starting a newspaper

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How to Make a Newspaper

Last Updated: July 6, 2023 Fact Checked

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 37 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 148,046 times. Learn more...

Although newspaper circulation has been declining for years, the public still needs news. Having access to a quality news source that reports responsible, pertinent news that helps people understand their community is an important component of everyday life. Newspapers can be of varying degrees of complexity and sophistication, but there are some general instructions that pertain to just about every type of newspaper.

Deciding on the Format

• Be realistic about your reach. If you want to publish nationally, think about how you will reach your audience and convince them to read your paper.

• Consider starting publishing less frequently and as your newspaper builds its readership and financial support, you can switch to a more frequent schedule.

• Consider too if you are publishing any of your pages in color or black and white . Online printing is in full color, but physical printing will cost more if you add colors. Talk with a printer to find out your options.

• Some newspapers that are published by an organization are financed through the organization’s membership dues.

• Make sure there isn’t another newspaper with the same title. You don’t want to be confused with a competing publication.

Getting Operations in Place

• Start with the date that you’d like to release your paper on, and work backwards from there.
• You will also have overlap between one issue and the next issue, so keep this in mind as you plan your schedule.

• The Society of Professional Journalists, a professional organization with regional chapters all over the United States, has good guidelines for journalistic ethics on their website. [2] X Research source

• Think about different positions you’ll need to fill. These might include writers, editors for each section, photographers, designers, web designers, and ad sales representatives.
• If you can afford it, pay your staff. Even if it isn’t much, a little bit of money helps to validate their professional contributions.

• Give special deals to your advertisers if they are willing to purchase ad space for a certain length of time or number of issues (for example, for 10 issues, or six months).

Preparing your First Issue

• Make a list of the most important stories and assign these to reporters. Give hard deadlines to ensure you will receive their work in time for publication.

Designing the Newspaper

• Alternately, you can type up and print out articles, and paste them on a larger sheet if you want to have a more DIY zine look for your newspaper.

• The masthead can have a different font, but keep the rest of the newspaper consistent.

• Pair these articles with compelling photographs. Include brief captions that explain the photos. Make sure to credit the photographer.

• If you are publishing online, you can have a more flexible format and will likely not lay out your newspaper in columns. Rather, you will just put blocks of text accompanied by pictures on the page. [6] X Research source

• Advertising should not go on the front page of the newspaper.

Distributing the Newspaper

• Keep track of how fast your newspapers are being picked up. You may find that some areas or stores go through newspapers more quickly and need to be restocked, while other locations don’t go through their papers at all.

• Check with the post office to determine bulk postage and rates for periodicals.

• Especially for online publication, you should publicize your newspaper on social media so that people know you have published a new issue.

Community Q&A

• If you print erroneous information in an issue of your newspaper, take responsibility for the error by printing a correction or retraction in your next issue. Be accountable to your readers by admitting mistakes. Your readers will trust you more as a source if they know you are striving for excellence. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://brandongaille.com/list-89-good-creative-newspaper-names-and-ideas/
• ↑ http://www.spj.org/ethics.asp
• ↑ https://ccf.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/influencing-editorials-an-editorial-board-meeting-primer.pdf
• ↑ https://www.scribus.net
• ↑ http://practicaltypography.com/point-size.html
• ↑ http://www.thesitewizard.com/webdesign/newspaper-layout-usability.shtml
• ↑ http://www.makemynewspaper.com/starting-a-profitable-newspaper#distributing
• ↑ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/986735/posts

About This Article

To make a newspaper, choose a name and decide on the size format and how frequently you want to publish it. Next, recruit a staff that can handle writing, editing, photography, and layout and consider including advertisements to generate starting revenue. Write balanced and carefully researched articles and put the most compelling pieces on the front page to create reader interest. Then, print your newspapers and distribute them! For tips on journalistic ethics and budgeting, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Start a Newspaper: A Comprehensive Guide to Opening and Operating a Successful Publication

Starting a newspaper can be an exciting and fulfilling venture, but it requires careful planning and execution. whether you’re passionate about reporting on local news or aiming to fill a niche in the market, this comprehensive guide will provide you with essential steps and insights for launching and operating a successful newspaper publication ..

1. Define Your Vision and Objectives

Before diving into the nitty-gritty of newspaper operations, it’s crucial to establish a clear vision and set specific objectives. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What type of newspaper do you want to start? Local, regional, or niche?
• What target audience do you aim to reach?
• What unique value or perspective will your newspaper offer?
• What are your short-term and long-term objectives?

2. Conduct Market Research

To ensure your newspaper’s success, thorough market research is essential. Consider the following:

• Identify your competitors and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
• Study the demographics of your target audience and their reading habits.
• Explore potential demand for your newspaper in the chosen market.
• Analyze advertising opportunities and potential revenue streams.

3. Develop a Solid Business Plan

A well-crafted business plan will serve as your roadmap for success. Here’s what to include:

• An executive summary outlining your vision, objectives, and target audience.
• A detailed analysis of your market research findings and competitive advantages.
• A financial plan covering startup costs, expected revenue, and profitability projections.
• Clear strategies for distribution, content creation, and marketing.

4. Secure Funding

Starting a newspaper requires financial investment. Explore the following options:

• Seek investments from individuals, organizations, or venture capitalists.
• Apply for business loans or grants tailored to journalism and media ventures.
• Consider crowdfunding platforms to engage your target audience and raise funds.

5. Set Up Your Team and Infrastructure

Building a capable team and establishing the necessary infrastructure are crucial for smooth operation. Consider the following:

• Recruit competent journalists, reporters, editors, and support staff.
• Invest in reliable printing and distribution systems or explore digital publishing options.
• Create an engaging and user-friendly website or online platform for your newspaper.

6. Create Compelling Content

The heart of any newspaper lies in its content. Focus on the following:

• Hire skilled journalists and encourage them to cover diverse and relevant stories.
• Ensure high journalistic standards, accuracy, and ethical reporting.
• Engage your readers with a mix of local news, features, opinion pieces, and investigative reporting.
• Provide a platform for community voices and perspectives.

7. Develop Strong Distribution Channels

To reach your target audience effectively , consider these distribution methods:

• Identification of key distribution points, such as local stores, libraries, and community centers.
• Establish home delivery services or subscription models.
• Explore digital distribution through mobile apps and online subscriptions.

8. Implement Effective Marketing Strategies

To ensure your newspaper gains traction and readership, employ these marketing techniques:

• Create a strong brand identity and develop a compelling logo and design.
• Market your newspaper through social media channels, online advertising, and local events.
• Offer promotional campaigns, discounts, or special editions to attract new readers.
• Collaborate with local businesses, community organizations, and influencers to expand your reach.

9. Engage with Your Readership

Building a loyal reader base is crucial for the sustainability of your newspaper. Consider:

• Encourage feedback and engage with your readers through letters to the editor or online comments.
• Host community events, workshops, or panel discussions related to local issues.
• Run engaging contests, puzzles, or features to encourage reader participation.

10. Continuously Adapt and Evolve

The newspaper industry is evolving rapidly; therefore, staying agile and adaptable is vital. Keep these considerations in mind:

• Regularly reassess your strategies and make necessary adjustments based on feedback and market trends.
• Stay up to date with emerging technologies and consider digital transformation if relevant.
• Embrace new revenue streams, such as sponsored content or events.

By following this comprehensive guide and keeping your finger on the pulse of the industry, you’ll be well on your way to launching and operating a successful newspaper publication. Remember, it’s an exciting but challenging journey that requires passion, commitment, and a deep understanding of your target audience.

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How to Run a Newspaper

Publishing 101: How to Start and Run a Magazine or Newspaper

• 1 Starting Out
• 2.1 Hardware
• 2.2 Software
• 2.3 Internet
• 2.4 Location
• 2.5 Finances
• 3 Finding a team
• 4 Developing your prototype
• 6 Fundraising and Grant writing
• 7 Distribution and Subscriptions
• 8 The bottom line
• 10.1 Local and national media networks and events
• 10.2 Web hosting and Web site building sites
• 10.3 Open source and free software

Starting Out [ edit | edit source ]

The art of publishing books, magazines and newspapers has never been as streamlined as it is today with the advent of digital publishing methods which have transformed high-overhead processes into reasonably affordable ventures. Modern desktop publishing (DTP) software and computers are available to experienced professionals and to less sophisticated users at corresponding prices. And because of the Internet, it is possible to have an entire editorial/production staff that exists online. Keep in mind that a lot of the information that follows is in need of updating.

Equipment and supplies you’ll need [ edit | edit source ]

(Assuming you’ll be creating a publication with a print run of over 1,000, as opposed to a small photocopied zine)

Hardware [ edit | edit source ]

A modern computer. A modern computer is preferable if you're going to try to do everything on one computer. Another absolute in today's society is having a processor that is fast. In fact, as with any computing needs, the faster the better, but a processor that's at least 1.5Ghz should be considered an essential, dual or quad core is even better!.

Apple (aka Apple Mac) computers are what the majority of printing companies and professional freelance designers use. If you are looking to produce a newspaper of any size with a team, you will want more than one machine. Page layout takes time, so the more availability you have the better, but this has to be balanced with cost, as well as warm bodies that will be using the machines.

A External Hard Drive for long term backups. This is one important way, aside from FTP software, that you’ll move your digital documents around. They are also good for backing up your data. You can get a 1 Terabyte internal hard drive, so relatively speaking, that's cheap, especially when you look at prices from even three years ago.

A good printer. Laser is best and can be had for little money, new for about $100 but look into spending just a bit more for a good one with network support built in. Laser also eats up a lot less ink than inkjets. It’s more pricey up front, but cheaper over the long haul, and they last longer.

A good digital camera. We recommend the Canon or Nikon point-and-shoot series. They’re fast, reliable. When shopping around, find a digital camera with at least six megapixels, but eight or ten would be better, if possible. However, megapixel by itself is not a guarantee of quality, because other factors, such as lens quality, focal length and lag time, must be taken into account in comparing cameras.

Software [ edit | edit source ]

Desktop Publishing Software. Adobe InDesign , QuarkXPress or Scribus . You may also want to look at Adobe Photoshop for your pictures. This can cost a lot for each program when you buy the latest version. If you're just starting out on a shoestring budget, check up on eBay for older versions, as you can pick those up a lot cheaper. None of the programs are really difficult to use, and there are tutorials available on many Web sites. Also, do a search for email discussion groups and Usenet newsgroups focused on the specific piece of software, as well as your area of interest, such as "launching newspapers" or "launching magazines" -- there are newsgroups and discussion lists for everything! Extremely important : learn conventional typesetting methods and study what good papers are doing to turn out a superior product. Learn and be conversant in all the typesetting terms, and buy a copy of the latest AP Style Manual so you can edit correctly to an industry standard. On the other hand, if your job is putting out a church newsletter, then you don't need to get this fussy.

Image software As far as photo tools, look for at least Adobe Photoshop CS or Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation or something that can handle CMYK and Pantone.

While there are other desktop publishing programs available, they generally aren't supported by actual printing businesses. If you must use a tool other than QuarkXPress or InDesign, a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) package, Scribus, is good. It isn't a feature-rich as either QuarkXPress or InDesign, but it can help you come up with an end product. Be sure to run a test to ensure the actual final product will work for you, meaning that it will do everything you need and want, but also that the company printing your publication can open the final file to print your newspaper.

Website Software. for simple and easy-to-create and easy-to-maintain sites are to use a blog-based tool, such as WordPress for a self-hosted site, or EzyMedia and WordPress.com for hosted sites, meaning the site's files and primary headaches will be handled -- for free -- by your hosts. The disadvantage to using the hosted package with WordPress is that you cannot entirely customize the theme. You can modify the themes offered in the package, but beyond that, you don't have the option of uploading additional files to change the theme. The self-hosted option can serve you better for a personalized site. TypePad is another blog-based tool that many sites use as a mini-CMS (content management system) to maintain the site.

If you're experimental, geeky, and can understand technical stuff fairly quickly, check out fully-fledged CMS tools, such as EzyMedia, Drupal, Joomla, or other CMS packages. Many are FOSS packages for the download. Setting up most CMS packages is relatively painless once the files are uploaded to the server. Maintaining sites through blog-based and CMS-based platforms are easy, as you use a simple WYSIWYG editor interface to enter the stories (use a simple copy-and-paste approach), add a headline, a title (or "slug") -- which then becomes the URL, click SAVE, and you're done.

Internet [ edit | edit source ]

High-speed Internet. Yeah, it’s $40 a month, but it’s also indispensable for maintaining your sanity. You can also share WiFi with a neighbor, but be certain to read the Terms of Service for the plan's stipulations about sharing a connection.

A phone number and business cards. Voicemail is only about $10 a month and you can get 1,000 business cards from Staples for about $20. It sure beats writing your name on scrap paper, trust me.

Web Hosting. You can register a .com or .org. for as little as $8. You can get good, reliable hosting for $15 to $35 a month for a basic site. Many Web hosts have packages with 200 gigs or more of space, with 2,000 email accounts, unlimited email aliases, and other features, for $19USD per month. Packages with less space can be had for $4USD to $14USD per month.

Location [ edit | edit source ]

If running your project out of your home isn’t an option, inexpensive space is available in local artist spaces, from progressive community groups.

