Alegarbes, Jaya C.

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering 1

Purposive Communication

Prof. Melchor Jalon

July 18, 2018

NEWSPAPER PRODUCTION

I. INTRODUCTION

Newspapers are print publications issued at regular intervals over time.

Historically, newspapers were usually issued daily or weekly, but sometimes
semi-weekly (ie. twice a week), bi-weekly (ie. every two weeks), or monthly.
Newspapers could be purchased by subscription (an arrangement in which
the reader pays in advance a year of issues), or individually, often at news-
stands, grocery stores, book stores, trains, or other places. On the other
hand, newspaper production process is an act that actually starts from the
gathering of news stories, articles, opinions, advertorials and advertisements
to printing and folding of the so called “Hard Copy”. Usually the news is
printed onto newsprint. The whole production process can be divided into four
parts, they are: Content gathering, Pre Press, Press and Post Press but is
further classified under the Editorial Process and the Manufacturing Process.

Producing a newspaper requires steady flow and supply of good stories,

hard work, films, plates and above all, ingenuity. To keep that flow evenly
paced and uninterrupted a newspaper producer requires two kinds of
principles that need to be followed: the principles of ethical journalism and the
principles of design. When selecting the type of information to be publicized it
is important that the principles in journalism must be carefully observed. Since
newspapers are distributed for the public it must show truth and accuracy,
fairness and impartiality, humanity or the quality of being humane, and
accountability. Another thing to consider is the principles of design. In the
process of putting the mere information into its layout, applying the design
principles will help the newspaper become more appealing to the reader and
allow it to communicate the key theme very well. Design principles like
balance, contrast, sequence, unity, proximity, repetition and alignment are
some of the aspects that need to be addressed. Other requirements in
newspaper production include clear organization, constant supervision and
direction, and the most careful and earnest cooperation of team-mates.
Covering, writing and editing stories; picture taking and editing; and other
news gathering responsibilities are done by reporters, editors, and
photographers. Planning ahead, making of proper assignments, clearing the
news wire machines regularly, editing and proof-reading are essential for
efficient production. Then after the composition of material, the printing
process takes place. Engraving department now furnishes photocopy type
proofs in reverse. Moreover, a combination of careful selection of the
information, planning, editing, reliable lighting equipment, and its regular
maintenance will contribute to high production standards.

In general, the purpose of a newspaper production is to convey and bring,

as efficiently as possible, current information, or "news" to a particular
audience in a factual manner. What constitutes "news" depends in the part of
the intended audience. Newspapers aimed at a general audience will carry
news about politics, crime, wars, economics, and so forth – just about
anything that could interest a general reader.
II. RAW MATERIALS USED

Basically, a newspaper is printed on thin paper or newsprint that is not

intended to last very long. The raw materials used to make newsprint consist
of:

 Wood pulp - from sustainably grown plantation pine

 Recycled matter/fiber

III. EQUIPMENT/MATERIALS USED

 Computer – is used where news files are transferred and edited/ for
layout

 Phototypesetting machines (modern) or Linotype Machine

(before) – project characters onto film for offset printing

 Printing Press – a device for applying pressure to an inked surface

resting upon a print medium, thereby transferring the ink

 Image Setter Apparatus – is where the page is taken in its computer

format and transferred via laser beams onto film

 Strippers – a device wherein the pages that are set to be printed

together are then taped down onto it

 Facsimile Machine or Telecopying or Fax Machine – a laser reader

that scans the page and digitally transfers the images to the printing
center of the newspaper

 Laser Writer - another scanning device that makes a negative image

 Lightbox and Aluminum Plate

  Folder – another large piece of machinery where pages are cut
individually and folded in order

 Conveyor Belt – consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous

loop of material – the conveyor belt – that rotates about them.

