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What Is a News API and How Do You Use It with Python? Complete Beginner's Guide

beginner 12 min read November 8, 2025
news api pythonpython news api tutorialhow to use news apinews api for beginnersnewsdatahub python

We live in a time when information comes from every direction — headlines, newsletters, podcasts, social feeds, notifications. Most of us are drowning in content, but still struggling to find just the news we actually care about.

That’s where a News API comes in. With a News API, you can focus only on the sources, topics, and keywords that matter — filtering the noise and surfacing meaningful stories for you or your users.

In this guide, we’ll build a simple but delightful Python terminal app that fetches fresh tech headlines from the United States using the NewsDataHub API — complete with colors, emojis, and optional cron automation.

Why Use a News API?

Section titled “Why Use a News API?”

A News API gives you structured, programmatic access to real-world journalism. Instead of manually scraping RSS feeds or crawling websites, you can instantly query thousands of verified outlets with parameters like:

  • topic – filter by themes like technology, politics, economy, or sports
  • language – e.g. English, Spanish, Arabic
  • country – target regional coverage
  • source_type – choose mainstream media, blogs, or niche outlets

Modern APIs such as NewsDataHub index hundreds of thousands of articles daily — providing developers a reliable, structured, and filterable news pipeline for dashboards, research, and AI work.

Use Cases

Section titled “Use Cases”

Here are some ways you can use this API:

  • Train AI models or datasets — collect labeled data for summarization, classification, or sentiment tasks
  • Monitor company or sector news — track Tesla, SpaceX, Google, or Blue Origin in real time
  • Follow trends — observe how often certain topics (like “quantum computing”) appear over time
  • Track economy and crypto — gather stories from financial and economic sources
  • Discover related content — the /related endpoint can help surface contextually similar news

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”

Before we dive in, make sure you have:

  • Python 3.8 or newer
  • An active NewsDataHub API key
  • The following packages installed:
Terminal window
pip install requests rich emoji

The Python Script

Section titled “The Python Script”

Below is the complete working example. It fetches the latest U.S. technology headlines, displays them beautifully in your terminal, and handles rate limits and API errors gracefully.

NewsDataHub News CLI App Demo

Full source code: https://github.com/newsdatahub/newsdatahub-news-cli-app

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import requests
import datetime
import random
import time
from rich.console import Console
from rich.progress import Progress, SpinnerColumn, TextColumn
from emoji import emojize


# ====== CONFIGURATION ======
PER_PAGE = 100  # change this once — used everywhere
API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
URL = "https://api.newsdatahub.com/v1/news"
PARAMS = {
    "per_page": PER_PAGE,
    "topic": "technology",
    "language": "en",
    "country": "US",
    "source_type": "mainstream_news"
}
# ============================


console = Console()


FUN_EMOJIS = [
    "🚀", "🤖", "📰", "⚡", "🧠", "💡", "🔋", "🪄", "🌎", "📈",
    "🎯", "📱", "🛰️", "🎉", "🦾", "💬", "💻", "🔧", "🔮", "🪙",
    "🧪", "🏙️", "🎥", "🧭", "🧩", "🌠", "🏎️", "🌍", "🔥", "📊"
]


KEYWORD_EMOJIS = {
    "tesla": "🚘",
    "spacex": "🚀",
    "ai": "🤖",
    "robot": "🦾",
    "technology": "💻",
    "innovation": "💡",
    "finance": "💰",
    "stock": "📈",
    "crypto": "🪙",
    "climate": "🌍",
    "energy": "⚡",
    "launch": "🛫",
    "startup": "🚀",
    "science": "🔬",
    "research": "🧠",
    "market": "📊",
    "policy": "🏛️",
    "security": "🔒",
    "china": "🐉",
    "usa": "🦅",
}


def emoji_for_headline(title: str) -> str:
    title_lower = title.lower()
    for word, icon in KEYWORD_EMOJIS.items():
        if word in title_lower:
            return icon
    return random.choice(FUN_EMOJIS)