Finances [ edit | edit source ]

A business checking account. Small business checking accounts are free at many local banks. The banks may tell you they require an IRS -issued EIN (Employer ID number, similar to a Social Security Number for businesses), but if you explain you do not expect to receive over $9,000 this year in income and that the IRS doesn't require an EIN until you reach that threshold, they generally use just the principle owner's Social Security Number in the U.S. Other countries may have other requirements, so check.

At the state and local level, you may be required to file documents with the Secretary of State and the county and/or city where you are located. Some cities and counties require business licenses, and if they do, it's generally cheaper to get the license than to get caught doing business and not having one. A call to a local business attorney can get you the general information, as well as a call to your local city hall.

An accountant. Although sometimes expensive, you can find accountants that will charge only $50 to $80 an hour for a consultation. This could help you tremendously in keeping your books, and it doesn't have to be an on-going alliance. Sit down, get the basics, find out what you need to learn, and check back as appropriate. Also ask for an ad! Be sure to at least read a book on the subject before you DIY.

Finding a team [ edit | edit source ]

Depending on the size and frequency of the newspaper you are starting, you will need to staff a number of different positions, from the publisher's chair on down. The smaller the paper, the smaller the number of employees you will need. At the bare minimum your paper will need a publisher, an editor, a sales manager, reporters, photographers, sales staff, copy editors/page designers, a production (graphics) team and someone to handle classified ads. Someone in accounts receivable is probably a necessity.

At smaller operations, such as a weekly or monthly publication, many of these roles may overlap and be filled by a single person. A reporter, for example, may take their own pictures. A sales manager might also be the salesperson; and the publisher may also be the editor.

There are several ways to staff your paper. There are a number of media-specific job websites that cater to both employers and employees. Many prospective employees and journalism school graduates keep a close eye on these sites as they seek out employment opportunities. Placing employment ads online and in other publications is also a good way to let people know you are hiring. It also can't hurt to contact journalism schools directly and let them know you are hiring. Whichever method you choose, be sure to be specific in the qualifications you are looking for in a potential employee. The idea of working in the media is appealing, and many applicants think no specialized training is required.

Who’s doing what? You’ll need to determine if you’re going to function as a democratic collective, a top-down construct or some other organization system. Some papers operate as a democratically driven hierarchy. They ask the entire team to give consent to what we do. The democracy is integral to the mission of the magazine. Editorial decisions, design questions and ethical considerations receive round-table speculation by everyone involved in the project. Complete consensus is not necessarily the goal; in fact; Encourage debate. No matter what the outcome, consider staff input crucial to the operation. It takes a little longer to consult staff members, but you’ll find it’s worth it.

Communication Communicating with a staff of 12 can be more difficult than reaching 12,000 readers. Use an Internet message board to keep in contact with your team and make sure everyone is on the same page…or Web page. We use topica.com to network our team. It’s a free service. This is a listserv, which functions as an email broadcast system. Send a message and it goes out to the whole team. If Joe Smith replies, his reply goes out to everyone, like on a party line. We also have monthly meetings where we meet in person and parties where we hang out.

Developing your prototype [ edit | edit source ]

Start with a statement of purpose. Our first directive was to democratize media by sharing the tools of journalism with the general public. Let your statement become your guiding light, your prime directive. You will never have more time to debug your magazine or newspaper than right now. Take your time and develop a working model with actual stories and photos (stuff that’s not time sensitive so you can actually use it in your first issue). Look at magazines you like and determine what stylistic aspects you’d like in your own. Develop a consistent page size (determined by printing press specifications) and margins, font, font size, standard leading and spacing, headline standards, number of columns and logos. Then again, maybe your zine’s just too avante garde for that stuff to matter. That’s okay too, the rules are yours to rewrite. Figure out how often your publication will come out and what size and format you want.

Printing [ edit | edit source ]

There are many printing options available. What you can achieve depends largely on your budget. When you see something you like, call the publisher and find out where they print. The cheapest game on the block is web press on newsprint. You can get a 1,000 copies of an 8-page tabloid size in black and white for about $500 per print run. Then again, 5,000 of this same rag might be only $1000. Basically, producing plates to print newspapers represents a significant part of the costs, as does getting the print run ready and doing the admin. The paper and ink is less expensive. The first 1,000 papers will usually be very expensive, but after 10,000 copies you'll be paying very little per 1,000 'run-on'.

Feel free to ask your printer questions on what they need and how they need it. Good printers should provide you with information on how best to produce pages to print well with them. Stick to the deadlines you negotiate with them. They can be among your best allies. Modern page layout software exports to the Adobe Acrobat format (PDF). Sending pages in this format is as close to 'what you see is what you get' printing as you can hope for. The format allows fonts to be embedded and avoids the newspaper coming back barely legible due to a substituted font face. Other methods include sending across EPS pages and our fonts on disk - if a font is missing the story that uses that font will degrade into another font (often Courier). That screws up all the spacing and layout and could cause you to lose the end of a story. Take your first issue in early, be prepared to head back to your office, fix the problems and return. It is very common for printers to accept files by internet (FTP) transfer.

Finding sales people willing to work on commission only can be a very difficult process. You may well have to do this yourself. Only the most dedicated staff can and will do it well.

Determine the cost of the ads by looking at your local competition and peers. Your magazine or paper is published in regular cycles; monthly, weekly, etc. Your operating expenses (paying contractors, paying rent and other regular expenses) come in cycles as well.

The following formula works well: (Total printing cost divided by total number of pages) = Cost per page. Simple. Now you know what that paper real estate costs you.

In the planning stages for each issue, you look at many things in determining the number of pages. Some publications use a ratio of 50 percent advertising to 50 percent content, while others use a 60/40 ad-to-content ratio, and still others use a 70/30 ad-to-content ratio. While each publication determines its own ratio, the closer to a 50/50 balance you maintain, the better your publication will be viewed by your readers. The reason: it will seem like they have actual content to read -- not just ads to pass by in a vain attempt to find your content.

Fundraising and Grant writing [ edit | edit source ]

Unless your operation is a non-profit, it's doubtful you'll be able to secure grant money. Look for fundraising opportunities that serve your niche readership.

Distribution and Subscriptions [ edit | edit source ]

The way you choose to get your magazine into people’s hands will be an important determining factor of how you’ll be spending your time on your publishing project. You can basically create a free distribution model or a pay-at-the-newsstand/subscription/street hawker model. Both have their benefits and drawbacks. There are companies that handle either sort of job, but it’s a lot cheaper to do it yourself. Most business owners are glad to have new papers in their shops. Most importantly, maintain a stable fulfillment plan. Do what you say you’ll do and deliver the magazine or paper on time.

In delivering on-time, be sure to not over-commit yourself to a specific number of pages for any specific issue.

The bottom line [ edit | edit source ]

In the end, consistency, integrity and respect will get you farther than anything else and dogged persistence will help you go beyond yourself and allow you to realize your vision. Remember one thing, if you are the owner of a newspaper, you have power. Power has its advantages and disadvantages, so it's up to you how you use this power. For example, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch is the owner of News Corp. the biggest newspaper company in the world, and guess what? He has dinner with the President of the United States, oops, I mean the President has dinner with him! Reflect on what was said and good luck.

See also [ edit | edit source ]

• v:The Student Newspaper Survival Guide
• v:School of Journalism /
• v:The Student Newspaper Survival Blog
• v:School of Journalism

Resources [ edit | edit source ]

Local and national media networks and events [ edit | edit source ].

• The Underground Publishing Conference - in Bowling Green, OH. Find info at http://www.clamormagazine.org , see our story at http://www.goxray.com/media
• The Independent Press Association - A good professional networking organization for progressive and alternative press. 385 members including The Nation, Mother Jones, Juxtapoz, San Francisco Bay Guardian and XRay. http://www.indypress.org

Used Newspaper printing Equipment

Web hosting and Web site building sites [ edit | edit source ]

Hundreds of sites on the Web provide the tools and resources for Web development. These are just a few starting points.

• Webmonkey.com is an amazing resource for all levels of Web production and experience. http://www.webmonkey.com/
• Learn the ins and outs of HTML at HTMLGoodies.com. http://www.htmlgoodies.com/

Open source and free software [ edit | edit source ]

Often times you can obtain quality software for free or nearly so. Be sure to check all your options before purchasing expensive software. On the flip side of the coin, be sure that the software you use can do what you want it to, or you may have to spend time converting your previous issues.

• Scribus is an open-source page layout program that has commercial support available to purchase. It is available for Linux. It exports to PDF.
• The GIMP is a GPL (GNU Public License) photo-editing program (similar to Photoshop) available on Linux, OS X and Windows.
• Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics program for Windows, Linux and OS X.

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Thinking of starting a local digital news site? Do it, but be aware of the pitfalls.

Funding and training are plentiful and displaced journalists are eager to recommit to a community news mission, but the picture is not all sunny..

The local news digital startup sector continues to surge as legacy newspapers decline. One new census of the field found 704 of them in the U.S. and Canada, and that is probably an undercount.

Funding and training are plentiful and displaced journalists are eager to recommit to a community news mission, but the picture is not all sunny. As the sector matures, pain points — difficulties and some outright failures — are emerging, too.

So the next round of support is likely to be less generic and more tailored to particular operational challenges.

For instance, Sue Cross, executive director and CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News, said that her 12-year-old, 250-member organization now has some “very focused programs by life stage of a news organization” — startups, growing news outlets and established nonprofits.

The Project Oasis census , part of an initiative from Local Independent Online News Publishers, found many outlets staying alive by virtue of a journalist founder or founders taking no salary. That may work for a high-energy initial burst but is not likely to be sustainable for more than a year or two, Chloe Kizer, director of the project, told me.

Project Oasis, as you might infer, anticipates making a dent in the much-reported problem of news deserts — communities that used to be served by a newspaper, now closed. Remedying the news desert issue may prove problematic, too.

About 250 of the 704 identified sites responded to a survey. Two-thirds of founders had put savings or other personal funds into the launch. Half of the 250 had an income of less than $100,000 a year. Only one in seven was located in a true news desert where a newspaper had closed, and those had “median revenue markedly lower than the rest of the field.”

Each of the two main support organizations has an approach to the first-step challenge of getting going.

At LION, it’s the Tiny News Collective , now picking a first cohort of participants who will be offered expert advice and a full stack of support services at roughly $100 a month. The program, created with Google News Initiative funding, will particularly target underserved communities and hopes to support 500 launches over the next three years.

Cross said INN “loves freelancers and solo entrepreneurs” but counsels them to consider the merits of forming a launch team as soon as possible, both as a check against burnout and to diversify the skill set applied to the enterprise.

No one I could find closely tracks failures in the sector. The current emphasis is measuring and cataloging growth. Cross said that perhaps 5% of members drop out after a year or two, but the sector “is growing like crazy.

“So, for now, we’re focused on continuing to accelerate that,” she said. “We want to see more than 20,000 nonprofit journalists in the field by 2030, and we’re on pace to get there”

Even were that ambitious goal met, the sector would not fully replace the corps of journalists the newspaper industry fielded in its heyday.

About 35,000 daily newspaper journalism jobs have been lost from a peak of more than 57,000. Resources are migrating from metros and smaller locals to the biggest national outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. The herd of city magazines and alt-weeklies has also been thinned.

But we are way closer to seeing a level of energy, money and focus on investigative, serious journalism than looked possible a few years back — for instance when I first tried a quantitative comparison in a 2009 piece and argued that the new nonprofits were promising but only a small fraction of the losses. Collectively they are not so small anymore.

LION accepts for-profit startups as well as nonprofits and has not been tallying sites that close. The for-profits’ rate of closings or failures to flourish is probably slightly higher than that for nonprofits. Nonprofits plug more easily into support from community members they serve and foundation grants, both rich sources of operating revenue these days.

Philanthropy, Cross said, is “the single biggest sustainability ticket for news nonprofits: increasing their major individual donors. Major gifts are the backbone of all kinds of nonprofits in the U.S., making up some 70% of philanthropic funding on average. For news outlets, it’s about half of that because it’s a young field. So our center has an expert major gifts coach on call, provides prospect research, fundraising assessments that lead to a roadmap for development, and so forth.”

Two important positives for funding have emerged in the last five years. Google and Facebook have large news philanthropy initiatives. Both seem to favor a portfolio of small to medium-sized projects rather than sweeping industry-wide solutions, a good match to the digital startup sector.

The second positive is that news is now on the radar for community and family foundations, whose traditional focus has been on causes like health and education. Big journalism funders like the Knight Foundation have been trying to seed that interest for many years — the clear crisis in local news has helped make the case.

For those at an intermediate stage of development, the prescription for growth is well-established : collaborate with other news outlets to raise awareness and maximize the reach of the stories produced, and diversify with business and development staff rather than put all expansion money into hiring more journalists.

In research on mid-stage startups, Cross said, “We could see that few outlets had sponsorship programs, but those that did, did very well with them. So we created (a) lab with Google. It produced a playbook that is being used by hundreds of outlets, globally. The first class of seven organizations excelled and now we’re expanding with a second cohort.”

As LION evolves, executive director Chris Krewson told me, “We are increasingly focused … on defining ‘sustainability’ for the digital-only space. We tend to conflate longevity — ‘They’ve been publishing for years! They’re doing great!’ — with sustainability, and those are just different things.”