IV. DESCRIPTION OF PROCESS

There are two types of processes involved in newspaper production. The

first one is the Editorial Process and the latter involves the Manufacturing
Process. Further steps are detailed out in the following processes,
respectively:

THE EDITORIAL PROCESS

The editorial process includes the Content Gathering and more of where
the editors/ journalists write and rewrite the content and polishes them before
the manufacturing process.

 Content gathering is where the news production starts with the

reporters going out to their respective beat to gather stories and cover
events and also the marketing department getting advertisement into
the newspaper on daily basis. It starts with reporters getting their stories
ready daily and sending their stories electronically usually via computer
modern, to their editor's computer. There, the editor checks the stories,
sometimes rewriting them or increasing or decreasing their length. The
rewrite journalist fine-tunes the wording of the story and makes sure it
answers the six important questions: who, what, where, when, why, and
how.
  He or she then sends it over to the computer at the city desk. The city
desk editor, who is responsible for the paper's local content, - looks
over the story, - makes additional changes if necessary, and - sends it
over to the news desk.

 The news editor, who makes the final call about which stories to run in
the upcoming edition based on their relevance, may make further
changes before submitting the piece to the copydesk.

 The story arrives there with guidelines for length as well as headline
instructions regarding size and type. From this point, the story is set to
be inserted on a certain page that has already been roughly laid out by
both the news editor and a makeup editor.

 A mock-up of the page, essentially a blank form showing where the

stories will run and where pictures and advertising will be inserted, is
called the "dummy."

 The makeup editor has already met with the advertising department to
determine how such pages will be laid out with ad space.

 The dummy has rough notes for headlines, story insertions, and graphic
elements such as photos and tables of statistics. It also shows the date
of the edition as well as a page and section number.

 After the news editor has determined the placement of the story on the
page in question—as well as the other items set to run there—the
dummy is sent on to a composing room.

THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS

The manufacturing process includes the Pre Press, the Press and the
Post Press as a whole. Pre press is where the photos are edited,
advertisements are created and composed and the whole pages of the
newspapers are laid-out and designed. The printing process is the main
process step during newspaper production particularly in the Press part.
Quickness and reliability with, at the same time, reasonable producing are the
cornerstones in the production and processing of print products. Newspaper
presses produce not just goods in process (sheets, signatures or reels of
printout) as it is the case with typical printing presses. Instead newspaper
rotary presses can produce copies which are finished goods. The Post Press
is where the copies are collected on the delivery belt and usually transported
to the mailroom using a gripper conveyor system. The post press area is also
often called mailroom because here the copies are prepared for mailing to the
customers. Newspaper copies can be bundled directly so that they are ready
to be put into a truck for transportation. Alternatively extra preprints from the
newspaper press or flyers/brochures from external sources can be inserted
into the newspaper copies before creating bundles.

The following are the detailed steps in the manufacturing process:

 Typesetting – The composing room receives the story in an electronic

format, with the computer text file already translated with typeset codes.
In a typeset file, the characters are of the same "type"—style, size, and
width—as they appear on the pages of the newspaper. The invention of
the Linotype machine in 1884 made possible a quicker, more efficient
method of typesetting. Invented by German immigrant Ottmar
Mergenthaler of Baltimore, Maryland, this large, cumbersome machine
worked by casting hot lead into a line of type with the assistance of an
operator who typed in the copy on a keyboard. Individual lines of type
were then placed by hand onto a page form. When a page was
completed, it was then sent to a stereotyping room where a curved
metal plate was made from the page form. The page form was then
placed on the printing press. Modern technology has replaced the
Linotype process through a method called phototypesetting. The first
step in this process is the transfer of the dummy to the page layout
 section of the newspaper. There, an operator transfers the instructions
on the dummy into a rough page prototype. A printed version may be
looked over and adjusted several times by one of the reporters whose
story is featured as well as by the copy editor. If another breaking story
comes in, this page layout can be altered in a matter of minutes.

