Difference between これ and この?

Difference between これ and この ?

  1. これは(this is …)、今日の新聞記事です。
  2. この記事(this article)は、津波のことを扱っています。

これ is a pronoun.
この is used before a noun or a pronoun, which is modified by the preceding この.

P.S.
As Julz611 wrote, この is not a pronoun(代名詞) but 連体詞 in Japanese. I did not know how to translate it into English.

これは本です。This is a book. (Kore wa hon desu) [本 = book]
この本はわたしのです。 (Kono hon wa watashi no desu) This book is mine.

この (this)、その (that) and あの (that over there) are known as ‘demonstratives’ (eg.imagine pointing things out/demonstrating to someone), and not pronouns, sorry, Yutaka… These demonstratives are always used with a noun (things or people), never by themselves. eg. This pen, that table, that man over there.

あの is ‘that’, but it’s easier to think of it as ‘that (noun) over there’, since it refers to something/someone physically located away from both speaker and listener.

これ this - This is…
それ that - That is…
あれ that (over there) - That over there is…
-edited because I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet:)