For LION, that focus means developing a framework that will measure financial health, operational resilience and journalistic impact. It’s hardly coincidental that those are at the top of the list in what foundation funders want to see documented when they dispense grants.

Newer players are entering the space of supporting digital news entrepreneurs. Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative (which also supports innovation at legacy outlets) offers updated studies on revenue sources like events and specialized research on data-driven subscription strategies.

The Local Media Association, as I wrote in January , is collaborating with Google to define best practices in community funding drives to support investigative reporting, both for digital startups and legacy newspaper organizations. Its first cohort of 16 outlets is finishing its work this spring.

The last year has also seen a surge of organizations operating as public benefit corporations , a hybrid that maximizes profit and prioritizes a given mission.

Earlier this month, the newly formed National Trust for Local News, a nonprofit venture capital fund, debuted a pilot project. It collaborated with The Colorado Sun , a public benefit corporation formed by journalists who had departed The Denver Post, to buy 24 outlets in suburban Denver.

The Trust is spearheaded by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, a scholar and journalism activist who designed it over a three-year fellowship at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. The initial idea, somewhat simplified, is to tap into national funding sources to keep ownership of local newspapers and their sites in local hands.

So that adds one more player to this crowded field.

Amidst all this activity, creating an answer to the news desert problem still seems to be a work in progress. Kizer of Project Oasis told me that in plans being formulated for a second year, she expects to expand and keep current the census database. At the same time, she and collaborators want to swing into a model for launching in a news desert that includes business basics, “grassroots organizing of community engagement” and relevant metrics of success.

An effort with similar goals, Project Compass, hit a snag coming out of the gate in late 2019 and last year. Funded by Google’s News Initiative in partnership with McClatchy and headed by respected digital news veteran Mandy Jenkins, it hoped to launch three pilot sites in three bona fide news deserts.

Youngstown, Ohio, which had lost its daily newspaper, was first. The Colorado community of Longmont near Boulder was the second. The project never got to a third site — growing audience, advertisers and sponsorships as the pandemic recession hit proved to be overwhelming.

Creating “a central staff of three on strategy, sales, fundraising, events, and audience growth,” Jenkins wrote , didn’t scale as a launchpad for the business side of the sites. (The two pilot sites remain under different management but Compass is dissolved.)

Penny Abernathy, who documented the news desert problems in her years at the University of North Carolina, has moved on to a visiting professorship at Medill. Her count of digital-only sites in 2020 had a more bearish finding on the sector. The number of new organizations and the number of failures since an earlier survey roughly canceled each other out.

Abernathy’s report does not offer a ready solution as much as a restatement of the problem. Failed legacy outlets and tough prospects for launches unfortunately go together:

“Locally owned and operated news outlets located in more affluent communities have much better prospects of cobbling together for-profit and nonprofit funding from a variety of sources than those in economically struggling communities. While some deep-pocketed benefactors have purchased larger, well-known newspapers — or financed the start-up of a local or statewide digital site — hundreds of other dailies and weeklies in less affluent, small and mid-sized communities have been shuttered when no one stepped forward to either buy the paper or support the establishment of an alternative news source.

“Furthermore, asking residents in poor communities to pay more for the news they receive — in order to compensate for the loss of advertising revenue — has the far-ranging consequence of exacerbating the chasm between communities that can afford quality journalism and those whose residents cannot.”

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For a long time I eagerly read articles about emerging digital news and found they were almost always about small city and suburban areas. So when I sit down to an article like this I do a quick search for the word “rural.” If it’s not there, I’m likely to pass. Very small town and rural journalism has many challenges that larger community newspapers don’t and some thoughts on how to work through those would be very welcome.

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How to Build a Sustainable Local News Organization

You are on a mission. You’re tired of hearing the bad news about local news and its deleterious effects on civic engagement and democracy: The layoffs, the cutbacks, the mergers and potential mergers of large newspaper chains. So now is your time to act, to launch a new local news outlet that will provide the coverage of your community that has been sorely lacking for years. You will hold the powerful to account, celebrate inspirational human stories and make a real difference in your locale.

But how? There have been scores of failures in the local news market, both in print and online, so how will you find the winning business model, the right investors, the perfect technology, the helpful support networks – and most of all, the right staff that reflects the diversity of your town or neighborhood? Talk about equity and inclusion becomes action as you staff up your new publication.

It’s a tricky business, but one that can be fruitful because the time is right. Knight Foundation, Google and Facebook have pledged to spend $300 million each over the coming years to support local news, and the projects they have already funded can help jump-start your venture. In a difficult climate for local news, these potential funders, supporters and collaborators can make all the difference between success and failure.

Funding Sources What’s amazing about this moment is the galvanizing of resources to help out new local news ventures being launched in the vacuum left by failing newspapers. One extraordinary example is the Colorado Media Project, which rose out of the controversial moves made by the Denver Post’s hedge fund owners, leading to an editorial revolt. You can see from this picture (below) that there is an incredible array of supporters and allies for the new project, from foundations to technology giants to support organizations.

In the realm of funders, you have to look closely at the  American Journalism Project , which will be funding an array of new “civic news organizations” or CNOs around the country. The AJP isn’t a typical funder, as it practices “venture philanthropy,” which means it is not expecting outsize returns like a venture capital fund.

“We think of AJP as modeled on venture philanthropy, with catalytic support to help CNOs move toward sustainability,” said Jason Alcorn, vice president of operations at AJP. “These are structured as grants, not as investments where we expect to make a return. The parallel with venture capital, and the need we have identified in the civic news field, is that there’s not enough capital for organizations to make great hires and invest in the revenue side staff…We won’t ask for our money back, that stays in the organization, and serves to increase revenue generating capacity in the organization. Ultimately our goal to increase the resources for newsgathering in communities around the country.”

Alcorn said that funding would help out CNOs on a case-by-case basis, but AJP is hearing that needs are strongest in recruiting, hiring and retention—especially on the business side.

Another funder to watch is the  Lenfest Institute for Journalism , based in Philadelphia, which was started in 2016 with an endowment from cable TV entrepreneur H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest and has since continued to build its resources through local and national fund raising. The Lenfest Institute is focused on supporting sustainable business models for important local journalism.

There are currently  three interesting grant programs  for media startups: the Local News Business Model Challenge, the Philadelphia News Ecosystem Collaboration Grants and the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund. The first focused on projects that explore new business models or products for news, and included both publishers and non-publisher grantees such as Pico (audience revenue platform) and SembraMedia (Spanish-language news media entrepreneurship network). The second focused on projects that would help Philadelphia news media and other civic organizations work together in the public interest, such as the Cypher Philly Initiative (civic tech/data journalism) and Philly ResPOND (leveraging news media for the prevention of drug overdoses). The third will offer broad support for media innovation and collaboration both in the Philadelphia region and nationwide.

The Lenfest Institute takes an “ecosystem view” of news media supporting a broad array of collaborative media including digital startups, multi-cultural and traditional newspaper media, according to Jim Friedlich, executive director at Lenfest. “We have a significant commitment to an ecosystem approach, here in Philadelphia and beyond,” said Friedlich. “We are engaging digital startups, leveraging partnerships with public radio, and working with media makers of color, as well as investing substantially in the flagship Philadelphia Inquirer.”  By way of example, Friedlich cites the first grant from the newly formed Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund in support of  Resolve Philadelphia, for a reporting initiative called “Broke in Philly,” a collaboration of over 20 organizations in Philly covering poverty and economic justice.

This ecosystem approach to news has become more common among funders that are trying to understand the many ways that community members get, share, and act upon information. For example, learn more about how the Democracy Fund defines news ecosystems  here .

The Sustainability Part After you have your funding comes the hard part: making sure you have the right business model to survive and thrive for years to come. That means considering just how the local community might support your organization, whether that’s with grants from local foundations, or advertising from local businesses, or memberships or subscriptions from residents – or many more other potential revenue streams.

Keep your eye on the  News Revenue Hub , a great resource for news organizations trying to keep their head above water. The Hub offers a suite of services, including donation processing, in-depth analytics, marketing campaigns and training—and many of the services are funded by foundations. So, before the startup  The City  was launched in New York, the Revson Foundation provided funding so it could get support from the News Revenue Hub.

Mary Walter-Brown, CEO and president of the Hub, says that they can help people understand how to best build their local news startup from the ground up. Recently, a group of community leaders in Fort Worth, Texas, had been brainstorming about starting a local news outlet and was connected to the Hub because they had published a  “Playbook for Launching a Local, Nonprofit Startup”  with the Harvard Kennedy School.

“They brought us in and we are starting from scratch with a landscape analysis of the existing media outlets in Fort Worth,” said Walter-Brown. “[We studied] what topics are being covered and not, what communities are being covered and not being covered, what voices are missing in the community dialogue. Communities of color are not being represented in legacy media. So the community leaders who are putting this news outlet together start with a really accurate understanding of the community so they can design a news organization and fill those gaps.”

On the membership front, you’ll want to check out the fantastic work done by the  Membership Puzzle Project  (MPP) at New York University. The project has researched the many ways that membership plays out at local news media, from public radio to crowdfunding and beyond. MPP had a grant program running, but is not currently planning to make more grants before the project wraps up in May 2020. However, you can still see all the research MPP has done that has been publicly posted online.

The MPP put together a  Membership Launch Handbook  (really a collection of links) as well as a  database of membership models  at 163 different news outlets. There’s also a  “Literature Library”  (this is NYU, after all), with books, articles and blog posts about how media outlets have developed deeper relationships with audiences over the years. And last but not least is the  Public Radio Database , which shows the various ways that public radio stations have cultivated members—a great blueprint for many local news outlets that would like to emulate the success of public media.

Join the Club Starting a new venture can be lonely. As questions and challenges come up, who do you turn to? That’s where specialized associations and networks can help. They provide support from other members and seasoned professionals who can keep your business on track through difficult times.

If you are creating a nonprofit newsroom, you’ll want to connect with the  Institute for Nonprofit News  (INN), which has more than 230 members around the country, from large (ProPublica and Texas Tribune) to small (Flint Beat and Searchlight New Mexico). INN provides invaluable support for members, from business resources to online learning and peer groups to fiscal sponsorship and insurance support. And to super-charge your fundraising, INN members get to participate in  NewsMatch , a program that lets you double and even triple match your donations via a group of national and local foundations.

Among the  business resources  that INN provides members are weekly Zoom meetings to help answer questions, as well as online legal and fundraising guides. It also runs an annual INN Days in-person conference before IRE in the summer, as well as a Fall Business Intensive. With its latest grant from Knight Foundation, INN plans to expand to include regional hubs to better support members, according to Sue Cross, INN’s CEO and executive director.

“We see this exponential growth each year,” Cross said. “As networks mature, a network is strongest when it’s not just hub-and-spoke, but when you’re fostering the sub-networks and people are connecting to each other. You have to actively work to create those networks.”

If you’re creating a for-profit news publication, you’ll want to get to know the  Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers , which has 250+ members around the country and in Canada. LION has an active Facebook Group called the LION’s Den for members only, and has an annual conference in the fall. Chris Krewson, LION executive director, has ambitious plans to support new startups.

“The LION Starter Pack is a big initiative: I want to grow LION by creating new LIONs,” Krewson said. “I want to be on the ground when a newspaper shuts down, and be there for some of the reporters who still love doing the work, but don’t have a clue how to start [a new venture]. The internet will give you a lot of answers about how to start a business, but very few good ones about how to start a news business. LION is uniquely positioned to solve this problem, because in some cases our members have been doing this since 2007 or 2009, running sustainable businesses.”

These associations, INN and LION, as well as funders such as AJP and Lenfest and support groups like News Revenue Hub and Membership Puzzle Project can help local news startups succeed in a challenging environment. You don’t have to work in a vacuum and can tap into knowledge from people who have done this before and are willing to share their lessons, their stories of hard knocks, so you can succeed and fulfill your mission.

How to Get Support for a Diverse-Led Startup Not only is it challenging building a new local news startup, but if you run an outlet focused on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in news, you have an even bigger hill to climb. This is true for various groups that are less represented among newsroom leadership and entrepreneurs and raise hard questions about how the stories and issues they care about are reported on: women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ communities, the disabled, and others. 

Where can you get mentorship, resources and most of all capital to get started? I asked  Maynard Institute ’s co-executive director for external affairs and funding, Martin Reynolds, what resources are missing for diverse-led startups.

“Capital, capital, capital—access to capital is number one, and number two is access to a network where they can get help and access to expertise,” Reynolds told me. “There are more resources for people of color in the tech space than in the journalistic entrepreneurship space.” 

Reynolds said that there weren’t a lot of programs designed to help media startups led by people of color, so Maynard started one last year. The Maynard 200 fellowship program includes a track for entrepreneurs. Last year’s program included early-stage startups and this year’s program has startups that are more mature, having been around for three or four years. The goal is to include a mix of fellows from startups and existing media so they can support each other in multi-layered ways. The cohorts meet in person twice over the 10-month program.

“We bring in all manner of speakers, the whole deal is to address audience development, and financial rigor, if necessary, and give them mentors with a virtual board of directors, with needs-based support, down the line,” Reynolds said. “The goal is to give them the tools they need to move their ventures forward, and a cohort for support and to commiserate with.”

