Rules To Report By

Even if you hate him, one thing about Simers -- he has always been right back there front and center after writing a rip.

 

Amen! And if the writers are having trouble counting to 12 or whatever it might be....chop it.

 

This is a true thing: When I'm writing a web headline, it has to be within a certain width in the interface we type it into or it will break onto a second line, which we don't do. So when I'm coming toward the end, I actually habitually type more lightly on the keys hoping it will fit.

To me, that's the same mindset of a writer who writes 16 when 12 is budgeted. He or she is hoping that somehow, it's going to work out so it will fit into that 12-inch hole.

 

As far as the number of sources and representing the losing team goes, I have a few guidelines I like to follow on gamers.

For prep gamers between local teams, I always tried to get both coaches, not just the winner, and then a player from the winning team. Absolutely without exception, I talked to a player. Always. Always, always, always. The biggest hack move that most prep writers make is talking to the coaches and calling it a night. That's the path of least resistance, and it's pure hackery. The kids played the game, not the blowhard coach.

If only one team was local, I would usually only talk to the other coach if I had time, and if I did, I usually tried to get something related to my team. Like a quote from him or her about the bst player on my local team. Same thing with college coverage, though that can be a little different because then you start adding in notebooks and columns and siders and more comprehensive coverage and different areas to slot different material into.

 

Actually now days if the desk tells you 12 inches, write 10 and then cringe when you open up the newspaper and see only 8 made it in.....

 

I know writers like to vent about this but, honestly, that's happened exactly one time in my career. And my SE apologized for days for slashing my space like that. (Wasn't his fault anyway -- an ad got placed ridiculously late at night and he got stuck with it on his page.)

If you checked with your desk that night and they told you 12 for a story, I have a very, very hard time believing your stories got chopped to 8 -- at least with any regularity. What almost always happens is the writer thinks he wrote 12 and he actually wrote 16, so when it gets cut he thinks it's the desk's fault for giving him the wrong length to hit. Or ... the writer never checks with the desk and assumes he's got 12 when he actually has 10.

 

I subscribe to the theory I once read in Life's Little Instruction Book, Volume II: Learn the rules, then break some.

In general, never report a partial score before the final score. Unless you've got a story about an unbelievable comeback (the Roger Federer down 0-6, 0-6, 0-5 and down love-40 facing triple match point, then coming back to win the match example I've seen here once is one of the few times I'd break the rule), always follow that rule.

As far as "said" is concerned, I generally stay with that, but I've broken that rule before. The context was such that it made sense: "I don't need to talk about [Columbus Crew's losing streak against D.C. United at RFK Stadium, which was then 12 games], you guys talk about it all the time," Columbus Crew coach Tom Fitzgerald snapped. It got the point across of not just what he said, but how he said it.

In general, I'd look for three sources, but I could live with two if I'm crunched for space or if they're both great sources.

Score should always go in the first three grafs of a gamer unless something major happens that turns the game into the secondary story. Otherwise, you're burying the lede. For example, don't bury the score of a Pistons-Pacers game unless the teams get in a brawl or one of the teams fires its coach.

 

We've had enough "How many words are an inch?" threads on here the last couple years that any reporter that visits this site should never NOT know how much they've written.

 

I honestly think the only hard and fast rule a reporter should abide by are those govered in Strunk & White's epic tome.

Aside from those, let 'er rip.

 

Your rules are a good framework but i'd like to add one. Talk to the opposition. There are two sides to every story, get the other one. It rounds the story out. I know on deadline that can be tough, but it's a good rule of thumb.

 

Just really can't get behind this one.

 

One rule that isn't mentioned. Never ask you best questions while the TV camera is on or in a crowded room. Sometimes, in a press setting, you can sneak up along side of a subject and ask a tough question and usuaally get a good responds.