Research into the newspaper industry
How is a newspaper made?
Newspapers themselves are quite old but how they are made has changed a lot. From the hand presses of newspapers in the early times to the multimillion dollar machines capable of reaching speeds greater than 25 miles per hour of today. How best to print newspapers has been a topic that has been constantly revisited throughout history. The best way to print newspapers in the future may not even involve printing as the internet has revolutionised the newspaper industry and turned it digital.
The Manufacturing Process
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 setting of stories into the type that a reader sees went unchanged for several decades until the latter years of the 20th century. Well into the 1800s, type was set by hand, letter by letter. A typesetter dropped small metal letters into a hand-held tray called a "stick." The invention of the Linotype machine in 1884 made possible a quicker, more efficient method of typesetting. This large, 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. 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.
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 machine that scans the page and digitally transfers the images to the printing centre of the newspaper.
At the printing centre, 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 coloured sections and retouching photographs.
From these negatives, the forms from which the paper will be printed are composed in a plate making room. The film of the page, usually done two pages at a time, is then placed on a lighted box. Next, an aluminium 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 aluminium plate. The aluminium plate is then bent at the edges so that it will fit into a press, and is fitted onto plate cylinders.
The aluminium plates of each page next move on to the actual printing press, a 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 coloured 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 coloured, and water washes away the parts where ink is not needed. This is why this printing process is referred to as "offset."
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 colour, order, and readability. Next, a conveyer 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.
Who are the main companies who own local papers
· Johnston press publishing is one of the top three largest local newspaper publishers in the UK and a major force on the internet.
Chichester Observer, Portsmouth News is owned by Johnston publishing limited.
· Newsquest Media Group a UK leader in providing local and regional news, information and more through a network of known and trusted print, online and mobile media brands that reach half of all UK mainland households, from Glasgow in the North to Falmouth in the far South West. This company own The Argus newspaper.
Who own national papers
· A&N Media is a leading multi – channel Media Company encompassing some of the UK’s favourite brands. Through our national and regional newspapers, websites and mobile services, we connect with over 41% of the UK’s adult’s population with over 100 million consumer touch points per month.
Metro, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday is owned by A&N Media.
· News International published The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times.
· The Telegraph Media Group operates a multi media news publishing company. It publishes Daily and weekly publications in print and electronic versions. This company own the Telegraph newspaper.
· Independent Print Limited owns the Independent newspaper.
· MGN Ltd, part of Trinity Mirror plc, the UK's largest newspaper publisher. It owns the Mirror newspaper
Who or what is threatening the newspaper industry
Who or what is threatening the industry is the younger audience are getting their news online, they can also get the news from the radio as most radio stations play the news every half an hour and by news grazing in small sections through the day they prefer to do this rather than by sitting down and reading for a while. Partly because of independent radio stations as well as extra time spent sitting in traffic jams, radio audiences has increased by a quarter in the last five years. The implication is that the industry is simply not nurturing its future readers. This generation is growing up with no particular loyalty to any newspaper; there is an entrenched habit of reading daily over the breakfast table.
What newspapers can do to survive in this contracting market? One option is to compete on price but as an example of how this might be a bad idea is The Sun and The Mirror shows it simply bleeds revenues. Another strategy is to get a new market position has proved hard to pull off. An example of this The Sun is trying to recapture younger readers they are making a worthy effort to desert the celebrity game and go upmarket it typically has celebrity news into only half the page, leaving the rest has not been rewarded. It is now turning readers into middle ground where the difference between broadsheet and tabloid is blurring. The Daily Mail and The Times the differences between these two newspapers is becoming indistinguishable as they both talk about asylum fear and health scares. Another idea is to launch new titles. This can work as The Metro a free sheet has just started making a profit. Mr Desmond is threatening to make his own free London rival to the Standard. Associated may retaliate by making a rival to the Star.
But as too many papers chase fewer and fewer readers something will have to give eventually to sort out this problem.
The future of newspapers – The demised printed word, especially in the form of a daily newspaper, is predicted to be imminent by industry analysts. In many cities joint operating agreements by which two competing newspapers share business, advertising and printing departments. Has helped to keep two editorially distinct papers afloat. Bypassing the printed newspaper altogether, online computer technology has enabled consumer to pick and choose news from among their own specific interests on the information superhighway. One site on the internet one of the most popular providers of access to online information allows a person to create his and her own newspaper. A menu appears at the top of the on screen page and the user selects stories from services as well as entertainment features and inserts them onto the template. This template can be created on a daily basis with a few keystrokes, producing and edition of a customised newspaper almost instantly.
No comments:
Post a Comment