A news website is a front page, not a feed. Readers arrive wanting to know what matters right now, then scan sections they care about, then leave. A blog theme that lists posts newest-first, one after another, cannot do that job, however nice the typography.
Independent newsrooms, local news sites and member-funded publications increasingly run on Ghost, because it is fast, has newsletters and paid memberships built in, and takes no cut of subscription revenue. This guide covers what a Ghost theme for news must do, and how our theme, Gazette, handles it.
What a news site needs from a theme
A real front page
A cover story with room for a big headline and photo, a few secondary stories beside it, and a "just in" list that shows what changed recently, with times like "2 hours ago". The homepage should look edited, even when it is generated automatically.
Sections that feel distinct
Politics, business, sport, culture: readers navigate by section, and each section should be recognisable at a glance. Colour is the fastest signal. If every section uses the same colours, readers have to read the label every time.
Live coverage
Elections, storms, court cases, matches, budget day. News sites need a way to cover an event as it happens in one place, with timestamped updates, key events pinned, and a clear signal that new updates have arrived.
Personalisation without logins
Most readers will never create an account. A theme can still let them follow sections they care about and save stories for later, kept in their browser.
Proper bylines
News is often written by several people. Co-author bylines, a journalists page and author pages matter for credibility.
Memberships
Member-funded news needs a membership page that explains why to pay, and a paywall that keeps the important public-interest stories open while locking the extras.
How Gazette handles it
Gazette is a bold, colourful Ghost theme for news magazines.
Front page. A cover story with two side stories and a "Just in" list with relative times. Editor's picks appear in a numbered black band, built from posts you mark as Featured.
Colour-coded sections. Each tag's accent colour runs through its kicker (the small label above a headline), its section block on the homepage, its tag page and the reading progress bar. The homepage shows section blocks for your four biggest sections, each with a Follow button. A Sections page shows every section as a colour tile with its latest headlines.
Live blog. A live blog post template turns a post into running coverage: timestamped updates, key events, a newest/oldest switch and an alert when new updates arrive.
For you. Readers follow sections and get a personal row of their newest stories on the homepage, with no account needed.
Save for later. A bookmark on every story and a reading list drawer in the header.
Masthead and reading. A masthead with a date bar, centred wordmark and section navigation that compacts as you scroll. Serif reading text with a coloured drop cap, pull quotes, tables and toggle FAQs for explainers.
Bylines. Co-author bylines with stacked avatars and a journalists page.
Memberships. A membership page with tiers and a monthly/yearly switch, a styled paywall, and sign-in, sign-up and account pages.
Details. Light, dark and system modes with a reader toggle; button text that switches between black and white to suit your accent colour; self-hosted fonts; full translation support; 18 theme settings; no jQuery.
See it on the live Gazette demo, including a live blog post.
What Gazette does not do
- No ad slots. Gazette is designed for member-funded news. You can add ad code yourself, but the layout has no reserved ad positions.
- No breaking-news push notifications. Ghost sends newsletters by email; it does not send browser push alerts.
- No live data feeds. Live blog updates are written by your team; there are no automatic sports scores or election results.
Which Ghost theme for which kind of news?
We built several news-adjacent themes because "news" covers very different publications:
- Gazette: general news and explainers across several sections, with live coverage.
- Ledger: finance, markets, business and economics, with a ticker strip, The Brief and a chart of the week. Read the best Ghost theme for a finance newsletter.
- Volta: culture, music, arts and lifestyle, louder and more visual.
- Marlowe: long-form essays and weekly newsletters rather than daily news.
- Pitch: football and sports coverage with scoreboards and league tables.
Running a newsroom on Ghost: practical tips
- Set up staff roles. Ghost has contributor, author, editor and administrator roles. Contributors can write drafts but not publish, which suits freelancers.
- Decide sections before launch. Four to eight tags as sections, each with a colour and description. Too many sections make the front page thin.
- Use internal tags for workflow. Ghost's internal tags (starting with #) do not show to readers, and many of our themes use them for special features.
- Feature deliberately. Editor's picks come from Featured posts; review them daily.
- Keep public-interest stories public. Lock analysis, archives, newsletters and extras rather than the reporting that builds trust.
- Send a daily or weekly briefing. The newsletter is where loyal readers come from. Ghost sends it from the same site.
Speed matters for news
News traffic spikes. A story shared widely can bring thousands of visitors in an hour, mostly on phones. Ghost itself is fast, and Gazette keeps the front end light: self-hosted fonts, no jQuery and lazy-loaded images. If you self-host Ghost, put a caching layer or CDN in front of it before a big story, not after.
Editorial standards readers can see
Trust is the main asset of a news site, and readers increasingly look for signs of it. Ghost makes a few of them easy:
- Author pages with a photo, a short bio and contact details for each reporter.
- A corrections policy on its own page, and a short correction note at the bottom of any article you fix, with the date.
- An about page that says who owns the publication and how it is funded.
- Clear labels for opinion, sponsored content and analysis, using tags so they are consistent.
- Dates on every story, and an updated time when a developing story changes.
Funding local news with memberships
Many independent newsrooms combine several sources of income: reader memberships, donations, local sponsors and grants. Ghost covers the reader side well:
- keep breaking news and public-interest stories free, which builds reach and goodwill;
- ask readers to become paying members to support the work, with a clear statement of what their money pays for;
- offer members extras such as a weekly briefing, early access to investigations or events;
- thank members publicly, if they agree, for example in a supporters list.
Sponsorship messages can be added to newsletters and pages by hand, but Ghost does not include an ad server, so programmatic advertising needs a third-party service.
Archive value
Tag stories consistently so topic pages become useful archives readers can browse. Write a short description for each section tag, link new stories to earlier coverage of the same subject, and publish explainers for long-running stories. A well-organised archive keeps bringing readers in from search long after the news has moved on.
Bottom line
A Ghost news theme needs a real front page, sections readers recognise by colour, live coverage, follow and save without an account, honest bylines and a membership offer that fits public-interest journalism. Gazette does all of that for $59, with a live demo you can test today.
See it with your sections: open the Gazette demo, then get Gazette. Moving an existing newsroom over? Our Ghost theme install and setup service sets up sections, colours, roles and memberships for you, and we can help with moving from WordPress to Ghost.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, for independent and member-funded newsrooms. Ghost is fast, has newsletters and paid memberships built in, and supports several authors per story. A large newsroom with complex workflows, ad servers and a print edition may need more specialised software.
Ghost does not have a live blog feature of its own. Gazette adds a live blog post template: you add timestamped updates to one post, readers see key events, can switch between newest and oldest first, and get an alert when new updates arrive.
No. Following sections and the save-for-later reading list are stored in the reader's browser, so they work without an account.
You can add ad code through Ghost's code injection or a custom theme change, but Ghost is designed around memberships and newsletters rather than ad networks. Gazette has no ad slots built in.
