Is there a LaTeX template for a newspaper style letters to the editor page?

Question

I am looking to typeset a "Letters to the Editor" page, which looks similar to that of the UK newspaper The Times (pictured below). I have tried to search for a letters page template, but all I have found are templates for letters rather than a letters page.

Answer 1

LaTeX isn't very good in typesetting newspaperlike pages. Maybe some day LuaTeX will offer things like a given layout into which the text »flows«.

But however, to make a page look like the one you printed above, I can offer a kind of structure. You can make it prettier in a million ways, but at least it shows a possible way to go:

\documentclass[paper=a3, pagesize, english, fontsize=12pt, parskip=half, DIV=30, headings=large]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{babel, xspace, blindtext, babel, multicol, ragged2e, graphicx,
  tikzducks, xcolor}
\usetikzlibrary{ducks}

  \usepackage[tracking=true]{microtype}
  \usepackage[osf]{libertine}
  \SetTracking{encoding= * , shape = sc}{25}

  \setlength{\columnsep}{2em}
    \setlength{\columnseprule}{0.5pt}
    \renewcommand{\columnseprulecolor}{\color{red}}

\begin{document}\thispagestyle{empty}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.23\linewidth}
  \begin{center}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \draw (0,0) pic[ duck/water=green, duck/alien, ] {duck};
    \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{center}

  \section*{Beetles and crops}
  \label{CLA:beetles-crops}

  \blindtext[2]

  \section*{Status of engineers}
\label{CLA:status-engineers}

\blindtext

\end{minipage}%
\hfill\vline\hfill%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.73\linewidth}
  \begin{multicols}{3}[\textbf{\Large\sffamily{}Winners and losers in something I can't read}]

    \blindtext
    \vspace{3\baselineskip}
    \blindtext

        \vspace{3\baselineskip}
        \blindtext
    \vspace{3\baselineskip}
    \blindtext
  \end{multicols}
  \rule{\linewidth}{1pt}

  \begin{multicols}{3}
    \section*{Policing the police}
\label{CLA:policing-police}
\blindtext

\vspace{3\baselineskip}

\section*{Golden pension pot}
\label{CLA:golden-pension-pot}

\blindtext

\section*{Stoned by accident}
\label{CLA:stoned-accident}

\blindtext{}

\blindtext[2]

  \end{multicols}
\end{minipage}%
\end{document}

Looks like this:

---

E D I T:

I could not resist to play around, the result is probably even less convincing, but it was fun!

\pdfcatalog{/ViewerPreferences<>}

\documentclass[paper=a3, english, fontsize=12pt, DIV=40]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{babel, xspace, blindtext, babel, multicol, ragged2e, graphicx,
  tikzducks, xcolor, xcolor-solarized, paralist, textcomp, pict2e, array, url}
\usetikzlibrary{ducks}
\setlength{\unitlength}{0.3mm}

\addtokomafont{section}{\fontsize{24}{18}\selectfont\rmfamily{}\color{solarized-cyan}}
\RedeclareSectionCommand[
beforeskip=1em]
{section}

  \usepackage[tracking=true]{microtype}
  \usepackage[osf]{libertine}
  \SetTracking{encoding= * , shape = sc}{25}

  \setlength{\columnsep}{2em}
    \setlength{\columnseprule}{0.5pt}
    \renewcommand{\columnseprulecolor}{\color{solarized-red}}
    \pagecolor{solarized-base2!70!brown}
%  \RaggedRight{}
    \begin{document}\thispagestyle{empty}%
\begin{minipage}[t][20cm]{0.23\linewidth}\RaggedRight{}
  \begin{center}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \draw (0,0) pic[ duck/water=green, duck/alien, ] {duck};
    \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{center}

  \section*{Beetles and crops}
  \label{CLA:beetles-crops}

  \blindtext%[2]

  \section*{Status of engineers}
\label{CLA:status-engineers}

\blindtext

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adip- iscing elit. Ut purus elit, vestibu-
lum ut, placerat ac, adipiscing vitae, felis. Curabitur dictum