def fetch_news():
    headers = {
        "X-API-Key": API_KEY,
        "User-Agent": "news-api-python-tutorial/1.0-py"
    }


    console.print(
        "\n[bold #003366]📰 Presented by [bold orange3]NewsDataHub[/bold orange3] — "
        "Your Gateway to Global News Intelligence[/bold #003366]\n"
    )


    with Progress(SpinnerColumn(), TextColumn("[green]Connecting to NewsDataHub API...")) as progress:
        task = progress.add_task("", total=None)
        try:
            response = requests.get(URL, headers=headers, params=PARAMS, timeout=10)
        except Exception as e:
            progress.remove_task(task)
            console.print(f"[bold red]❌ Connection failed:[/bold red] {e}")
            return
        progress.remove_task(task)


    # Handle HTTP errors gracefully
    if response.status_code == 429:
        console.print("[bold red]⚠️ Rate limit reached (HTTP 429)[/bold red]. Try again later.")
        return
    elif 500 <= response.status_code < 600:
        console.print(f"[bold red]⚠️ Server error (HTTP {response.status_code}).[/bold red] Please try again later.")
        return
    elif 400 <= response.status_code < 500:
        console.print(f"[bold red]⚠️ Request error (HTTP {response.status_code}).[/bold red] Check your parameters or API key.")
        return


    data = response.json()
    articles = data.get("data", [])
    if not articles:
        console.print("[yellow]No articles found. Try adjusting your filters.[/yellow]")
        return


    console.print(
        f"\n[bold magenta]🚀 Latest US Tech Headlines ({PER_PAGE} results)[/bold magenta]\n"
    )


    for i, a in enumerate(articles[:PER_PAGE], start=1):
        icon = emoji_for_headline(a["title"])
        link = f"[link={a['article_link']}][blue underline]{a['article_link']}[/blue underline][/link]"


        console.print(f"[cyan]{i}.[/cyan] {icon} [bold]{a['title']}[/bold]")
        console.print(f"[red]{a['source_title']}[/red] • [black]{a['pub_date']}[/black]")
        console.print(f"{link}\n")
        time.sleep(0.35)  # pacing between headlines


    console.print("[dim]------------------------------------------------------------[/dim]")
    console.print(f"[black]Last updated: {datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')}[/black]")
    console.print("\n[bold #003366]✨ Delivered by [bold orange3]NewsDataHub[/bold orange3] ✨[/bold #003366]\n")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    fetch_news()

How It Works

Section titled “How It Works”

  1. Fetches up to PER_PAGE U.S. technology headlines

  2. Displays each with:

    • Color-coded source, date, and clickable link (if your terminal supports it)
    • Contextual emoji chosen by keywords
    • Graceful pacing between articles

  3. Handles common API errors (rate limit, invalid request, server issues)

  4. Colors are chosen for a clean, readable terminal output:

    • NewsDataHub branding → dark blue + orange
    • Sources → red
    • Dates → black
    • Links → blue (clickable where supported)

Optional: Automate It with a Cron Task

Section titled “Optional: Automate It with a Cron Task”

You can make your script run automatically once or twice a day.

Find your script’s full path

Section titled “Find your script’s full path”

Open your terminal and run:

Terminal window
pwd          # prints current directory
ls            # list files

Example output:

/Users/user/projects/news_cli.py

Edit your cron schedule

Section titled “Edit your cron schedule”
Terminal window
crontab -e

Then add:

0 10 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /Users/user/projects/news_cli.py >> /Users/user/news_cli.log 2>&1
0 16 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /Users/user/projects/news_cli.py >> /Users/user/news_cli.log 2>&1

This runs the script at 10 AM and 4 PM daily, logging output to news_cli.log.

