The area of a newspaper or magazine that is available for news stories, after deduction of the area taken by adverts, pictures, etc.; (hence) the amount of airtime available in a news programme, channel, etc., for news broadcasting.
Origin
1950s.
Definition of news hole in US English:
news hole
noun
The area of a newspaper or magazine that is available for news stories, after deduction of the area taken by adverts, pictures, etc.; (hence) the amount of airtime available in a news programme, channel, etc., for news broadcasting.