The  Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund  is also focused on making DEI a cornerstone of the projects they fund and support.

“Our focus is understanding that equity is innovation,” said Roxann Stafford, managing director of the Fund. “You can’t separate digital transformation from diversity, equity and inclusion. In fact it leads innovation. If you do the right things with communities – understanding what to cover and ways to do it, what sources to build relationships with, how best to support entrepreneurs, how to protect data and privacy – you will be able to create the right kind of digital presence, and people will trust and support it in different ways.”

The Democracy Fund has created a  comprehensive list of resources  for DEI in journalism, including the various identity-based organizations for reporters (National Association for Black Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association, National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, etc.), training and support groups, grants and funding, fellowships and even advocacy groups. This public spreadsheet is due for a refresh by this fall, and will be published on the  Engaged Journalism Lab  website on Medium. 

Researchers are also working to better understand and benchmark the ecosystems of outlets that serve diverse news consumers. For example, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism recently published  The State of Latino News Media , the Center for Cooperative Media recently published  The State of Ethnic and Community Media Serving New Jersey , and the Womens Media Center published a  2019 report  on the status of women in the U.S. media. Such reports provide valuable context and examples if you are looking to start a similar outlet, as well as evidence for why such ventures are needed to round out news ecosystems. 

Mark Glaser is executive editor of MediaShift.

Resources Key publications to follow for local news entrepreneurs, with recent relevant stories

Democracy Fund’s Local News Lab:

Community publications have a chance to carry the best of their pasts into the future , by Melanie Sill

Columbia Journalism Review:

In Philadelphia, a radical idea for journalists: talking to human beings , by Chip Scanlan

Nieman Journalism Lab:

Who works best in a revenue development role? Here’s what these local news organizations have found , by Christine Schmidt

Better News:

How KPCC and LAist adapted the public radio fundraising strategy for a digitally native audience , by Danny Sway, KPCC

Shorenstein Center:

A landscape study of local news models across America , by Heidi Legg

Center for Cooperative Media:

Resources & Tools (including “How to start a news site”)

Local and Nonprofit News

Philanthropic Options for Newspaper Owners: A Practical Guide

How More Philanthropists, Foundations Can Support Local News as a ‘Public Good’

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How to Start a News Website: A Step-by-Step Guide

March 26, 2021

Step 1: Pick your spot

Step 2: make sure this is for you, choose a domain and set up web hosting, install your content management system, style your website, get publishing, step 4: find your voice, step 5: build a business around your news website, step 6: find a support network, ready to get started.

So if you’re here, you are probably already sold on how important local news is. But where do you start if you want to take the plunge and create a new local news website for your community?

There are a lot of resources out there and it can be tough to know exactly where to begin.

No worries, we are here to guide you through the process of starting a news website step-by-step.

The first thing you need to do is figure out the area you plan to cover with your news website and how you plan to cover it. There are a million ways that you think about this, and there are some articles that recommend conducting surveys and focus groups to confirm if there really is a need out there for your new publication… but we think this is taking it too far.

Our advice is simple:

Don’t overthink this. Look at what content is out there in your area and if you notice there is a hole in content that you think should be provided by a news website, then go for it!

That’s exactly what a very successful California local news site called Berkeleyside did - they saw that newspapers in their area covered city news, but there was no comprehensive content about their neighborhood. They also wanted to create a forum for their neighbors to debate issues that they care about.

They didn’t run surveys and spend too much over-analyzing, they just saw the gap and they went for it. There is plenty of time for surveys later if you are having trouble building an audience with your content. (see Step 4)

The bottom line here is this: if you see that news coverage is missing and you want a new place to engage with your neighbors that is a good enough reason to create your own news website.

2020 Local News Digital Review

Check out our free report on the technologies and digital strategies used by local news sites

But before you go too far down the road, make sure that you are going to be able to keep this going - consistently. Take it from us, writing takes dedication and commitment, especially when you are trying to keep up a regular news website that needs to be updated frequently.

Open up a Word Document or Google Docs and just start writing about the topics that you want to cover in your community.

When you have around 5 articles good to go, you should feel good enough to move onto the next step.

If you are struggling with topics to write about, check out some of these reporting guides from the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University.

Also, know that this is a marathon not a sprint. Make sure that you are in this for the long-haul and you can support yourself without making any money from your news site at first. The founders from Berkeleyside went 18 months before they started to pay themselves a salary.

Step 3: Set up your tech

One of the main reasons we are building Epilocal, is that we want to make the process to create a news website so simple that all of you have to do is start writing and we will handle the technology for you.

But if you’re not using our NewsCloud, the process to set up your tech looks something like this:

For the domain name, there are lots of options out there and they don’t really matter too much - you can go with GoDaddy or any other provider depending on what works for you or whoever gives you the best deal.

There are also lots of options to choose from for your site hosting and the process looks slightly different for each one. Many of the local news sites that we analyzed as part of our 2020 Digital Review were using WP Engine . (This is assuming that you use Wordpress as your content management system - see the next step)

Next, you need to set-up your news website and the easiest way to do this on your own is by using a Content Management System or CMS. Again, there are several out there, but the most common one for news sites is Wordpress.

Wordpress might not be the fastest or easiest to use at times, but it is a solid option that has tons of support in the community so you can always find answers to your questions. If you use WP Engine, they will guide you through the setup process. Otherwise the control panel for your hosting provider should have a shortcut for installing Wordpress or an installation guide.

As part of our NewsCloud platform , we use Ghost as the content management system because it has a great suite of free membership tools built-in . If you decide to go with Ghost, you can use the Ghost Pro hosting service which offers very reasonable rates starting at $9 / month.

Once you have Wordpress or Ghost up and running, you have lots of options to get the design and style your website just the way you want it.

This can be an overwhelming process and we recommend starting with something simple where you can just focus on writing - then over time you can learn about all the theme options that Wordpress has to offer.

If you are using Ghost, you can start with our free theme that we made specifically for news sites called Newsliner .

Now that you have your website up and running, you just need to start adding content to it. You can write and publish your content from directly inside your Content Management System. Wordpress takes some getting used to and you will want to read some articles about the quirks that go along with it, while Ghost is pretty simple and intuitive.

On the flip side, Ghost is not very expandable while Wordpress offers a wide range of plugins that you can add to customize your site further. Here’s a list of some of the more popular plugins for news websites.

At the beginning, the focus should really be on your writing and news content rather than on the technology itself.

There’s some good advice in this playbook for creating a local news site from Harvard , that sums it pretty well:

“Keep your tech as simple as possible and suppress the urge for customization until you get good help and good advice.”

We couldn’t agree more, keep it simple and just focus on publishing consistently - even if its not pretty at first.

As you start writing and publishing, you will gradually find your voice, what you want to cover and what type of content your audience responds to.

Again, try to keep this simple at first - focus on a narrow range of topics or geographic area. Especially if you are only one writer there is only so much you can cover.

If you are struggling to find an audience, now would be a good time to do a little research and to focus on getting the word out about your news website.

The same Harvard playbook recommends a couple of good ideas for researching what topics are important in your area:

• Use a free tool like Google Forms to design a survey and distribute it in your community
• Test out local interests using Facebook and Google ad targeting tools (you can do this without buying any ads)

Getting the word out and driving more people to your site is also important at this point. There are of course the traditional digital options social media and digital advertising.

But even better than that for a budding local news site is this idea from an interview with the founder of a local newspaper in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania :

“In the first year, we had the opportunity to trade advertising on the site for advertising at events. That really helped push our name out even further. As the site continues to grow so does the ability to sell ad space on the site.”

Basically this means that rather than charging a local business for advertising space at the beginning, you will give it away in exchange for them getting the word out about your news site.

Then once you get big enough, you already have a relationship with that business so you can easily upgrade them to paying customers.

As you find your rhythm, now is also a good time to put in place processes and find tools that will save you time. We are big fans of Trello for managing your content schedule and we also built a free chart maker for displaying data in simple, modern charts. There are also great tools out there from sites like Study Crumb , that will save you time with quick things like capitalization, checking readability and paraphrasing content you want to re-use in multiple places.

Once you have a good rhythm publishing content and are building an audience, you can start to think about building a business around your website. To give you an idea of how long it takes to get to this point, Berkeleyside, that we mentioned above, began offering paid advertising to local businesses about 6-months after launching.

In the same interview, they summed up nicely the other options out there to look at for generating revenue and building a sustainable business around your news website:

• Membership revenue (from subscribers and donors)
• Syndication (selling your articles to bigger newspapers who want to reprint them)
• Events (with revenue from tickets and from signing up sponsors)
• Merchandise
• Sponsored content
• Classified ads

As part of our digital local news review, we also looked at the different ways that publications were monetizing. We summarized all the most popular local news business models this this article, but in short the most popular option was to combine donations with advertising.

Finally, if you are interested in forming your news website as a non-profit, you can look for grants and other funding opportunities.

Here’s a good resource on forming a non-profit organization and this article from the Knight Foundation sums up some of the best funding opportunities for non-profit newspapers.

Finally, once you are on your way to getting established as a local news site, you will want to connect with other people who are doing the same thing.

If you are a nonprofit, you can join the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Otherwise, you can join the Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers .

Both of these are great networks with over 200 members and lots of resources to help you learn and share experiences.

Local news is one of the cornerstones of a strong community and now more than ever it is important to provide information and a voice that your neighbors can trust. If you are ready to get started building your own news website, follow the steps above to get your voice online.

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How to write a business plan for a newspaper?

Writing a business plan for a newspaper can be an intimidating task, especially for those just starting.

This in-depth guide is designed to help entrepreneurs like you understand how to create a comprehensive business plan so that you can approach the exercise with method and confidence.

We'll cover: why writing a newspaper business plan is so important - both when starting up, and when running and growing the business - what information you need to include in your plan, how it should be structured, and what tools you can use to get the job done efficiently.

Let's get started!

In this guide:

Why write a business plan for a newspaper?

What information is needed to create a business plan for a newspaper.

• What goes in the financial forecast for a newspaper?
• What goes in the written part of a newspaper business plan?
• What tool can I use to write my newspaper business plan?

Understanding the document's scope and goals will help you easily grasp its structure and content. Before diving into the specifics of the plan, let's take a moment to explore the key reasons why having a newspaper business plan is so crucial.

To have a clear roadmap to grow the business

Small businesses rarely experience a constant and predictable environment. Economic cycles go up and down, while the business landscape is mutating constantly with new regulations, technologies, competitors, and consumer behaviours emerging when we least expect it.

In this dynamic context, it's essential to have a clear roadmap for your newspaper. Otherwise, you are navigating in the dark which is dangerous given that - as a business owner - your capital is at risk.

That's why crafting a well-thought-out business plan is crucial to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of your venture.

To create an effective business plan, you'll need to take a step-by-step approach. First, you'll have to assess your current position (if you're already in business), and then identify where you'd like your newspaper to be in the next three to five years.

Once you have a clear destination for your newspaper, you'll focus on three key areas:

• Resources: you'll determine the human, equipment, and capital resources needed to reach your goals successfully.
• Speed: you'll establish the optimal pace at which your business needs to grow if it is to meet its objectives within the desired timeframe.
• Risks: you'll identify and address potential risks you might encounter along the way.

By going through this process regularly, you'll be able to make informed decisions about resource allocation, paving the way for the long-term success of your business.

To anticipate future cash flows

Regularly comparing your actual financial performance to the projections in the financial forecast of your newspaper's business plan gives you the ability to monitor your business's financial health and make necessary adjustments as needed.

This practice allows you to detect potential financial issues, such as unexpected cash shortfalls before they escalate into major problems. Giving you time to find additional financing or put in place corrective measures.

Additionally, it helps you identify growth opportunities, like excess cash flow that could be allocated to launch new products and services or expand into new markets.

Staying on track with these regular comparisons enables you to make well-informed decisions about the amount of financing your business might require, or the excess cash flow you can expect to generate from your main business activities.

To secure financing

A detailed business plan becomes a crucial tool when seeking financing from banks or investors for your newspaper.

Investing and lending to small businesses are very risky activities given how fragile they are. Therefore, financiers have to take extra precautions before putting their capital at risk.

At a minimum, financiers will want to ensure that you have a clear roadmap and a solid understanding of your future cash flows (like we just explained above). But they will also want to ensure that your business plan fits the risk/reward profile they seek.

This will off-course vary from bank to bank and investor to investor, but as a rule of thumb. Banks will want to see a conservative financial management style (low risk), and they will use the information in your business plan to assess your borrowing capacity — the level of debt they think your business can comfortably handle — and your ability to repay the loan. This evaluation will determine whether they'll provide credit to your newspaper and the terms of the agreement.

Whereas investors will carefully analyze your business plan to gauge the potential return on their investment. Their focus lies on evidence indicating your newspaper's potential for high growth, profitability, and consistent cash flow generation over time.

Now that you recognize the importance of creating a business plan for your newspaper, let's explore what information is required to create a compelling plan.

Writing a newspaper business plan requires research so that you can project sales, investments and cost accurately in your financial forecast.

In this section, we cover three key pieces of information you should gather before drafting your business plan!

Carrying out market research for a newspaper

Carrying out market research before writing a business plan for a newspaper is essential to ensure that the financial projections are accurate and realistic.

