Getting the look of the front page of a newspaper

Hi, I’m trying to have a blog that looks more like a newspaper with limited lines on the front page and links to complete each on a separate page.

Basically I want sections of different topics show up and a few articles for each. Different people will contribute their own stories, and have their own reserved space or column.

Lets say, for arguments sake, that there are five categories with a limited number of lines listed for each story under each category and story. So that you can quickly get an idea of what’s going on in these categories. If you find what you like you just follow the links.

Is this easily doable, maybe a skin exists that does this?

I’m not sure if blog s/w is the right way, though I like everything with the exception of not seing how to allocating limited space/columns for each blogger, and other fixed links. The important part is that they have a fixed space/location where one can expect to find their stories.

The best description I can think of is a look similar to the front page of a newspaper.

Any ideas are appreciated!