Newspaper Terminology Vocab

Byline

A line indicating who wrote the story. Oftentimes, this will also include the writer’s title.

Business Section

This section of the newspaper contains stories and news related to business.

Caption

A brief description underneath a photo that explains what is happening in the photo.

Column

A recurring opinion-based article.

Dateline

A line of text that states where the story was physically written.

Editorial

An article in a newspaper or other periodical that presents the opinions of the newspaper, publisher, editor, or editors.

Entertainment Section

This section of the newspaper contains stores related to entertainment. This may include movie and play reviews, stories about restaurants, and things to do in town.

Front Page

The first page of the newspaper. This page contains the most timely, relevant, and newsworthy stories.

Hard News

Breaking news stories that contain timely and relevant information. The most newsworthy stories are placed on the front page of the paper.

Headline

Text formatted in a large type setting that summaries that story hand grabs the readers’ attention.

Jumpline

A continuation line that appears at the end of a story on a page that directs readers to the rest of the story on another page.

Layout

This design and position of stories, advertisements, pictures, and more in the paper.

Lead

This first sentence, or the beginning, of a story.

Local Section

This section of the newspaper contains stories relevant to the city or town in which the newspaper is published. It contains local stories.

Masthead

The top of the newspaper that includes general information about the newspaper. The masthead will typically contain the newspaper name, publisher, date, and more.

Op/ed

This abbreviation refers to the opinions and editorial pages of the newspaper

Print News

This is a term referring to publications that are printed instead of published electronically.

Soft News

Human interest news pieces such as entertainment stories, features, reviews, and more.

Sports Section

This section of the newspaper contains stories and news related to sports.

Sub Headline

A line of text is slightly smaller than the headline. The sub headline, also referred to as sub head, will contain a more detailed description of the story than the headline.