Market research helps you gain insight into your target customer base, competitors, pricing strategies and other key factors which can have an impact on the commercial success of your business.

In particular, it is useful in forecasting revenue as it provides valuable data regarding potential customers’ spending habits and preferences.

You may find that readers are interested in more local news, or that they are looking for more in-depth investigative pieces. Market research could reveal that readers may be more likely to purchase the paper if it includes more diverse voices, or that they might be drawn to content that appeals to a wider range of readers.

This information can then be used to create more accurate financial projections which will help investors make informed decisions about investing in your newspaper.

Developing the sales and marketing plan for a newspaper

Budgeting sales and marketing expenses is essential before creating a newspaper business plan.

A comprehensive sales and marketing plan should provide an accurate projection of what actions need to be implemented to acquire and retain customers, how many people are needed to carry out these initiatives, and how much needs to be spent on promotions, advertising, and other aspects.

This helps ensure that the right amount of resources is allocated to these activities in order to hit the sales and growth objectives forecasted in your business plan.

The staffing and equipment needs of a newspaper

Whether you are at the beginning stages of your newspaper or expanding its horizons, having a clear plan for recruitment and capital expenditures (investment in equipment and real estate) is vital to ensure your business's success.

To achieve this, both the recruitment and investment plans must align coherently with the projected timing and level of growth in your forecast. It is essential to secure appropriate funding for these plans.

A newspaper might incur staffing costs such as wages for reporters, editors, and other administrative staff, as well as costs associated with benefits for these employees. Additionally, the newspaper might incur costs for equipment such as computers, printers, and other office supplies. The newspaper might also need to invest in photography and video equipment for visual content.

To create a financial forecast that accurately represents your business's outlook, remember to factor in other day-to-day operating expenses.

Now that you have all the necessary information, it's time to dive in and start creating your business plan and developing the financial forecast for your newspaper.

What goes into your newspaper's financial forecast?

The objective of the financial forecast of your newspaper's business plan is to show the growth, profitability, funding requirements, and cash generation potential of your business over the next 3 to 5 years.

The four key outputs of a financial forecast for a newspaper are:

• The profit and loss (P&L) statement ,
• The projected balance sheet ,
• The cash flow forecast ,
• And the sources and uses table .

Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail.

The projected P&L statement

The projected P&L statement for a newspaper shows how much revenue and profit your business is expected to make in the future.

A healthy newspaper's P&L statement should show:

• Sales growing at (minimum) or above (better) inflation
• Stable (minimum) or expanding (better) profit margins
• A healthy level of net profitability

This will of course depend on the stage of your business: numbers for a startup will look different than for an established newspaper.

The projected balance sheet of your newspaper

The balance sheet for a newspaper is a financial document that provides a snapshot of your business’s financial health at a given point in time.

It shows three main components: assets, liabilities and equity:

• Assets: are resources owned by the business, such as cash, equipment, and accounts receivable (money owed by clients).
• Liabilities: are debts owed to creditors and other entities, such as accounts payable (money owed to suppliers) and loans.
• Equity: includes the sums invested by the shareholders or business owners and the cumulative profits and losses of the business to date (called retained earnings). It is a proxy for the value of the owner's stake in the business.

Examining the balance sheet is important for lenders, investors, or other stakeholders who are interested in assessing your newspaper's liquidity and solvency:

• Liquidity: assesses whether or not your business has sufficient cash and short-term assets to honour its liabilities due over the next 12 months. It is a short-term focus.
• Solvency: assesses whether or not your business has the capacity to repay its debt over the medium-term.

Looking at the balance sheet can also provide insights into your newspaper's investment and financing policies.

In particular, stakeholders can compare the value of equity to the value of the outstanding financial debt to assess how the business is funded and what level of financial risk has been taken by the owners (financial debt is riskier because it has to be repaid, while equity doesn't need to be repaid).

The cash flow forecast

As we've seen earlier in this guide, monitoring future cash flows is the key to success and the only way of ensuring that your newspaper has enough cash to operate.

As you can expect showing future cash flows is the main role of the cash flow forecast in your newspaper business plan.

It is best practice to organise the cash flow statement by nature in order to show the cash impact of the following areas:

• Cash flow generated from operations: the operating cash flow shows how much cash is generated or consumed by the business's commercial activities
• Cash flow from investing activities: the investing cash flow shows how much cash is being invested in capital expenditure (equipment, real estate, etc.) either to maintain the business's equipment or to expand its capabilities
• Cash flow from financing activities: the financing cash flow shows how much cash is raised or distributed to financiers

Looking at the cash flow forecast helps you to make sure that your business has enough cash to keep running, and can help you anticipate potential cash shortfalls.

Your newspaper business plan will normally include both yearly and monthly cash flow forecasts so that the readers can view the impact of seasonality on your business cash position and generation.

The initial financing plan

The initial financing plan, also known as a sources and uses table, is a valuable resource to have in your business plan when starting your newspaper as it reveals the origins of the money needed to establish the business (sources) and how it will be allocated (uses).

Having this table helps show what costs are involved in setting up your newspaper, how risks are shared between founders, investors and lenders, and what the starting cash position will be. This cash position needs to be sufficient to sustain operations until the business reaches a break-even point.

Now that you have a clear understanding of what goes into the financial forecast of your newspaper business plan, let's shift our focus to the written part of the plan.

The written part of a newspaper business plan

The written part of a newspaper business plan is composed of 7 main sections:

• The executive summary
• The presentation of the company
• The products and services
• The market analysis
• The strategy
• The operations
• The financial plan

Throughout these sections, you will seek to provide the reader with the details and context needed for them to form a view on whether or not your business plan is achievable and your forecast a realistic possibility.

Let's go through the content of each section in more detail!

1. The executive summary

The executive summary, the first section of your newspaper's business plan, serves as an inviting snapshot of your entire plan, leaving readers eager to know more about your business.

To compose an effective executive summary, start with a concise introduction of your business, covering its name, concept, location, history, and unique aspects. Share insights about the services or products you intend to offer and your target customer base.

Subsequently, provide an overview of your newspaper's addressable market, highlighting current trends and potential growth opportunities.

Then, present a summary of critical financial figures, such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

You should then include a summary of your key financial figures such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

Lastly, address any funding needs in the "ask" section of your executive summary.

2. The presentation of the company

As you build your newspaper business plan, the second section deserves attention as it delves into the structure and ownership, location, and management team of your company.

In the structure and ownership part, you'll provide valuable insights into the legal structure of the business, the identities of the owners, and their respective investments and ownership stakes. This level of transparency is vital, particularly if you're seeking financing, as it clarifies which legal entity will receive the funds and who holds the reins of the business.

Moving to the location part, you'll offer a comprehensive view of the company's premises and articulate why this specific location is strategic for the business, emphasizing factors like catchment area, accessibility, and nearby amenities.

When describing the location of your newspaper, you may highlight the potential it has in reaching a large population. You could emphasize that the area is a growing and vibrant region, with strong economic prospects and a diverse population. You might also point out that the location offers great access to transportation, allowing for easy distribution of your newspaper to a wide audience. Moreover, you may point to the educated population in the area as a potential source of readership.

Lastly, you should introduce your esteemed management team. Provide a thorough explanation of each member's role, background, and extensive experience.

It's equally important to highlight any past successes the management team has achieved and underscore the duration they've been working together. This information will instil trust in potential lenders or investors, showcasing the strength and expertise of your leadership team and their ability to deliver the business plan.

3. The products and services section

The products and services section of your business plan should include a detailed description of the offerings that your company provides to its customers. 

For example, your newspaper might offer a daily subscription service so customers can read the daily news conveniently at their doorstep; a special edition for those wanting to be informed about a particular topic; and an online version of the paper, enabling customers to access the news from any device. These services will ensure customers can get their news quickly and easily, and will be tailored to their individual preferences.

When drafting this section, you should be precise about the categories of products or services you sell, the types of customers you are targeting and how customers can buy them.

4. The market analysis

When outlining your market analysis in the newspaper business plan, it's essential to include comprehensive details about customers' demographics and segmentation, target market, competition, barriers to entry, and relevant regulations.

The primary aim of this section is to give the reader an understanding of the market size and appeal while demonstrating your expertise in the industry.

To begin, delve into the demographics and segmentation subsection, providing an overview of the addressable market for your newspaper, key marketplace trends, and introducing various customer segments and their preferences in terms of purchasing habits and budgets.

Next, shift your focus to the target market subsection, where you can zoom in on the specific customer segments your newspaper targets. Explain how your products and services are tailored to meet the unique needs of these customers.

For example, your target market might include young adults between the ages of 18-24. This segment is likely to be interested in reading the latest news about current events, politics, and pop culture. Additionally, they are more likely to engage with the content through digital platforms, such as the newspaper's website and social media pages.

In the competition subsection, introduce your main competitors and explain what sets your newspaper apart from them.

Finally, round off your market analysis by providing an overview of the main regulations that apply to your newspaper.

5. The strategy section

When writing the strategy section of a business plan for your newspaper, it is essential to include information about your competitive edge, pricing strategy, sales & marketing plan, milestones, and risks and mitigants.

The competitive edge subsection should explain what sets your company apart from its competitors. This part is especially key if you are writing the business plan of a startup, as you have to make a name for yourself in the marketplace against established players.

The pricing strategy subsection should demonstrate how you intend to remain profitable while still offering competitive prices to your customers.

The sales & marketing plan should outline how you intend to reach out and acquire new customers, as well as retain existing ones with loyalty programs or special offers. 

The milestones subsection should outline what your company has achieved to date, and its main objectives for the years to come - along with dates so that everyone involved has clear expectations of when progress can be expected.

The risks and mitigants subsection should list the main risks that jeopardize the execution of your plan and explain what measures you have taken to minimize these. This is essential in order for investors or lenders to feel secure in investing in your venture.

Your newspaper might face the risk of a cyber attack. Hackers could attempt to breach your database and access sensitive information. This could lead to a data breach and potentially cause reputational damage and financial losses. Your newspaper could also face the risk of declining readership. As the internet and digital publications become more popular, your readership may start to decline, resulting in a loss of revenue. This could potentially impact your ability to produce quality content and maintain a successful business.

6. The operations section

The operations of your newspaper must be presented in detail in your business plan.

The first thing you should cover in this section is your staffing team, the main roles, and the overall recruitment plan to support the growth expected in your business plan. You should also outline the qualifications and experience necessary to fulfil each role, and how you intend to recruit (using job boards, referrals, or headhunters).

You should then state the operating hours of your newspaper - so that the reader can check the adequacy of your staffing levels - and any plans for varying opening times during peak season. Additionally, the plan should include details on how you will handle customer queries outside of normal operating hours.

The next part of this section should focus on the key assets and IP required to operate your business. If you depend on any licenses or trademarks, physical structures (equipment or property) or lease agreements, these should all go in there.

You may have key assets such as the brand name and logo of the newspaper, as well as the print and digital versions of the publication itself. Additionally, the newspaper could have intellectual property such as the unique articles and content, as well as the photographs and illustrations used in the publication.

Finally, you should include a list of suppliers that you plan to work with and a breakdown of their services and main commercial terms (price, payment terms, contract duration, etc.). Investors are always keen to know if there is a particular reason why you have chosen to work with a specific supplier (higher-quality products or past relationships for example).

7. The presentation of the financial plan

The financial plan section is where we will present the financial forecast we talked about earlier in this guide.

Now that you have a clear idea of what goes in your newspaper business plan, let's look at the solutions you can use to draft yours.

What tool should I use to write my newspaper's business plan?

There are two main ways of creating your newspaper business plan:

• Using specialized business planning software,
• Hiring a business plan writer.

Using an online business plan software for your newspaper's business plan

The modern and most efficient way to write a newspaper business plan is to use business plan software .

There are several advantages to using specialized software:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here .

Hiring a business plan writer to write your newspaper's business plan

Outsourcing your newspaper business plan to a business plan writer can also be a viable option.

Business plan writers are experienced in writing business plans and adept at creating financial forecasts without errors. Furthermore, hiring a consultant can save you time and allow you to focus on the day-to-day operations of your business.

However, hiring business plan writers is expensive as you are paying for the software used by the consultant, plus their time, and their profit margin of course.

From experience, you need to budget at least £1.5k ($2.0k) excluding tax for a complete business plan, more if you need to make changes after the initial version (which happens frequently after the initial meetings with lenders or investors).

You also need to be careful when seeking investment. Investors want their money to be used to grow the business, not spent on consulting fees. Therefore, the amount you spend on business plan writing services (and other consulting services such as legal services) needs to be negligible relative to the amount raised.

The other drawback is that you usually don't own the business plan itself: you just get the output, while the actual document is saved in the consultant's business plan software - which makes it difficult to maintain the document up to date without hiring the consultant on a retainer.

For these reasons, outsourcing the newspaper business plan to a business plan writer should be considered carefully, weighing both the advantages and disadvantages of hiring outside help.

Ultimately, it may be the right decision for some businesses, while others may find it beneficial to write their business plan using online software.

Why not create your newspaper's business plan using Word or Excel?

Using Microsoft Excel and Word (or their Google, Apple, or open-source equivalents) to write a newspaper business plan is not advisable. Allow me to explain the reasons.

