news site for a complete beginner
Yes, Drupal is a good choice to get started.. You can create and maintain site without PHP knowledge using Drupal since your requirements is very simple and can be achieved using out of the box Drupal.

You can try using OpenPublish Distro..


  OpenPublish is a packaged distribution designed for the online news
  industry. It is ideal for the implementation of a variety of media
  outlets sites including magazines, newspapers, journals, trade
  publications, broadcast, wire service, multimedia sites and membership
  publications. OpenPublish is built for flexibility, customization, and
  extension -- a powerful CMS to help publishers focus on their content.