 Image transference – The final version of the page is then approved

by the editor on duty—sometimes a night editor in the case of a paper
that is slated for a morning edition—and sent over to a process
department. There, the page is taken in its computer format and
transferred via laser beams onto film in an image setter apparatus. The
operator then takes the film to a processor in another section of the
paper, who develops it and adjusts it for its final look. Photographs are
scanned into another computer terminal and inserted into the page
layout. The pages that are set to be printed together are then taped
down onto a device called a "stripper," and an editor checks them over
once more for errors. The strippers are then put into frames on light-
sensitive film, and the image of each page is burned onto the film. The
film of each page is inserted into a laser reader, a large facsimile
machine that scans the page and digitally transfers the images to the
printing center of the newspaper. At the printing center, typically a large
plant separate from the newspaper's editorial offices and centrally
located to facilitate citywide distribution, the pages arrive at the laser
room and are put through a laser writer, another scanning device that
makes a negative image of them. In the negative image of the page, the
text is white while the blank spaces are black. The final images of each
page are further adjusted. This last-minute adjustment may involve fine-
tuning of the colored sections and retouching photographs.

 Platemaking – From these negatives, the forms from which the paper
will be printed are composed in a platemaking room. The film of the
page, usually done two pages at a time, is then placed on a lighted box.
 Next, an aluminum plate containing a light-sensitive coating is placed
on top of the image of the pages. The light box is then switched on, and
ultraviolet light develops the image of the pages onto the aluminum
plate. The aluminum plate is then bent at the edges so that it will fit into
a press, and is fitted onto plate cylinders.

 Printing – The aluminum plates of each page next move on to the

actual printing press, an enormous machine often two stories high.
When the press is running, the noise in the building is deafening and
employees must wear earplugs. The most common method of printing
newspapers is called web offset. The "web" refers to the large sheets of
blank newsprint that are inserted in rolls, sometimes weighing over a
ton, into the actual printing press. The reels of newsprint are loaded in
at the bottom floor of the press. The rolls are inserted onto a reel stand,
which has three components: the first reel brings a roll of paper up to
the press, a second is loaded and ready to replace the first roll when it
runs out, and a third reel stays empty and ready to be fed with another
when the first reel is almost finished. Each roll of blank newsprint has
double-sided tape at its edges, so that when one roll runs out in the
press, another smoothly takes up where the other left off without
interrupting the printing process. The plate cylinders then press the
image of the page onto a blanket cylinder, leaving a version of the
page's image on the cylinder's soft material. When the paper runs
through the press, the blanket cylinder presses the image onto it. The
chemical reaction of the ink, which contains oil, and the squirting of jets
of water into the process result in the actual newspaper page of black or
colored images on a white back-ground. Since oil and water do not mix,
the areas where ink should adhere to the page are black or colored,
and water washes away the parts where ink is not needed. This is why
this printing process is referred to as "offset."
  Folding – Next, the large sheets of printed newsprint move on to
another large piece of machinery called a folder. There, the pages are
cut individually and folded in order. This entire printing process can
move as fast as 60,000 copies per hour. Quality control technicians and
supervisors take random copies and scan them for printing malfunctions
in color, order, and readability.

 Next, a conveyor belt moves the papers into a mail room section of the
plant, where they are stacked into quires, or bundles of 24. The quires
then move to another section where a machine wraps them in plastic.
The bundles are now ready to be loaded onto delivery trucks for
distribution.

V. CONCLUSION

The overall newspaper production takes up to a very tedious

process as it involves lengthy steps even before the manufacturing
begins. Through the process various principles are considered in order
that the objectives of the production are carefully met. The production
uses a thin paper made from a combination of wood pulp and recycled
material to which is intended to not last very long. Various equipment and
materials are also used differing in the manner of steps during which the
processes are taken. As said, the whole production can be very
exhaustive especially that it is taken into account that the processes are
divided into two parts which are the Editorial Process and the
Manufacturing Process, wherein under each process lies further
subdivided parts.
VI. ILLUSTRATION

STEPS INVOLVED IN NEWSPAPER PRODUCTION