Whispers reach me about a reporter who got slightly confused by the biggest story of the last month.
This reporter had produced a decent exclusive for the festive story pile at their paper (all the big main titles prepare for the lean festive weeks when they operate on skeleton staff by stockpiling stories and pictures weeks in advance).
During the holiday break the reporter made several progress checks to find out when the story was likely to appear – and anticipation reached fever pitch when the yarn in question appeared at the top of that morning’s news schedule, when the editor and his executive team had gathered to plan what would be filling the paper.
Of course, news being news nothing is every certain. It’s a fast changing world and even the best local story can be knocked from its planned slot by bigger events. Say, the assassination of the globally respected Pakistan opposition leader and glamorous icon of democracy, for instance.
The reporter was somewhat deflated when the story failed to appear in the next day’s paper. A senior colleague explained that a better and more important story had taken it’s place.
However, the reporter was unimpressed with the explanation, retorting:“Benazir Bhutto? Some footballer I’ve not even heard of – what team does he play for?”
Black and White and Read All Over 