Firstly, creating an accurate and error-free financial forecast on Excel or any spreadsheet demands technical expertise in accounting principles and financial modelling. Without a degree in finance and accounting and significant financial modelling experience, it's unlikely that the reader will fully trust your numbers.

Secondly, relying on spreadsheets is inefficient. While it may have been the go-to option in the past, technology has evolved, and software now performs such tasks much faster and more accurately.

The second reason is that it is inefficient. Building forecasts on spreadsheets was the only option in the early 2000s, nowadays technology has advanced and software can do it much faster and much more accurately.

And with the rise of AI, software is also becoming smarter at helping us detect mistakes in our forecasts and helping us analyse the numbers to make better decisions.

Moreover, software offers ease in comparing actuals versus forecasts and maintaining up-to-date forecasts for clear visibility on future cash flows, as we discussed earlier in this guide. Such tasks are cumbersome when using spreadsheets.

Now, let's address the written part of your newspaper business plan. While it may be less prone to errors, using software can significantly boost productivity. Word processors lack instructions and examples for each section of your business plan. They also won't automatically update your numbers when changes occur in your forecast, and they lack automated formatting capabilities.

In summary, while some entrepreneurs may consider Word or Excel for their business plan, it's far from the best or most efficient solution when compared to specialized software.

• Having an up-to-date business plan is key to maintaining visibility on your future cash flows.
• A business plan has 2 parts: a financial forecast highlighting the expected growth, profitability and cash generation of the business; and a written part which provides the context needed to interpret and assess the quality of the forecast.
• Using business plan software is the modern way of writing and maintaining business plans.

We hope that this guide helped you to better understand how to write the business plan for a newspaper. If you still have questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• How to write a 5 years business plan
• Business plan myths

Know someone who owns or wants to start a newspaper? Share this article with them!

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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How to Create a Newspaper in Microsoft Word: A Step-by-Step Guide

Creating a newspaper in Microsoft Word is a straightforward process that involves setting up a document layout that resembles a traditional newspaper format. By selecting the right template, adjusting column settings, adding text and images, and customizing the design, you can create a professional-looking newspaper for personal, educational, or business purposes.

After completing the newspaper, you can print it out for physical distribution, share it digitally via email or social media, or even publish it on a website as a downloadable PDF. The final product will be a testament to your creative and technical skills, ready to inform or entertain your audience.

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to create your newspaper but didn’t know where to start? Well, you’re in luck because Microsoft Word provides all the tools you need to design and publish your very own paper. A newspaper can be a fantastic platform for sharing news, expressing opinions, and showcasing creativity. Whether you’re a teacher looking for a classroom project, a small business owner wanting to connect with customers, or a community member eager to share local stories, creating a newspaper could be just what you need.

Making a newspaper in Microsoft Word is a fun and rewarding project. It’s also a great way to develop your design and layout skills. With a little bit of patience and some creativity, anyone can produce a newspaper that looks professional and engaging. In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps to create your newspaper in Word, from choosing the right template to adding finishing touches. So grab your journalist’s hat, and let’s dive in!

Step by Step Tutorial to Create a Newspaper in Microsoft Word

Before we start, let’s define what we will accomplish. By following these steps, we’ll transform a blank Word document into a multi-column newspaper with headlines, articles, and images.

Step 1: Choose a Newspaper Template

Start by opening Microsoft Word and selecting a newspaper template.

Templates are a great starting point because they come with a predefined layout that you can customize. Microsoft Word offers a variety of templates, and you can find them by searching for “newspaper” in the template search bar. Once you’ve selected a template, it will open as a new document, and you’re ready for the next step.

Step 2: Adjust the Columns

Customize the template’s column layout to fit your newspaper’s style.

Most newspapers use a multi-column format for a traditional look and to fit more content onto each page. To adjust columns in Word, go to the “Layout” tab and click on “Columns.” Choose the number of columns you want and apply them to your document. Keep in mind that you can adjust the width and spacing of columns to best suit your content.

Step 3: Add Headlines and Text

Insert headlines and type in your articles using Word’s text editing tools.

Every newspaper needs attention-grabbing headlines. Use the “Home” tab to choose a bold and readable font style and size for your headlines. Then, start typing your articles, or paste text you’ve written elsewhere. Don’t forget to check the spelling and grammar—it’s essential for a professional-looking newspaper!

Step 4: Insert Images and Captions

Enhance your newspaper with relevant images and captions.

Articles with images are more engaging and help break up blocks of text. To insert an image, go to the “Insert” tab and click “Pictures.” Choose an image from your computer and resize or move it to fit within your column layout. Adding a caption is as easy as typing text below the image, and you can format it to be smaller than the article text for clarity.

Step 5: Customize the Design

Personalize your newspaper by changing fonts, colors, and adding design elements.

This is where you can let your creativity shine. Experiment with different font styles for article text and bylines. Use the “Design” tab to add color to headings or page borders. If your newspaper has sections (like sports or entertainment), consider using different colors or fonts to distinguish them. Remember to keep your design consistent throughout the document for a cohesive look.

Additional Information

Creating a newspaper in Microsoft Word is a fun and educational experience that can have various applications. For instance, teachers can use this project to teach students about journalism, writing, and design. Small business owners might produce a monthly newsletter to keep customers informed. Community organizations could create a paper to highlight local events and stories.

One thing to keep in mind is that while Word is a potent tool, it has limitations, especially if you’re planning to print a large number of copies. For professional printing, consider creating a PDF version of your newspaper, as PDFs are better suited for that purpose.

Another tip is to save your work frequently. Newspapers can be large documents, and losing progress due to a computer crash would be devastating. And don’t forget to proofread! A newspaper riddled with typos can be embarrassing and harm your credibility.

Remember, the key to a successful newspaper in Microsoft Word is planning. Before you start, sketch out a rough layout and decide on the content you want to include. This preparation will make the creation process smoother and more enjoyable.

• Choose a newspaper template in Microsoft Word to get started.
• Adjust the columns to your desired layout.
• Add engaging headlines and your written articles.
• Insert relevant images with captions to complement your text.
• Customize the design to make your newspaper unique.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i create a newspaper from scratch without a template.

Yes, you can create a newspaper from scratch by setting up the columns and layout manually. However, using a template can save you time and ensure your newspaper has a professional structure.

How do I print my newspaper?

To print your newspaper, go to the “File” menu, select “Print,” and adjust the settings to your preferences. If you’re printing at home, make sure your printer can handle the paper size and quality you desire.

What’s the best way to distribute my newspaper digitally?

You can distribute your newspaper digitally by saving it as a PDF and sharing it via email or social media. PDFs are widely accessible and maintain the formatting of your document.

Can I collaborate with others on my newspaper in Word?

Yes, you can collaborate with others by using Word’s “Share” feature. This allows multiple people to edit the document simultaneously, making it easier to work on a newspaper as a team.

Is there a limit to the number of pages I can have in my Word newspaper?

No, there’s no strict limit to the number of pages, but the larger your document, the more likely you may encounter performance issues. Keep your newspaper concise and to the point for the best results.

Creating a newspaper in Microsoft Word is not only a practical skill but also an avenue for unlimited creative expression. Whether you’re looking to inform, entertain, or simply try your hand at design, Word provides a platform that’s both accessible and flexible. With the guidance provided in this article, you’re well on your way to producing a newspaper that you can be proud of.

Remember, the most critical aspect of any newspaper is its content. Engaging articles, striking images, and a consistent layout are key to capturing and keeping your readers’ attention. So, gather your stories, unleash your inner editor, and get ready to make headlines with your very own Microsoft Word newspaper.

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

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Startup Guide

Take these steps to plan, launch and operate a nonprofit news organization

The journey from editor or reporter to founder of a nonprofit news operation is an exciting one filled with many unknowns and lots of opportunity.

At INN we field numerous questions from individuals who want to embark on this journey: How do I assess the need for my brand of journalism? How do I find funding for my concept? How do I decide between fiscal sponsorship vs. filing for 501(c)(3) status?

We certainly provide answers to the questions, but we realize answering questions or directing people to the INN website and other industry resources doesn’t necessarily provide a comprehensive view of what is entailed in getting a  sustainable  independent newsroom off the ground.

The Startup Guide is our attempt to curate the information and tools we think are essential to launch an independent newsroom and leading a successful enterprise well beyond startup.

The areas of focus include business planning, audience development, revenue generation and nonprofit management. All to support those who want to start a sustainable nonprofit news organization.

In addition to using the Startup Guide, we encourage you to scan all of INN’s News Startup Resources .

This Startup Guide is intended to help those planning to launch news websites walk through planning and operational issues they will encounter. It is designed as a primer, roughly in order of things that nonprofit news site founders need to think about. INN’s website provides many related resources organized by topic. Only those resources of special interest to startups are linked from this guide.

How-tos have been edited/curated by INN. Links and sample documents are contributed by the INN member community and partners and may not have been edited by INN. Use your own judgment in assessing any of this material.

The Startup Guide is organized in chapters and throughout each chapter are links to resources that expand on the topic to deepen the reader’s understanding. Although each chapter stands alone, the Guide follows the path from ideation to launch and beyond.

We hope you find the Guide useful and welcome suggestions for additional tools and resources to help those on the journey. You’ll find a suggestion link on each page.

If you see something you believe is incorrect or misdirects people, please email INN’s research director Emily Roseman . We take down really outdated content, but do leave up evergreen material that may include some outdated reference point but is still useful. Our latest perspective on trends in the nonprofit news sector is updated periodically on our  INN Index page.

Chapter 1: Where to Start  introduces readers to the business model canvas and the vocabulary of running a nonprofit news business used throughout the rest of the guide. It explains the qualities of entrepreneurship and the demands upon an entrepreneur. It explains the need for market research and having a truly user-centered business.

Chapter 2: Nonprofit News Mission  addresses what needs to be in a mission statement, with examples, and how to develop a brand. It explains what an impact model is and how to measure output, outcomes, and ultimately impact. It explains how and why to do a competitive analysis.

Chapter 3: Audience Strategy and Development  covers market assessment and what it takes to fulfill a nonprofit’s mission. It discusses strategies for building both a direct audience and distributed audiences, which are reached through syndication and redistribution of content. It offers resources on building an email list and creating newsletters to develop an audience willing to support the organization.

Chapter 4: Revenue Models for Nonprofit News  introduces the most common revenue streams for nonprofit news, with examples. It offers templates for forecasting revenue based on the kind of revenue a news organization chooses to pursue.

Chapter 5: Fundraising and Partnerships  explains how and why journalists need to be asking for money in an ethical and transparent way, the benefit of up-front fundraising, and the role and limits of grants. It introduces the basic tools and tracking used in fundraising.

Chapter 6: The Business Plan  covers the basics of forecasting revenue and costs, management and board structure, building a budget, and how to align costs with projected revenue to make sure cash flow will cover expenses.

Chapter 7: Making the Go/No-Go Decision  presents a cost-benefit analysis of starting a nonprofit news organization, and helps readers decide whether they are prepared to do so.

Chapter 8: The Board Is Your Strategic Partner  explains how governance is a pillar of success and the community connector for a nonprofit operation. It provides advice on building a strong board of directors.

Chapter 9: Setting up Operations  offers practical information about incorporating, charity registration and taxes, the fiscal sponsorship option, financial controls, insurance, legal support, and human resources and employment issues.

Chapter 10: Trust and Ethics  briefly recaps the crucial role nonprofits play in restoring public trust in news media.

The Startup Guide was an INN team project led by Sue Cross, Fran Scarlett, Jules Shapiro and Miranda Krapf. The guide was edited primarily by Howard Goldberg, with assistance from Beverly Young and Heidi Carreon.

Work on the Startup Guide began in 2016 under a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and has continued with support from funders including the Democracy Fund, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.

Before starting into the how-to guide, you may want to read this June 2021 article from Columbia Journalism Review. Richard J. Tofel, stepping down as president of INN member ProPublica, tells What I Learned from the Nonprofit News Revolution . He focuses on practical issues such as, “How much money do you need to start?” and “Who donates to nonprofit journalism?” INN offers more resources on the same questions in the Startup Guide and in case studies on our website.

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How to Start a School Newspaper in Middle School

Last Updated: April 25, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by Alicia Oglesby . Alicia Oglesby is a Professional School Counselor and the Director of School and College Counseling at Bishop McNamara High School outside of Washington DC. With over ten years of experience in counseling, Alicia specializes in academic advising, social-emotional skills, and career counseling. Alicia holds a BS in Psychology from Howard University and a Master’s in Clinical Counseling and Applied Psychology from Chestnut Hill College. She also studied Race and Mental Health at Virginia Tech. Alicia holds Professional School Counseling Certifications in both Washington DC and Pennsylvania. She has created a college counseling program in its entirety and developed five programs focused on application workshops, parent information workshops, essay writing collaborative, peer-reviewed application activities, and financial aid literacy events. This article has been viewed 136,483 times.

Starting a school newspaper can be a great learning experience. You get to hunt down stories and write about what is going on around you. Plus, it shows you have initiative and drive. Starting a paper will be hard work, though, so be prepared to give as much time and effort as you can, especially when you're first starting out. You'll need to get school support, then decide how you want your newspaper to be set up. Once you've got that figured out, you can get down to business writing articles.

Gaining Support for the Paper

• You could say, "I'm really interested in journalism, and I've noticed we don't have a school newspaper. I'd like to start one. Would you consider being the sponsor?"
• In some schools, you may be required to have a sponsor to start something like a newspaper.

