PARTS OF A SCHOOL PAPER

THE FRONT PAGE

•A newspaper’s front door. •It’s the first thing a reader sees. •The stories that appear there are ones that will be talked about all day.

PARTS OF THE FRONT PAGE

NameplateThis is the newspaper’s name. It's also sometimes called the flag, logo or masthead. Traditionally, newspaper nameplates are printed in a fancy style called “black letter” or “old English.” The design gives an air of authority to the newspaper and implies a rich tradition.

EarFor obvious reasons, the top corners of a newspaper page are called “ears.” Little snippets of information are sometimes put here.

HeadlineThis should give the story in a nutshell, letting a reader decide whether to read the article. Usually, the bigger the headline, the more important the story.

Banner headlineThe biggest news of the day. This headline is characterized by having the biggest font size in the front page.

Byline

This is the name of the person who wrote the story.

cutlineThe text accompanying photos and other art work, better known as caption. If written above the photo just like a slug line, it is called over line.

Jump LineStories started on the front page finish up on another page inside the A section. The jump line tells you on what page the story continues.

The FoldThis is where the paper folds in half. When it’s inserted into those blue street boxes or stacked on a store’s counter, the top half is all you see. Some people say that stories that fall “below the fold” (on the bottom half) aren't as important as those “above the fold.”

DatelineStories have a dateline if they were written by a reporter outside the reporter’s area. The dateline may include the date the story was written and the city in which it was written. If there is no date, the story is less than 24 hours old.

indexA list of important news not found in the front page. The page number for each news is given for easy location.

deckA subordinate headline placed immediately below its mother headline, also known as bank or readout.

leadThe beginning of a news story. It may be a word, a group of words, a sentence, or even a paragraph.

Column ruleThe vertical line that divides the page into columns. Most pages of newspaper are divided into columns by a space usually one em wide. This space is called the sunken rule.

kickerA tagline placed above but smaller than a headline, also known as teaser. If is bigger than the headline, it is called hammer.