A slow news day is not a quiet news day, usually quite the opposite
ONE of my editors said recently that there’s no such thing as a slow news day, only lazy reporters. And it got me thinking.
I would argue that there definitely is such a thing as a slow news day. I’ve just had no end of them over the festive period. It’s not a fun time to be a reporter because pretty much nothing happens.
But I do side with him on the fact that reporters can become lazy when the going’s good. I’m probably even guilty of it myself from time to time.
During the times when finding enough stories to fill the title I mainly work on, the Ashbourne News Telegraph, feels like finding a 5p coin in the bottom of a very deep swimming pool, reporters definitely have to work harder.
I often get the greeting, when I encounter a friend or acquaintance in the street, “are you busy”. It’d be a fair enough question if I worked in a shop or a pub, but when you work on a weekly – or daily – newspaper it’s a more complicated answer.
You see, I have to be busy. I like it when it’s busy because there’s always stuff to work on. I can plan a hectic day of seeing people, calling people, emailing people and then writing up everything I’ve learned from said people.
I relish the thought of a packed agenda and a long list of jobs to do when my week starts on publication day – Wednesday in my case – and I love having lots to cram in to the next five working days.
And I love being busy because, if my agenda’s looking a bit sparse, if I’m staring at a list of pages with no potential stories assigned to them, I actually have to work harder. Much harder in some cases.
This is why I’m not a fan of the festive season. You just know all the press officers and PR representatives will be away from the office enjoying themselves, oblivious of the fact you’re sat at your desk yearning for their comments, their official statements, or their press releases.
Because the world seems to shut down and little is happening, we have to plan stories in advance we’d like to follow up in time for that rainy day, all the while bearing in mind that we won’t be able to get any contributions to them if we miss the boat and the people we need to speak to are on their jollies.
We plan features we think people will find interesting over the Christmas and New Year period, research them while we can get hold of people, and then use the dead time to write them up.
And in a daily paper it’s harder to stack things up like this. There’s loads of pages to fill, often with fewer adverts, so there’s even more space on each one, and the quick responses you rely on in a daily newsroom aren’t necessarily available.
So there’s literally never a dull moment in journalism. A slow news day is not a quiet news day at all, usually quite the opposite in fact.
On slow news days, reporters sometimes have to resort to getting out there, pounding their beat, calling up contacts for potential stories and seeking out any little change or event in our patches that might just make something interesting.
And actually, that type of journalism is rather fun. It’s refreshing to take the skills of reporting back to basics and going out on what my journalism school tutors used to call a “news drive”. A blank canvas can be a wonderful vehicle for creativity. I almost wish we could find time to do it more often. But only almost.
So while there might well be such a thing as a lazy reporter – I’ve certainly worked with the odd one or two over the years – there’s absolutely such a thing as a slow news day.
And a slow news day presents challenges we just have to learn to overcome. So if you see me in the street, do, by all means, ask me if I’m busy.
I’ll always say yes, but the speed I dash away from our encounter will indicate without any doubt if it’s a slow news day or a busy one.
I work harder on slow news days. So if you’ll excuse me for perhaps appearing abrupt, it’s because I’ve got to fill the pages somehow. And unless you’re stopping me to give me a cracking story of some sort, then there are places I need to be.
I work harder on slow news days. So if you’ll excuse me for perhaps appearing abrupt, it’s because I’ve got to fill the pages.