• Even if you do find a sponsor, you'll still likely need to go talk to the head of the school, but your sponsor should come with you.
• Set up a formal appointment with the principal or vice principal by talking with the administrative office.
• You could say, "I have a strong interest in journalism, and I'd like to start a school paper. How do I get started?"

• Don't just ask your friends. You want diversity on your staff. Ask people from different groups, organizations, and cliques, so your paper will represent your school better.

• You may be able to gain revenue for the newspaper by selling ads to local retailers. Set aside certain sections of the paper, then determine how much you want to sell ads for. Approach or call local businesses to see if they'd be willing to pay to advertise.
• You can also ask the school for money, but budgets are often tight. If that doesn't work, consider approaching the PTA/PTO. They might hold a fundraiser for you. Alternatively, you could run your own fundraiser, such as a bake sale or car wash.

Establishing the Basics

• Your audience also helps you determine your format. If you just have a small audience, you probably want an easy electronic format, such as a blog.

• You could also create a newspaper distributed through a blog service, such as Blogger or WordPress. An electronic newspaper is a great way to save money. Plus, you can easily update it as much as you want. Also, you don't have to waste time running to the printers or printing the paper off yourself.
• To promote your electronic paper, consider printing out promotional fliers. You can have a web address, or you could even use a QR code so students could access it.

• For instance, maybe your school has a heavy focus on academics and the arts. You could have sections such as news, features, arts, and editorials.
• If you're going for a print paper, keep in mind that the longer your paper is, the more expensive it's going to be.
• You may want to include a section with little snippets of news, an area where you can write anecdotal tidbits that don't warrant a full article.
• You can always start smaller. You can always work up to a bigger newspaper later. In fact, you can just stick to one section to begin with, such as news.

• Eventually, you may want to move to once or twice a month.

• For instance, one person could cover sports, while another covers entertainment.
• Often, the faculty sponsor will act as one of the editors. Also, the teacher will likely be the one to hand out the jobs.

Getting the First Issue Out

• You can even use your smartphone to record interviews. Just remember to always get consent from the person before you record them.
• If you're writing an article about the school, get other students' opinions. Talk to as many people as you can to get quotes. Try asking around at lunch or after school.

• Your first paragraph is called the lead. It should give readers the basic information, including what you decided was most important.
• Once you've established the major facts, you can provide supporting details in the following paragraphs. [7] X Research source

• For instance, "There are many reasons that she ate pie," is in passive voice. To switch to active voice, find the subject who's doing the action, "she" in this case, and switch the sentence around: "She ate pie for many reasons." Also, the main verb in the sentence is now an action verb instead of a being verb.

• Look for a good lead upfront that lets the reader know what's going on. Also, make sure the writer follows up with clear details. [9] X Research source
• Try letting a student edit them first, and then run them by your faculty sponsor.
• Don't forget to add a snazzy headline.

• For print editions, you may want to have stacks of newspapers all around the school that kids can pick up.

Making Your Newspaper Better

• You should also be reading other papers. Try reading your local paper, for instance. Reading newspapers helps you learn the journalistic style.

• The goal of your paper should be to help build a community at your school. Be as inclusive as you can.

Sample Articles

Expert Q&A

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• ↑ https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Press-Ahead-A-Teacher%E2%80%99s-Guide-to-Creating-Student-Newspapers.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/05/
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/04/
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/02/
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jan/02/setting-up-student-newspaper

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NASCAR at Richmond: Lineup, start time, predictions, preview, picks, how to watch the Toyota Owners 400

Nascar makes its way to richmond for the first night race of the season on easter sunday.

For millions around the world, Easter Sunday is the holiest of all days of worship in Christianity, representing the absolution of sin, the miracle of the resurrection and the promise of eternal life through it. But once Church is finished and all the Easter eggs have been hunted, there is the matter of what to do on Easter night. And for NASCAR, that's a fairly simple proposition.

The NASCAR Cup Series will race on Easter Sunday night for the third year in a row, this time heading to Richmond Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400. This marks the second short track race of the season, which has a particularly tough act to follow after an extremely competitive and highly unusual race just a few short weeks ago at Bristol.

Bristol winner Denny Hamlin, a native of Chesterfield, Va., will look to go two-for-two on short tracks this season and pick up his fifth Richmond win overall. He's likely going to have to deal with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in Ty Gibbs, who enters this race having earned five top 10 finishes in a row and threatening to pick up his first Cup Series win early in his sophomore season.

Let's take a closer look at the rest of the field this weekend along with what to watch before getting to a pick to win the race on Sunday below.

How to Watch the NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond

Date: Sunday, March 31 Location: Richmond Raceway -- Henrico County, Virginia Time: 7 p.m. ET TV: Fox Stream: fubo ( try for free )

Toyota Owners 400 starting lineup

• #5 - Kyle Larson
• #9 - Chase Elliott
• #1 - Ross Chastain
• #48 - Alex Bowman
• #23 - Bubba Wallace
• #38 - Todd Gilliland
• #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
• #54 - Ty Gibbs
• #2 - Austin Cindric
• #22 - Joey Logano
• #11 - Denny Hamlin
• #12 - Ryan Blaney
• #24 - William Byron
• #17 - Chris Buescher
• #8 - Kyle Busch
• #41 - Ryan Preece
• #10 - Noah Gragson
• #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
• #45 - Tyler Reddick
• #99 - Daniel Suarez
• #7 - Corey LaJoie
• #3 - Austin Dillon
• #6 - Brad Keselowski
• #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
• #21 - Harrison Burton
• #43 - Erik Jones
• #71 - Zane Smith (R)
• #20 - Christopher Bell
• #4 - Josh Berry (R)
• #34 - Michael McDowell
• #14 - Chase Briscoe
• #16 - Ty Dillon
• #31 - Daniel Hemric
• #15 - Kaz Grala (R)
• #51 - Justin Haley

What to Watch

If you enjoyed two weeks ago at Bristol, where extreme tire falloff led to a tire management race that had the entire field on edge trying to make sure they had enough rubber to make it to the end of a run, you're likely going to enjoy the racing at Richmond as well. Thanks to this track's old asphalt, Richmond has turned into a race of tire conservation and tire strategy, which usually plays out from the drop of the green flag to the point where everyone's strategies suddenly converge on the final lap.

Over the past several years, a number of Richmond races have been determined by the final green flag run and who has the fewest laps on their tires to get to the front by the checkered flag. But last year was a little different: Both Richmond races were determined by a series of short runs to the finish, with Kyle Larson hanging on for the final 14 laps in the spring and Chris Buescher holding the lead for the final three laps in the summer.

Tires will be the ultimate determining factor in who wins this race regardless of how many laps the last green flag run lasts, and also regardless of the conditions: This is the first Richmond race to be run at nighttime in two years, and the first Spring race to be run under the lights since 2019.

News of the Week

NEWS | @MartinTruex_Jr , @RossChastain , and @JoshBerry recently conducted a Goodyear tire test at Sonoma Raceway, working closely with Goodyear officials to identify the ideal compound for Cup teams to use for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 this summer. 📰 : https://t.co/o3YD5T6u7S … pic.twitter.com/xzFtzSOj59 — Sonoma Raceway (@RaceSonoma) March 27, 2024

• Kaulig Racing introduced the newest addition to their driver lineup for the No. 16 Chevrolet, announcing that Ty Dillon will run five races for them starting this weekend at Richmond. The younger of the Dillon brothers will also run Texas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Richmond in August and Kansas in September.
• Goodyear has completed a tire test at Sonoma Raceway as they seek to develop and choose a tire for this June's race at Sonoma, which has been newly repaved for 2024. Participating drivers included Ross Chastain for Chevrolet, Josh Berry for Ford and Martin Truex Jr. for Toyota.
• As NASCAR continues to try and find a place to race in Southern California, RACER has reported that the sanctioning body is pursuing a 50 percent stake in the famed Long Beach Grand Prix that has been put up for sale by the estate of late businessman Kevin Kalkhoven. Those efforts have apparently not gone unnoticed, as Penske Entertainment -- the owners of IndyCar -- is reportedly trying to block NASCAR's efforts with a bid of its own for the Long Beach Grand Prix, which is currently a part of the IndyCar calendar.
• A potentially remarkable discovery has been made at North Wilkesboro Speedway, as a sinkhole identified in the frontstretch grandstands while inspecting the facilities unearthed what may be a long-rumored moonshine cave beneath the speedway. The local legend will be explored further as speedway officials prepare the track to host the All-Star Race in May.

Pick to Win

Christopher Bell (+425) -- Before a down result in the most recent race at Richmond last July (20th), this track had emerged as one of Christopher Bell's personal best in NASCAR. From the spring of 2021 to the spring of last year, Bell had put together a streak of five consecutive Richmond finishes of sixth or better, including four top fives and a second-place run in the summer of 2022. This weekend, Bell enters Richmond on the strength of an excellent start to 2024, including a win at Phoenix and a runner-up at COTA in the past three weeks.

So who wins the Toyota Owners 400 2024, and which longshots stun NASCAR?  Visit SportsLine now to see the 2024 NASCAR at Richmond picks and best bets from a team of elite NASCAR handicappers who already nailed Daniel Suarez's win this year, and find out.

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Cranes arriving to start removing wreckage from deadly Baltimore bridge collapse

BALTIMORE — A crane appeared at the site of a  collapsed highway bridge in Baltimore as crews prepared Friday to begin clearing wreckage that has stymied the search for four missing workers and blocked ships from entering or leaving the city’s vital port.

A crane that can lift 1,000 tons — described the largest on the Eastern Seaboard — had been expected to arrive late Thursday, and a second that can lift 400 tons should arrive Saturday, officials said earlier. They will be used to clear the channel of the twisted metal and concrete remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, as well as the  cargo ship  that hit it this week.

In total, four heavy lift cranes will be at the site by Monday, Gov. Wes Moore told reporters Friday.

He said in the following weeks, seven floating cranes, 10 tugs, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats will be at the wreckage site to clear the channel as soon as possible.

Moore noted that one of the biggest challenges is that the Key Bridge over the wrecked Dali cargo ship weighs somewhere between 3 to 4,000 tons, meaning the salvage team must cut up the truss into sections "in a safe and responsible way" before those pieces can be lifted out of the water.

Divers had already recovered the bodies of two men from a pickup truck in the Patapsco River, but the nature and placement of the debris has complicated efforts to find the four workers still missing and presumed dead.

“The divers can put their hands on that faceplate, and they can’t even see their hands,” said Donald Gibbons, an instructor with Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Technical Centers. “So we say zero visibility. It’s very similar to locking yourself in a dark closet on a dark night and really not being able to see anything.”

Divers must cut up debris to remove it, Gibbons said, likening it to playing pick-up sticks, since items at the bottom can’t move without disturbing the whole pile.

“So we use underwater burning and underwater cutting solutions to help make those pieces smaller so that when we do cut them away, we’re not affecting the entire pile,” said Gibbons, who is not involved in the Baltimore effort.

Baltimoreans made morning stops at vantage points to watch for the cranes. Ronald Hawkins, who is 71 and could see the bridge from his home, recalled watching its construction in 1972. It opened in 1977.

Now, with sadness, he stopped by an overlook, seeking closure.

“I’m going to come up here every day, because I want to see the bridge coming up out of the water,” Hawkins said. “It’s a hurtin’ thing.”

“The best minds in the world” are working on the removal plans, Moore said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore district told the governor that it and the Navy were quickly mobilizing resources from around the country.

“This is not just about Maryland,” said Moore, a Democrat. “This is about the nation’s economy. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in America.”

He thanked President Joe Biden’s administration for approving $60 million in immediate aid. Biden has said the federal government will pay the full cost of rebuilding the bridge.

Ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore remains suspended, but the Maryland Port Administration said in a statement Friday that trucks were still being processed at marine terminals.

“There is a lot of speculation as to when the channel will be reopened,” the agency said. “The fact of the matter is we do not know.”

Federal and state officials have said the collision and collapse early Tuesday appeared to be an accident that came after the ship lost power. Investigators are still trying to determine why.

The victims , who were part of a construction crew fixing potholes on the bridge, were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, officials said. At least eight people initially went into the water when the  ship struck the bridge column , and two of them were rescued, officials said.

Moore said Friday, “I’ll be proposing the creation of a permanent state scholarship for the children of surviving spouses of transportation workers who lost their lives on this job.”

The crash caused the bridge to break and fall into the water within seconds. Authorities had  just enough time to stop  vehicle traffic but were unable to alert the construction crew.

During the Baltimore Orioles’ opening day game Thursday, Sgt. Paul Pastorek, Cpl. Jeremy Herbert and Officer Garry Kirts, of the Maryland Transportation Authority, were honored for their actions in halting bridge traffic and preventing further loss of life.

The three said in a statement that they were “proud to carry out our duties as officers of this state to save the lives that we could.”

The cargo ship Dali, which is managed by Synergy Marine Group, had been headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka. It is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and was chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk.

The loss of a road that carried 30,000 vehicles a day and the port disruption will affect not only thousands of dockworkers and commuters, but also U.S. consumers, who are likely to feel the  impact of shipping delays .

