If you would like to get better traffic to your news related website then you have to focus on something which online visitors looking for. News websites (old and new) competition is tough though those websites are limited compare to other niche websites. You can easily update the hot news from local and nation to attract the people online who are looking for the latest news and updates. Try to present them differently though the same topic might cover by other News portal.
Though there are many tips and suggestion given above by the valuable member to improve your news website for traffic, I can try to add just few points.
1. Try to add keywords like News, Breaking News, Hot news, Flash news suitably beside every title or summary to cover the search engine. Avoid unnecessary over keywords usage and you can use alternate keywords if required for the content.
2. Try to add unique local news which other newspaper doesn't cover it. I remember once there was an issue in local collage where one of the news website published it and got huge search.
3. There are millions of news or topic to write which uncovered by the daily newspapers. You may try to bring forth for better prospects of the website.
4. You may try to add 'search engine friendly' keywords to attract the mass. Anyhow, since your news website is a new one then it might take time to become popular and increasing traffic until and unless you contribute regularly.
Regards,