Newspaper Activity

We’ve looked at the layout of newspapers and read news stories, editorials and features. You also tried your hand at writing news stories and editorials. Now we are going to try to bring it all together.

Make a group of two or three people, and write and design the front page of a newspaper. It can be general (like the Vancouver Sun or Province), or you can make it specific to your interests (Sports, Fashion, Entertainment, Travel, etc.).

You have the rest of today’s class and three lab days next week to complete this activity. It is due by the end of the class on Friday.

Be sure to include the following items:

  • the Nameplate (that is the name of the paper, e.g. Fashion Weekly, Sports Today, etc)
  • the date of publication
  • one news story or editorial from each member of the group
  • an illustration for each story or editorial (maybe a photo or a editorial cartoon)
  • cutlines under the photos
  • news stories should have headlines, by lines and datelines. Remember they are news, so you’ve got to keep them objective. (min. 150 words)
  • editorials should include headlines and by lines. They are opinions and should have some evidence and should recommend solutions to the issues you are raising. (min. 150 words)
  • extra space can be filled with other newspaper items, e.g. a comic, an advertisement, weather, etc.

Some Tips

Today/Monday

  1. Plan your theme first (are you doing “news”, “sports”, “fashion”, etc.?)
  2. As a group, decide what stories you are each going to write (editorial meeting).
  3. Write a rough draft of your story and have someone in your group peer-edit it.
  4. Plan and layout what your page will look like.

Wednesday

  1. Decide how wide your columns will be, what kind of font you have etc. and set your computers to the same setting.
  2. Word-process your article and have your partner peer edit again.
  3. Find appropriate illustrations for your article
  4. Print “flag” and date. Begin layout

Friday

  1. Print news stories and illustrations and add to layout.
  2. Measure space for headlines and captions and write headlines and captions to fit.
  3. Fill in extra space with filler material.

Marking Criteria

  • Layout is good. Space well used and easy to read. Illustrations included Care has been taken to make it look neat…………./15 (group mark)
  • Editing is good. There are no or few grammar or spelling errors. ……………../10 (group mark)
  • News story or editorial is well written. Ideas are well organized and logical. Story follows the conventions of news writing or editorials…………/15 marks (individual mark)

Total 40 marks