what is the function of the newspaper

This is interesting. In Act one Joe Keller is reading the paper. He is commenting on the different businesses. I think the paper is an extension of the outside world. As the world changes, as Joe mentions the different jobs, this family remains stuck in the past. The past haunts them with things left unsaid and wounds that are festering. Meanwhile the world moves on while the family can't get by the unresolved conflicts which haunt them.