\rule{0.9\textwidth}{3pt}

\vspace{-1ex}\section*{\textcolor{purple}{Corrections}}
\label{CLA:corrections}

\begin{compactitem}[\color{purple} \textbullet]
\item Expectant mothers orem ipsum
dolor sit amet, consectetuer adip-
iscing elit. Ut purus elit, vestibu-
lum ut, placerat ac, adipiscing
vitae, felis. Curabitur dictum
\item Another serious mistake...
\item OK, but this is not about BREXIT
\end{compactitem}


\end{minipage}%
\hfill\vline\hfill%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.70\linewidth}
  \vspace*{-5\baselineskip}%
  \begin{multicols}{3}[\textbf{\huge{}Winners and losers in something I can't read !}]
  \RaggedRight
  \blindtext

    \vspace{2\baselineskip}

    \blindtext

        \vspace{3\baselineskip}

        \blindtext

        \vspace{2\baselineskip}

    \blindtext
  \end{multicols}
  \rule{\linewidth}{3pt}

  \begin{multicols}{3}\RaggedRight
    \section*{Policing the police}
\label{CLA:policing-police}
\blindtext

\vspace{\baselineskip}

\section*{Golden pension pot}
\label{CLA:golden-pension-pot}

\blindtext

\section*{Stoned by accident}
\label{CLA:stoned-accident}

\blindtext

\blindtext%[2]

\end{multicols}
  \rule{\linewidth}{3pt}
  \begin{tabular}{*{2}{>{\RaggedRight}m{0.45\linewidth}}}
    \huge\bfseries{} Drowning witch\newline in Oxford!\newline\normalsize
    Stolen here:\newline \url{https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/336984/4736}
    &
\hspace*{3.8cm}\begin{picture}(0,200)
\thicklines
\put(10,10){\line(0,1){180}\line(1,0){180}}
\put(190,190){\line(0,-1){180}\line(-1,0){180}}
\put(10,60){\line(1,0){180}}
\put(100,60){\line(1,2){25}}
\put(150,60){\line(-1,2){25}}
\end{picture}\\

  \end{tabular}
\end{minipage}%
\enlargethispage{5cm}
\end{document}

Well:

Answer 2

This is a simple alternative to the solution of Keks Dose (I copied the text from his post). It uses tcbposter to allow easy flow between columns and a very structured input.

\documentclass[paper=a3, fontsize=12pt, parskip=half, DIV=30]{scrartcl}
\usepackage{lipsum, tikzducks}

\usepackage[tracking=true]{microtype}
\usepackage[osf]{libertine}

\usepackage[poster,skins,breakable]{tcolorbox}
\newcommand\magsec[1]{\par{\Large\bfseries#1\par}\vskip2mm}

\begin{document}
    \thispagestyle{empty}
    \begin{tcbposter}[
        poster = {spacing=2mm, rows=2, columns=4},
        boxes = {enhanced, breakable, sharp corners, colback=white, boxrule=0pt},
        ]
        \posterbox[rightrule=1pt]{name=leftcol, column=1, row=1, rowspan=2}{%
            \begin{center}
            \tikz[scale=1.5]\randuck;
          \end{center}

          \section*{Beetles and crops}
          \label{CLA:beetles-crops}

          \lipsum[1]

          \section*{Status of engineers}
            \label{CLA:status-engineers}

            \lipsum[1]
        }
        \posterbox{name=toptitle,column=2,span=3}{\section*{Winners and losers in something I can't read}}
        \posterbox[colback=gray]{name=bottitle,column=2, span=3, above=bottom}{
            \centering
            \tikz\randuck;
        }
        \posterbox{name=topinfo,below=toptitle, 
                sequence=2 between toptitle and row2 then
                3 between toptitle and row2 then 4 between toptitle and row2}{%
            \lipsum[1-4]
        }
        \posterbox{name=bottominfo,below=toptitle, sequence=2 between row1 and bottitle then
                3 between row1 and bottitle then 4 between row1 and bottitle}{%
            \section*{Policing the police}
            \lipsum[1-2]
            \section*{Golden pension pot}
            \lipsum[2]
            \section*{Stoned by accident}
            \lipsum[1]
        }
        \draw[black, line width=1pt] (TCBPOSTER@topinfo1.south west) -- (TCBPOSTER@topinfo3.south east);
    \end{tcbposter}
\end{document}