Heyo, folks. It's your old pal Kei here to give you the lowdown on that crazy fast-paced world of journalism. I hope to answer a few questions that you may have had about what just goes into that newspaper you may happen to glance at every day (and hopefully dispel some myths along the way).
Basics of the Basics — The Birthplace of News is the Editor!
Well, first thing's first. News has to come from somewhere! Whether it's world events, local events or just a tip off from a company about something interesting (yes, we actually do take suggestions from those oh-so-lovely PR folks on more than a few occasions), all editors take their assignment ideas from the world around them. However, in order to make it to print, a news story (and most stories in general) must follow a specific set of criteria. Kinda the "Golden Rules of News," as it were (how many there are depends on who you ask). That said, all stories must display some of the following:
1) Timeliness — News isn't news if it's not current. Getting fresh information out to the readers is one of the most important things to a newspaper, for both the sake of the reader and the sake of the paper's integrity.
2) Proximity — If news isn't happening close to home, most people really won't care. Readership studies have shown that a lot of people skim over smaller things that have happened in other cities rather than their own because it won't affect them. So, the closer it hits to home, the better. (Although, there is a little trick called "localizing a story" where reporters will draw from the premise of an article they have spotted and see how similar events are going in their area, i.e. stories about agriculture, technology and health.)
3) Impact — Tying back into the previous point a little, if the event that's happened isn't a big deal, your readers will let you know by ignoring it. A good rule of thumb to follow: if it doesn't sound like a big hairy deal, don't print it.
4) Conflict — Human beings can be a cruel race: If there's no conflict in a story—no opposing force or something that goes against the grain—the reader often times won't care. For that reason, stories that have one fore going against another (i.e. politics) are sure-fire winners.
5) Prominence — Ever wonder why tabloids are so popular? It's because of the people in them. People the world over have a dire obsession with the rich and famous. The more interesting the subject, the more likely a reader will actually pay attention to the story. (This is also why the Lifestyles section of a paper is often the most read; all the celebrity news is there. There's also the comics. Gotta love the comics.)
Beat Feet, Newshound — The Reporter's Job is to Report!
Once that's all said and done and the assignment is picked out, it's handed to the reporter and off they go. Contrary to what most people may believe about the news media (in print, broadcast and web), a lot of time and research goes into the creation of a story (at least, the actual good ones). Reporters may spend days or even upwards of a few weeks (depending on deadline and story type) trying to contact sources and get information together. Speaking from personal experience, in a business feature story I wrote for a daily paper about the ringtone market, I had to contact at least six different sources around the country, which took about three days to get together, all told.
Once you've got everything together, it's time to sit down and write. The most important part of a story is the lead, or the first sentence of the story. It's what grabs your attention, so it's usually what goes through the most re-writes in the entire article. From there, you get the second graph, which is typically referred to as the nut graph. This basically condenses the story into a single graph, but also attempts to draw the reader further into the story for more details. From there on, the story goes into the body and all the meat and potatoes. Most stories follow the inverted pyramid style—that is, the most important facts go first and taper down into the minute details as the story goes on. Also, contrary to popular belief, quotes are used in a story to add depth, not length (though this practice isn't put into place as often as it should nowdays). Sources are used to present all sides of the story and nothing else. If you see a story that seems to be using a quote just for padding...well, that reporter and/or editor wasn't doing their job.
It's All in the Packaging — Putting a Paper Together
After the story is all written, it flies out of the reporter's hands and into the editor's...and sometimes back into the reporters. After the initial writing phase comes the re-write phase, which any reporter knows can be a long and arduous process when it all boils down to it. In the best case, the editor won't have to change much expect make sure the entire story fits the in-house and Associated Press (or AP) style guidelines. In the worst case...the entire story gets scrapped and replaced with wire (the ultimate burn in the news industry) or it's changed so much from its original content that the writer can't even recognize anything about it expect for their byline (sadly enough, this actually happens a lot).
After editing, it's sent off to the pagination staff and put on the mock-ups for the newspaper pages. Thanks to advances in modern technology and the fine folks at Adobe, InDesign speeds this process up rather nicely. It should be said that stories can undergo clipping here to fit in the spaces they're allotted (so the story you read in the paper—especially AP stories—are often bite-sized versions of what they were originally).
And that's the basics of the basics of what goes into a paper. Getting into the little nuances and myths of the newspaper is another post entirely, so I save it for such. Until next time!
