A Day in the Life of a Newspaper

1. A Day in the Life of a Newspaper

2. Since its first issue on December 4, 1881, the Los Angeles Times has never missed a day of publication. 

3. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step A: The Assignment Los Angeles Times reporters get their stories in a number of ways.

4. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step A: The Assignment Early a.m. editors check the overnight news and hand out assignments to reporters for the day.

5. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step A: The Assignment Reporters who have assigned beats (or territories) they cover usually come up with stories by calling or hearing from people - called sources - in their assigned areas.

6. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step A: The Assignment Many stories are from reporters who have developed ideas on their own (called "enterprise journalism").

7. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step A: The Assignment The Los Angeles Times newsroom is fairly quiet in the mornings, as the reporters are usually out in the field working on stories.

8. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step B: The Reporters Stories are usually filed in the afternoons. Stories from faraway places are filed using a satellite phone.

9. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step B: The Reporters The first deadline comes up at 5 p.m. for the California Section, though truly important stories could be rushed into the paper as late as 11 p.m. or even midnight.

10. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step B: The Reporters Sports can run later than other sections, due to overtimes or the Olympics in other countries (and time zones). LA – 5 pm Sochi – 4 am

11. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step B: The Reporters But National, Foreign, State and California stories are usually finished by 9:30 - 10 p.m.

12. HOW DO YOU MAKE A STORY?Step C: Photos in the Newspaper Photo assignments will come from every part of the paper, so a photographer must be flexible and able to shoot any situation.

13. HOW DO YOU DIGITIZE? Once in the photo department, photos are "corrected" by color technicians using PhotoShop.

14. HOW DO YOU DIGITIZE? The LA Times is very strict with work done on photos. People or images cannot be added or moved around in photographs. X

15. HOW DO YOU DIGITIZE? All the color technicians can do is adjust tones, contrasts, and shades to ensure high quality color printing.

16. HOW DO YOU EDIT? About 2 p.m. every day, editors meet in a conference room to discuss the daily "budget" or list of stories planned for the next day's paper.

17. HOW DO YOU EDIT? The editors decide which stories will go on the front page of The Times and which will be placed inside.

18. HOW DO YOU EDIT? Photographs are also chosen to illustrate stories at this point.

19. HOW DO YOU EDIT? Headlines are then written by the copy editor, who corrects grammatical, spelling or factual errors. Finished stories are sent to the news editor.

20. HOW DO YOU EDIT? The news editor makes a page layout or "dummy." The dummy shows where the copy and the pictures will be on each page of the newspaper.

21. HOW DO YOU COMPOSE? Each day, the Los Angeles Times is laid out, page-by-page, on the computer. This process is called pagination.

22. HOW DO YOU COMPOSE? Pagination allows the page designer more flexibility and speed in putting the paper together.

23. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step A: Plates are Made for the Presses After pagination is completed, the images from the computer are transferred to an aluminum plate. The plate is then put on the printing press roller and inked. Then a rubber roller (called an offset or blanket roller) will pick up the ink and transfer it to the newsprint.

24. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step B: Rolls of Newsprint are Prepared Trains and trucks deliver the rolls of paper used on the printing presses. Each roll weighs about 1,200 kilograms and is about 13 kilometers long

25. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step C: The Paper is Printed The Times has three printing facilities. The presses can print an average of 1000 newspapers a minute.

26. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step C: The Paper is Printed The aluminum plates are mounted on the printing units. The average printing speed is about 25-40 kilometers per hour.

27. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step C: The Paper is Printed If the paper tears – a "web break" – the presses will shut down automatically, and the operators must fix it by hand.

28. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step D: From Printing to Shipping Newspapers are automatically sorted and folded. They are then carried by conveyor belt to the shipping and delivery area.

29. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step E: The Stacks are Wrapped In the delivery area they are dropped into stackers which create bundles of 50 copies.

30. HOW DO YOU PRINT?Step E: The Stacks are Wrapped Each completed bundle moves along conveyor belts to a machine called a "palletizer." This machine automatically creates a stack of papers on a wooden pallet. The pallets are then wrapped in plastic paper.

31. HOW DO YOU DISTRIBUTE? The pallets are loaded onto trucks and transported to distribution centers.

32. HOW DO YOU DISTRIBUTE? At the distribution centers, advertising inserts are added to the newspapers. This is still done by hand.

33. HOW DO YOU DISTRIBUTE? Most subscribers receive their newspapers at home by 6 am, Monday to Saturday. Sunday papers are delivered by 7 or 7:30 am.

34. HOW DO YOU DISTRIBUTE? People can also pick up a newspaper at newsstands or go online at latimes.com.