Scott Cowan, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333, said the union was scrambling to help its roughly 2,400 members whose jobs are at risk of drying up.

“If there’s no ships, there’s no work,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can.”

The huge vessel was carrying nearly 4,700 shipping containers, 56 of them with  hazardous materials  inside. Fourteen were destroyed, officials said. Industrial hygienists who evaluated the contents identified them as perfumes and soaps, the Key Bridge Joint Information Center said, and there was “no immediate threat to the environment.”

Containers are hanging dangerously off the side of the ship, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said. “We’re trying to keep our first responders … as safe as possible.”

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Putin says he won’t start a war with NATO. But Western bases hosting Ukraine F-16s would be targets

Inna, 71, holds food items found as she stands outside her house which was destroyed by a Russian drone attack in a residential neighborhood, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Inna, 71, carries possessions rescued from the rubble of her house which was destroyed by a Russian drone attack in a residential neighbourhood, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a destroyed house after a Russian drone attack on a residential neighbourhood, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Inna, 71, stands outside of her house which was destroyed by a Russian drone attack in a residential neighbourhood, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Inna, 71, clears the rubble after her house was destroyed by a Russian drone attack in a residential neighbourhood, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Rescue workers clear the rubble of destroyed houses after a Russian drone attack of a residential neighbourhood, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Inna, 71, holds food items found as she stands outside of her house which was destroyed by a Russian drone attack in a residential neighbourhood, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin scoffed at the possibility of his country launching an attack on a NATO member, calling it “sheer nonsense,” but warned that any Western air base hosting U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets that are slated for deployment in Ukraine would be a “legitimate target” for the Kremlin’s forces.

“Their statements about our alleged intention to attack Europe after Ukraine is sheer nonsense,” Putin said late Wednesday, referring to warnings in the U.S. and Western Europe that Russia could turn its sights on other countries unless it’s stopped.

He noted that the U.S. defense budget is more than 10 times higher than Russia’s.

“In view of that, are we going to wage a war against NATO? It’s ravings,” he told military pilots during a visit to an air base.

Ukraine is awaiting the delivery of F-16s , which will increase military pressure on Russia, from its Western partners. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last year that 42 F-16s had been promised. Ukrainian pilots have been training in the West for months on how to fly the warplanes.

The F-16s require a high standard of runways and reinforced hangars to protect them from bombing attacks when they are on the ground. It’s not clear how many Ukrainian air bases can meet those requirements, and Russia would be certain to quickly target a few that could accommodate them once the jets arrive.

Putin warned Ukraine’s Western allies against providing air bases in their countries from where the F-16s could launch sorties against the Kremlin’s forces. Those bases would become a “legitimate target,” he said.

“F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and we will also need to take that into account while organizing our combat operations,” Putin added.

Military analysts have said the arrival of F-16s won’t be a game-changer in view of Russia’s massive air force and sophisticated air defense systems, though Ukrainian officials have welcomed them as an opportunity to hit back at Russia’s air dominance.

Putin insisted the F-16s “won’t change the situation on the battlefield.”

“We will destroy their warplanes just as we destroy their tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers,” he said.

F-16s can be used to bolster Ukraine’s capability to target Russian facilities with long-range missile strikes. Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year came up short in part because it took place without air cover, placing its troops at the mercy of Russian aviation and artillery.

Russia has maintained air dominance in the war with Ukraine, though the provision of sophisticated Western air defense systems has forced Russian warplanes to avoid Ukrainian skies and launch attacks while remaining over Russia-controlled territory.

On Thursday, a Russian fighter jet crashed into the Black Sea off the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, Sevastopol Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev said. The pilot ejected and was recovered by rescue teams about 200 meters from shore, he said. Razvozhayev provided no details about the possible cause of the crash.

The Kremlin currently has a battlefield edge in weapons and troops, yielding recent incremental gains at points on the around 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, as Kyiv awaits more promised Western military support and mulls a broader mobilization.

Russia fired salvos of drones and missiles overnight at southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, authorities said Thursday, wounding more than a dozen people as the Kremlin’s forces persevered with attritional attacks designed to wear down Ukrainian defenses .

Air defense systems intercepted 26 out of 28 Shahed drones, Ukraine’s air force said. Russian forces also launched five missiles overnight, it said.

The regular bombardment of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces during the war has recently gained momentum, with missile barrages of the capital, Kyiv, and strikes on energy facilities across the country. The attacks also aim to weaken Ukrainian morale and act as retribution for Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian soil.

One of Russia’s goals is to “deplete Ukraine’s inventory of ground-based air defense,” according to a recent military assessment published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

That would erode some of Ukraine’s combat ability as it waits on pledged but delayed military support from the West, including ammunition for its artillery and air defenses.

“Kyiv is confronted by the threat that an attritional war in the air domain will increasingly favor Russia without adequate support from the U.S. and its allies,” the IISS said. “Ukraine’s ability to continue to counter Russian air threats and impose costs on the Russian Aerospace Forces remains important to the outcome of the war.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Rustan Umerov both pleaded with foreign allies on Thursday to send more air defense systems and missiles.

The Ukrainian Mission to NATO said that it convened an extraordinary ambassador-level meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at the alliance’s headquarters on Thursday in response to Russia’s missile attacks on critical infrastructure.

“Ukraine urgently requires more air defense and interceptors,” especially Patriot systems that can intercept ballistic missiles, Kuleba said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter. Ukraine is the only country in the world targeted by ballistic missiles almost daily, he said.

Authorities in the Mykolaiv region, near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, said that 12 people were wounded and six residential buildings were damaged in a Russian strike with a ballistic missile on the city on Wednesday afternoon.

In an overnight attack on the southern Ukraine region of Zaporizhzhia, Shahed drones struck a residential area, injuring two women ages 72 and 74, according to regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov. Rescue services said that seven buildings were damaged.

The Black Sea city of Odesa repelled three missile and drone attacks, officials said.

Barry Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

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NASCAR at Richmond spring 2024: Start time, TV, streaming, lineup for Toyota Owners 400

NASCAR arrives in the capital of Virginia for an Easter Sunday night race and the first of two consecutive short-track races in the Old Dominion.

Historically, racing on Easter has been relatively rare for NASCAR, though the Cup Series scheduled races at Bristol Motor Speedway – on the dirt – on the night of the holiday in 2022 and 2023. This year, Richmond Raceway gets the Easter race as well as a second night race – its mid-August race will also be held on Sunday night.

This week’s Richmond race also marks the second true short-track race of the season, following a successful race at Bristol two weekends ago. Martinsville Speedway, also in Virginia, hosts a short-track race next weekend.

Who will take the checkered flag on Easter? Here’s all the information you need to get ready for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway:

What time does the Cup race at Richmond start?

The Toyota Owners 400 starts at 7 p.m. ET at Richmond Raceway.

What TV channel is the Cup race at Richmond on?

Fox is broadcasting the Toyota Owners 400 and has a pre-race show beginning at 6 p.m. ET. Fox Sports 1 (FS1) has an earlier pre-race show at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Will there be a live stream of the Cup race at Richmond?

The Toyota Owners 400 can be live streamed on the  FoxSports website  and on the FoxSports app.

How many laps is the Cup race at Richmond?

The Toyota Owners 400 is 400 laps around the 0.75-mile oval for a total of 300 miles. The race will feature three segments (laps per stage) — Stage 1: 70 laps; Stage 2: 160 laps; Stage 3: 170 laps.

Who won the most recent races at Richmond?

Chris Buescher led 88 of 400 laps, including the final seven, before edging Denny Hamlin by 0.549 seconds on July 30, 2023, for the first of his three wins last season.

And one year ago, on April 2, 2023, Kyle Larson led 93 of 400 laps, including the final 25, before pulling away from Josh Berry by 1.535 seconds, for the first of his four victories last season.

What is the lineup for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond?

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet

2. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet

3. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet

4. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet

5. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota

6. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford

7. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota

8. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota

9. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford

10. (22) Joey Logano, Ford

11. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota

12. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford

13. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet

14. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford

15. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet

16. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford

17. (10) Noah Gragson, Ford

18. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota

19. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota

20. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet

21. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet

22. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet

23. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford

24. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet

25. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet

26. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford

27. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota

28. (71) Zane Smith, Chevrolet

29. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota

30. (4) Josh Berry, Ford

31. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford

32. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford

33. (16) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet

34. (31) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet

35. (15) Kaz Grala, Ford

36. (51) Justin Haley, Ford

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New York Takes Crucial Step Toward Making Congestion Pricing a Reality

The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to approve a new $15 toll to drive into Manhattan. The plan still faces challenges from six lawsuits before it can begin in June.

By Winnie Hu and Ana Ley

New York City completed a crucial final step on Wednesday in a decades-long effort to become the first American city to roll out a comprehensive congestion pricing program, one that aims to push motorists out of their cars and onto mass transit by charging new tolls to drive into Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

The program could start as early as mid-June after the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that will install and manage the program, voted 11-to-1 to approve the final tolling rates, which will charge most passenger cars $15 a day to enter at 60th Street and below in Manhattan. The program is expected to reduce traffic and raise $1 billion annually for public transit improvements.

It was a historic moment for New York’s leaders and transportation advocates after decades of failed attempts to advance congestion pricing even as other gridlocked cities around the world, including London, Stockholm and Singapore, proved that similar programs could reduce traffic and pollution.

While other American cities have introduced related concepts by establishing toll roads or closing streets to traffic, the plan in New York is unmatched in ambition and scale.

Congestion pricing is expected to reduce the number of vehicles that enter Lower Manhattan by about 17 percent, according to a November study by an advisory committee reporting to the M.T.A. The report also said that the total number of miles driven in 28 counties across the region would be reduced.

“This was the right thing to do,” Janno Lieber, the authority’s chairman and chief executive, said after the vote. “New York has more traffic than any place in the United States, and now we’re doing something about it.”

Congestion pricing has long been a hard sell in New York, where many people commute by car from the boroughs outside of Manhattan and the suburbs, in part because some of them do not have access to public transit.

New York State legislators finally approved congestion pricing in 2019 after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo helped push it through. A series of recent breakdowns in the city’s subway system had underscored the need for billions of dollars to update its aging infrastructure.

It has taken another five years to reach the starting line. Before the tolling program can begin, it must be reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration, which is expected to approve it.

Congestion pricing also faces legal challenges from six lawsuits that have been brought by elected officials and residents from across the New York region. Opponents have increasingly mobilized against the program in recent months, citing the cost of the tolls and the potential environmental effects from shifting traffic and pollution to other areas as drivers avoid the tolls.

A court hearing is scheduled for April 3 and 4 on a lawsuit brought by the State of New Jersey, which is seen as the most serious legal challenge. The mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., Mark J. Sokolich, has filed a related lawsuit.

Four more lawsuits have been brought in New York: by Ed Day, the Rockland County executive; by Vito Fossella, the Staten Island borough president, and the United Federation of Teachers; and by two separate groups of city residents.

Amid the litigation, M.T.A. officials have suspended some capital construction projects that were to be paid for by the program, and they said at a committee meeting on Monday that crucial work to modernize subway signals on the A and C lines had been delayed.

Nearly all the toll readers have been installed, and will automatically charge drivers for entering the designated congestion zone at 60th Street or below. There is no toll for leaving the zone or driving around in it. Through traffic on Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive and the West Side Highway will not be tolled.

Under the final tolling structure, which was based on recommendations by the advisory panel, most passenger vehicles will be charged $15 a day from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. The toll will be $24 for small trucks and charter buses, and will rise to $36 for large trucks and tour buses. It will be $7.50 for motorcycles.

Those tolls will be discounted by 75 percent at night, dropping the cost for a passenger vehicle to $3.75.

Fares will go up by $1.25 for taxis and black car services, and by $2.50 for Uber and Lyft. Passengers will be responsible for paying the new fees, and they will be added to every ride that begins, ends or occurs within the congestion zone. There will be no nighttime discounts. (The new fees come on top of an existing congestion surcharge that was imposed on for-hire vehicles in 2019.)

The tolls will mostly be collected using the E-ZPass system. Electronic detection points have been placed at entrances and exits to the tolling zone. Drivers who do not use an E-ZPass will pay significantly higher fees — for instance, $22.50 instead of $15 during peak hours for passenger vehicles.

Emergency vehicles like fire trucks, ambulances and police cars, as well as vehicles carrying people with disabilities, were exempted from the new tolls under the state’s congestion pricing legislation .

As for discounts, low-income drivers who make less than $50,000 annually can apply to receive half off the daytime toll after their first 10 trips in a calendar month. In addition, low-income residents of the congestion zone who make less than $60,000 a year can apply for a state tax credit.

All drivers entering the zone directly from four tolled tunnels — the Lincoln, Holland, Hugh L. Carey and Queens-Midtown — will receive a “crossing credit” that will be applied against the daytime toll. The credit will be $5 round-trip for passenger vehicles, $12 for small trucks and intercity and charter buses, $20 for large trucks and tour buses, and $2.50 for motorcycles. No credits will be offered at night.

Grace Ashford contributed reporting.

Winnie Hu is a Times reporter covering the people and neighborhoods of New York City. More about Winnie Hu

Ana Ley is a Times reporter covering New York City’s mass transit system and the millions of passengers who use it. More about Ana Ley