newspaper

A newspaper is a regularly published source of news and other written content, traditionally printed on paper and sold or delivered daily or weekly. It usually contains reports about current events, along with opinion columns, interviews, feature stories, sports, business coverage, entertainment listings, advertisements, and notices. In everyday use, the word often refers both to the physical paper and to the organization that gathers and publishes the news.

For a long time, newspapers were one of the main ways people learned about local, national, and international events. They recorded elections, wars, prices, crimes, discoveries, and changes in everyday community life. Many also became important public voices by questioning leaders, investigating problems, and giving space to different opinions through editorials, letters, and columns.

Newspapers come in different forms. Some are large national publications with broad coverage, while others are small local papers focused on schools, roads, events, and public meetings in one area. Some are printed in a large broadsheet format, while others use the smaller tabloid size. Today, many newspapers still print physical copies, but they also publish the same reporting online through websites or apps.

Because of this, the word can describe more than a stack of folded pages. It can also mean the whole news outlet behind the reporting, as in sentences like "the newspaper published an investigation" or "I read it in the newspaper this morning." Whether people read it in print or on a screen, a newspaper remains a familiar way of receiving organized, reported news about the world.