How news gets around

News is one of the most vital products we consume. It is also one of the most perishable. The worker who contributes to the making of a car, bridge, house, or even a pair of shoes knows his efforts has produced something that will endure – perhaps beyond his life-time. Not so with the news worker. The story on which he labored so hard and which he wrote so eloquently will be on its way to the recycling machine a day later – if it is not used to wrap fish. By then he is gathering facts for his next story. By the same token, who can remember the words of a television or radio news announcer twenty-four hours afterwards?

The fleeting quality of news helps in explaining how it is obtained, written, edited, printed and distributed. This process continues twenty-four hours a day to satisfy a worldwide demand for fresh information. On the basis of the news we get, we vote, buy, sell, make or change plans, carry an umbrella to work, attend the theater, go to a meeting or write a letter to the mayor. Thus, the newspaper at the breakfast table and the eleven o’clock TV news shows are part of our lives. We want to know what’s going on. The news media tell us.

To supply news, a huge army of people works around the clock throughout the world. United Press International, a globe-circling press agency, operates on a slogan “A Deadline Every Minute”. This means that somewhere in the world one or more of its clients is going to press or on the air with news.

The key word is “deadline”. News is gathered under deadline pressure. The reporter is always aware that this story must be in the hands of his editor by a rigidly prescribed time. The editor, in turn, knows that the edited copy must be in the print shop by a specific time if it is to get into a paper. Newsmen work by the clock. As the newspapers roll off the press, circulation trucks are waiting to carry them to various parts of the city and to trains and planes that will take them to more distant points. The same pressure applies to broadcasting. A television news crew must have its film and tape at the studio by a certain time if the spot is to be aired that evening. Even magazines have to meet deadlines, although not as tight ones.

Does deadline pressure affect the quality and accuracy of the news? Of course. Reporters working at great speed in gathering and writing news stories cannot always tie up loose ends, furnish sufficient background for total comprehension, or give both sides of an issue. And inaccuracies may crop up. Newsmen and newswomen often obtain information under less that ideal conditions – at the frenzied scene of an accident or above the shouts of a mob. The most conscientious of reporters is liable to miss the correct spelling of a name or get an address wrong. Also news sources don’t always tell the truth and often there isn’t time to verify given statements.

But remember, editors and reporters are meeting the public demand for news shortly after events happen. They are dealing in instant history. The news in perspective, the background details, and so forth can be handled by the columnists, in editorials and in long perspective or think pieces in the Sunday paper. Daily newspapers also carry a feature story. As for accuracy, studies have shown that newspapers and wire services have a high batting average on this score considering the hectic pace at which news is produced. But this does not give the news media a blanket excuse to commit errors. It is possible to double-check the facts even on a fast-breaking story and reporters fail their obligation when they don’t do so. In fact inaccuracies result as much from careless news people as from the necessity for speedy coverage. However, the reporter who is consistently inaccurate will not last long with a news organization. Editors know that when readers lose confidence in a newspaper its future is bleak.

Answer the questions:

1. What kind of product is news?

2. What is the difference between a newsworker and other workers?

3. How long does the news treatment process continue?

4. How does news influence people’s lives?

5. How does a huge army of people work to supply news?

6. On what slogan does United Press International operate?

7. What does the word “deadline” mean?

8. What happens with newspapers after they roll off the press?

9. What do you know about other mass media? Do they also work under deadline pressure?

10. How does deadline pressure affect the quality and accuracy of news?

11. Why do inaccuracies crop up?

12. What is the result of the hectic pace at which news is produced?

13. What happens to a reporter who is consistently inaccurate?

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 3120