You can check active cron jobs anytime:

Terminal window
crontab -l

What You’ve Built

Section titled “What You’ve Built”
  • A clean, colorful terminal app
  • Fetches structured, reliable news data
  • Simple setup with only requests, rich, and emoji
  • Easy automation with cron
  • Fully powered by NewsDataHub

This little tool is a great starting point for:

  • Research dashboards
  • Daily AI training data collection
  • Market or company monitoring bots
  • Or just a fun way to start your morning with the latest tech news.

More Use Cases

Section titled “More Use Cases”

Adapt this script for different monitoring scenarios using production-tested queries from our Live News Feeds Repository:

Supply Chain Disruption Monitoring

Section titled “Supply Chain Disruption Monitoring”

Track logistics issues, shortages, and supply chain bottlenecks:

PARAMS = {
    "per_page": 100,
    "q": '("supply chain" OR logistics OR shipping OR freight) AND (shortage OR delay OR disruption OR bottleneck OR crisis)',
    "search_in": "title",
    "language": "en"
}

Live feed: https://newsdatahub.com/live/supply-chain

Cybersecurity Threat Alerts

Section titled “Cybersecurity Threat Alerts”

Monitor data breaches, ransomware, and cyber attacks:

PARAMS = {
    "per_page": 100,
    "q": '(cybersecurity OR "cyber attack" OR "data breach" OR ransomware) AND (threat OR attack OR breach OR hack)',
    "search_in": "title",
    "language": "en"
}

Live feed: https://newsdatahub.com/live/cybersecurity

Corporate Layoffs Tracking

Section titled “Corporate Layoffs Tracking”

Track workforce reductions and hiring freezes:

PARAMS = {
    "per_page": 100,
    "q": '(layoffs OR "job cuts" OR "hiring freeze" OR "workforce reduction")',
    "search_in": "title",
    "language": "en"
}

Live feed: https://newsdatahub.com/live/layoffs

Financial Fraud Detection

Section titled “Financial Fraud Detection”

Track fraud cases, scams, and financial crime:

PARAMS = {
    "per_page": 100,
    "q": '(fraud OR scam OR "financial crime" OR "money laundering" OR embezzlement)',
    "search_in": "title",
    "language": "en"
}

Live feed: https://newsdatahub.com/live/fraud

Geopolitical Risk Monitoring

Section titled “Geopolitical Risk Monitoring”

Track international conflicts and tensions:

# Ukraine War Coverage
PARAMS = {
    "per_page": 100,
    "q": '(Ukraine OR Russia) AND (war OR conflict OR military OR invasion)',
    "language": "en"
}

Live feed: https://newsdatahub.com/live/ukraine-war

Browse 31+ more production-ready queries: Live Feeds Repository — including technology outages, corporate legal news, healthcare costs, climate change, cryptocurrency, and more.

Try it yourself today: https://newsdatahub.com

FAQ

Section titled “FAQ”

  • Do I need an API key to use NewsDataHub?

    Yes. Sign up for a free account at newsdatahub.com to get your API key. The free tier includes 100 requests per day to get started.

  • Can I use NewsDataHub API with other Python libraries besides requests?

    Yes. Use any HTTP library like httpx, aiohttp for async, or the built-in urllib. The examples use requests for simplicity.

  • How do I handle API errors in production?

    Implement try-except blocks, check response status codes, use exponential backoff for rate limits (429), and log errors for debugging. See the error handling section above.

  • Can I filter news by multiple topics or countries?

    Yes. Use comma-separated values: topic=technology,business or country=us,gb,ca. Combine filters for precise queries.

  • How often can I make API requests?

    Free tier: 100 requests/day. Paid tiers offer higher limits. Check your plan in the dashboard and implement caching to reduce redundant requests.

  • Can I deploy this CLI tool as a cron job?

    Yes. Schedule it with cron to run hourly or daily: 0 9 * * * python news.py >> news.log 2>&1. Great for daily email digests or Slack notifications.

Olga S.

Founder of NewsDataHub — Distributed Systems & Data Engineering

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