2.01 Newspapers: How do Newspapers make money?

The newspaper industry is a business, and like most businesses, money is an important factor if not the most important. How else can they continue what they do if they're not supported financially? The real question is how do newspapers make their money? Especially when you’re able to read them for free on a little something called the internet. Well, if we're talking online, there are usually advertisements in the side bar that contribute money to the news company. But if we’re talking the traditional printed newspapers, subscriptions and ads are some of the main sources of their money. According to Daryl E. Owens of the Orlando Sentinel, “Each advertisement is sold based upon word count, length of publication, and special features such as highlighting and font manipulations.” Many organizations will pay a lot of money to advertise in newspapers that many people in the area reads, which is why organizations tend to be high in price when selling add spaces.

           Another tactic companies use to gain money is developing a fan base for their newspapers. Many companies have larger income when they're trusted and have a habit to them. When a newspaper isn't consistent in its delivery, naturally the customer won't be interested in buying anymore.  Once a large fan base is established, companies can offer subscription rates. These rates allow more customer input into the company, and inevitably, more money (Porter Tim., “How Newspapers Make Money”). Furthermore, we live in an age surrounded by technology. This ultimately helps bring in more company to news organizations. Thanks to advanced cell phones, iPads, tablets, or other app-containing technologies, news companies like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal can reach out to readers by selling apps. These apps can range from free to as high as they want it to be. This benefits the company because now they're charging for apps on top of charging for their usual paper.

           In conclusion, while advertisements, subscriptions, and technology bring in revenue, newspapers mainly make money because they offer something that readers want; interesting, reliable, and worthwhile content. A newspaper puts together all the latest in local and national stories, columns with interesting facts or info, comics, local event listings, and other information that will keep the reader always coming back for more.

2.00 Intro: What is News?

          So, what is news really? Is it something to be heard? To be seen? Is it something people watch or read? Is it something you can find in a magazine? My response is that news is all of the above. News is a universal entity. There’s a saying that it’s not the destination that counts, but the journey. How news travels is just as important as the news that is received. There’s the news that comes from a friend, which may or not be true because everyone has a different perspective and way of retelling an event. Then there’s the news that comes from an article, which usually has more detail and is significantly more reliable. Although the friend’s story may just seem like gossip, it’s still a form of news.

           News is just as much about entertaining as it is about informing. When telling someone a story, the goal is to make it sound as interesting and engaging as possible, so we add in as much details as we can recall, and perhaps even exaggerate a few. It’s the same way with most news. Naturally, people do not want to hear about anything that is not of interest to them. If it’s boring, it won’t be looked at, and much less bought. Journalists want people to read their newspapers, to subscribe to their magazines, to watch their reports on television, so they have to be able to grab the audience’s attention. The more unique and original the story is the better. Charles Anderson, an American journalist who wrote for the New York Tribune, put it best when he said “When a dog bites a man that is nothing new. But when a man bites a dog? That’s news.”

 According to the Oxford Dictionary, news is “newly received information, especially about recent events”, and whether it is taken from a reliable source or not is irrelevant. Although that’s considered to be the “official” definition of news, journalists and writers alike have their own interpretation and ideas. As American journalist Kurt Loder states, “News is anything that is interesting, that relates to what’s happening in the world, what’s happening in areas of the culture that would be of interest to your audience.” To put it simply, news is anything newsworthy. News varies depending on the topic of interest, and adjusts for the audience its targeting. News is quite literally for the people and by the people, but isn’t always of the people. If you have ever started a conversation with “Hey, did you hear about..?” Or, “You will not believe what happened the other day…” then you were just about to share some news.