a newspaper editor decide what stories to include.

So a better question would be ‘What factors help newspaper editors decide which stories make it into their newspaper?’

Well, of course, it’s a slightly different process for TV news programs because TV editors have to be more selective about what to include.

TV news shows are restricted by length and can be as short as five minutes.

Newspapers don’t have these restrictions but even with print or online newspapers, there are many more stories vying for attention than those that actually appear in the final edition.

Returning to the question then, what makes a news story newsworthy?

What is it that grabs the attention and makes you want to interact with the story?

Basically, it is anything with personal relevance for the reader.

This presents us with two more questions: How do we as newspaper editors decide what is relevant and what is not?

And what is it that makes a story personal?

The answer is that it very much depends on your audience, and a good newspaper editor chooses stories based on their relevance and personal interest to their audience.

He or she needs to know what sells their newspaper because at the end of the day, if our newspapers don’t sell, we don’t have a job.

A successful editor doesn’t just think about their audience, they also need to keep an eye on the competition, and this is the final factor I want to address in this part of my talk.

To clarify, the competition is other news papers or news channels.

If a story is getting a lot of attention and coverage elsewhere, then, as an editor, you need to find a way to include it in your newspaper.

So, now to move on to the second part of my talk, which is the process of putting together an edition of a printed newspaper.

The first stage is a continuous process in which journalists are collecting and writing up stories and the marketing people are positioning the advertisements, and this is known as the news gathering stage.

As soon as an article is finished, it’s passed on to the second stage of the process, editing.

Both content and language have to be edited.

Facts may need to be checked and changes made to the language to ensure the tone of the piece fits the style of the newspaper and the message the editor wants to convey.

There may be a number of different editors, depending on the size of the newspaper, and each editor needs to use a contrasting colour to edit so that it’s easy to see who has made the changes.

For example, sub-editors use red, the chief sub-editor uses blue and the editor uses green.

Once all the editing is finished, we move on to the next stage, which is called pre-press.

This stage is concerned with layout.

Each page of the newspaper is laid out and designed with stories, pictures and adverts a prototype or first version of each page is made,.

Nowadays, these are then transformed into digital form by graphic designers.

The pre-press stage is followed by the press or lithographic stage.

Traditionally, and in places where digital printing isn’t used, the stories and adverts are registered on a plate, an iron sheet in the size and shape of the newspaper.

Next comes the impression stage.

The plates are hung on the printing press and the final copies are printed out.

For some of the national newspapers this can run to thousands of copies that need to be collected and put in order before the final stage, circulation, when the newspapers are sent out to be distributed across the country.

Although digital technology now plays a part in this whole process, it’s actually remarkably similar to the way it has always been done.

The process from beginning to end typically takes about 12 hours as it’s a very fast moving business.