By Nancy
Do you know the differences between news articles, editorials and columns? If you’re not sure, listen on.
News articles are articles filled with facts and information. For example, front page news stories of a newspaper usually are news articles. Feature articles, a type of news articles, are often filled with entertainment, humor, or advice to readers.
Editorials are opinion articles written by newspapers’s own staff. They basically reflect views and positions of the newspaper.
Columns are written by columnists who are independent from the newspaper but can be hired to contribute regularly. We quite often also refer to a column article as an op-ed.
Another interesting distinction in newspaper business is between broadsheet -大报 and tabloid – 小报. I only noticed distinction long after I came to US. 有趣的是即使在中国,人们也更喜欢小报,从文革时代的参考消息到后来的环球时报。
文革时期还有一个“大参考”. 有趣的是“大参考”比”小参考“还要小。这里“大”指的是官要大到一定程度才能看“大参考”.