The FUNCTIONS of a newspaper can be set out under three main headings :.(i) to inform, (ii) to instruct and (iii) to entertain.
Information:
The first is obviously the most important function but the other two must be paid equal attention if a newspaper is to make a lasting appeal to the public. The first channel of instruction is the leading article or, what is called, the editorial which is the best medium at the newspaper’s disposal for the interpretation of the news of the moment.
The leader writer today may not have quite the same influence on the reader that he had when there were few newspapers but, nonetheless, a popular newspaper even today guides the public opinion by interpreting the news and elaborating the opinions for creating an impact on the readers.
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Instruction:
Modern newspapers cannot afford to make their leading article dry as dust. In fact, the short snappy leading article has become one of the most striking features of modern journalism.
It can fairly be said that if the reader studies the leading article in his favourite newspaper every day, he can obtain a very good picture of international, national and local affairs. While a reader may not accept the views of the leader as the gospel, all the same it enables him to adjust his ideas and encourage him to think for himself. Instruction is also to be gained from man of the articles on specialised subjects.
Entertainment:
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Modern newspapers tend to carry many light materials including articles written in light vein. These features not only indirectly influence the opinions of the readers but also fulfil the third function-entertainment.
Every paper by a process of trial and error must discover what form of entertainment pleases most of its readers for the greater part of the time.
The tastes of the readers of different journals vary considerably. Even serious newspapers and magazines now days are expected to carry strip cartoons or topical comics here and there.
It is one thing on which most of the newspapers seem to be agreed as it makes for the continuing popularity of short stories, film reviews, social comments, etc. The pictures, perhaps more than anything else, combine the three functions of the newspaper.
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The decision on the part of some of the more serious-minded papers to introduce a picture page receives welcome letters. Newspapers have many ways of entertaining the reader. Articles on every conceivable kind of sport, on bridge, on gardening, on chess, on cookery and even on the latest fashions achieve the same aim of giving the readers, for a few moments at any rate, a welcome change from the cares and anxieties of everyday life. In the same way, cartoon is always welcome.
The reader may complain that there is so much in his newspaper that he cannot read it at all, but the aim of the editor must surely be to provide something which will interest, instruct and entertain every reader in every issue of the paper or journal.