TypeError: list indices must be integers

[dubux]

here is a function i wrote that doesnt work. i wrote to parse a "news"
file that is going to work in conjunction with a website via mod_wsgi.
my head hurts from looking at it so long. please help! i will further
explain in the post.

def news(x,y):
	# usage news(date, number)
	# x = date/news
	# y = number
	news_file = '/home/scam/Desktop/www/info/news'
	news = open(news_file, 'r')
	news_list = news.readlines()
	news.close()
	if x == 'date':
		mylist = map(lambda i: news_list[i], filter(lambda i: i%2 == 0, range
(len(news_list))))
		date = mylist[y]
		return '<center>%s</center><br>' % (date)
	if x == 'news':
		mylist = map(lambda i: news_list[i], filter(lambda i: i%2 == 1, range
(len(news_list))))
		news = mylist[y]
		return '%s<br>' % (news)
	else:
		return news_list



and call it with the follow syntax: news('[date/news]', [any number])


i keep getting "TypeError: list indices must be integers" on the
following line "date = mylist[y]"
can someone please explain this and give me the proper way to achieve
what im trying to do?