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First baby of the year stories

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Baron Scicluna, Jan 2, 2010.

  1. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    Those old ladies never stop to think that the story is also, if not more, about the baby. The baby didn't choose to be born into its situation.
     
  2. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    A few years ago, the paper I was at decided to go a different route and do a year-long series on the first baby of the year. Given the right situation, it could have been interesting.

    Unfortunately, we ended up with a perfectly normal married couple, and it was their third child, and she quickly became known around the office as the most boring baby ever. Great for the family, of course, but not so much for the storytelling. We'd all but given up on the series by the end of the year.
     
  3. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Yeah, it would have made a better story if the kid became a crack addict by eight months.
     
  4. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    We like the way you think. Can you find a crack-addicted baby who is nine months or younger, arrange for a Web slideshow, Twitter updates, and write a 15-inch story (it's a small newshole) on your days off? Thanks!

    Sincerely,

    Management
     
  5. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    I make no apologies for my cynicism. I DID say 'great for the family, of course'!
     
  6. txsportsscribe

    txsportsscribe Active Member

    slacker should've tried harder
     
  7. Den1983

    Den1983 Active Member

    Your editor is smart.
     
  8. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    While my daughter (now 8-1/2) was not the first New Year's baby, she was the first one born at the local hospital's renovated OB unit. When you live in Podunkville, northern Michigan, that qualifies as news.

    As news editor for the Podunk Press, it was fun to cover the opening house for the new "birthing" areas on a Thursday night, then be there as a dad two nights later.

    The free stuff was nice, too. We still have the two kids' paintings we won courtesy of a local frame shop.
     
  9. txsportsscribe

    txsportsscribe Active Member

    so you don't freelance for the nyt?
     
  10. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    It's the paper's fault. Will probably end up costing the kid a scholarship too.
     
  11. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    Very strange, but very cool.

    Although I wonder what will happen when the parents try to enroll the kids in school and sports. Some school districts/minor sports organizations are real sticklers when it comes to making sure kids are kept with their birth years.
     
  12. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Several places I've worked have done this as stand-alone art, but I don't remember it ever being a story, except maybe when it was the turn of the millennium.
     
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