The most important story of the day, in the case of a daily paper, or of the week, in the case of a weekly suburban newspaper, appears on the front page. In most cases, this is accompanied by a colour photograph which helps to illustrate the words written by the journalist.
inside the paper
Information of importance to the local community is usually featured in suburban newspapers, whilst metropolitan dailies tend to concentrate on world, national, and state matters.
Journalists follow up information received from a variety of sources, and research background information on stories they write, as well as doing the normal court and police rounds, council news, sport, entertainment, motoring, etc.
Journalists type their stories directly into our editorial database, the stories are checked and sub-edited, then allocated a page on which to be placed.
general news
The editorial content of any newspaper is made of news, photographs, analysis and opinion.
Torch Publishing is committed to providing its readers the best of all four characteristics. By far the most significant are news stories, which are constructed by the Torch journalists.
The topics are wide and varied - covering areas of political importance, general human interest, police rounds, entertainment and sport. Being a local newspaper serving the local area, the local councils get high priority.
The Torch is represented at every public council meeting, where a large percentage of stories are gathered. Some of the district's most influential decisions are made at these meetings; it is for this reason council reports often get priority when laying out the paper.
Other methods of gathering news stories include press releases (particularly from government departments, social groups and organisations, etc.) which are posted or faxed to the Torch office, and interviews, either at the scene of an incident or over the telephone, whichever is most convenient.
Often when a big news story breaks (e.g. factory fire, plane crash, etc.) a photographer and reporter will be summonsed to the area for an interview and pictures.
The journalist will then return to the office and compile a story. It is typed on a word processer and sent through a modem to the editor for subbing - another word for correcting the story (spelling, grammar and style).
It is the editor's job to then place the article (and photograph if necessary) on a page. The editor will then sift through all stories prepared by the journalists and allocate them a priority. The most significant story of the week will usually be placed on the front page, the next most important will be placed on page 3, and so on.
Police rounds, entertainment and sporting results are often submitted by, respectively, police, local clubs, theatres, and sporting clubs and organisations. Then there are features, such as motoring news, real estate, weddings and other one-off special events, such as business anniversaries, grand-final previews, etc.
Analysis and/or opinion is often seen through the Torch page 2, with its editorial, Good and Bad and, occasionally, cartoon, and the letters to the editor provided by the readers.