Dealing With Newsdesks

A newsdesk is usually the hub of the newsroom and will be led a news editor who manages the reporters. In terms of career progression it is not only important to be good, but you also have to make sure the newsdesk know you are good. This is because the better they think you are, the better stories you will get to cover and the more faith they will have that your stories will stand up.

The obvious way to impress the newsdesk is to do a good job, but it is also important to understand their role so you can be as useful to them as possible.

Selling Stories to the Desk

Most newspapers have a regular news conference, which is where the most senior editorial staff meet to discuss potential stories. Before the news conference, news editors will normally go to each journalist and ask them what stories they have got. Try to make sure that when they come around, you always have something to give them.

But do not try to oversell the stories and be up-front about any aspect of a story that diminishes its news value. It can be tempting to brush over any weaknesses with the story and in the short term this may mean you get a greater number of prominent stories. But the last thing you want is to get a reputation as someone whose stories always seem to run into problems at the last minute, which is when it is most difficult to find a replacement for them.

You also need to know the story inside out. When you summarise the story, it will inspire confidence if you are able to immediately answer any follow-up questions the news editor might have.

Timing is Everything

You should always think about the timing of when you tell the newsdesk about stories, particularly the good ones.

This is because if a news editor knows about a story for too long then it can become stale. They are often much more likely to give the front page to a story they only find out about the day before deadline than one they have known about for a week because it feels fresher and more like a breaking story.

This is irrational and the only thing that matters is whether or not the news story is new to the people reading the paper. In fact, having the story early means that you are in a better position to check the facts properly. But this does happen, so it can be worth not mentioning a story to the newsdesk too far in advance.

To give you an example of how stories can go stale, I once wrote a story for about how perverts were drilling holes in the walls of a local leisure centre's unisex changing rooms. The editor loved it and wanted to splash on it. But right on deadline, there was breaking news about a member of a famous local band being arrested and we had to drop the leisure centre story to make way for it. But rather than run it on the front page in the following issue, it was only a page lead towards the back of the paper, just because it seemed like old news.

Keep Stories Coming

A news editor wants to be able to depend on reporters to come up with a steady stream of news but in the real world you get peaks and troughs.

For this reason, when you have lots of stories coming it can be worth holding back some of the ones that are not time-sensitive.

This means you are always have something if the newdesk is desperate for something to fill a page and you will also be able to save the day if a story has to be dropped on deadline.

And having a backlog of stories also means that you can still be putting them through even if you have an off-day. This could give you the chance to do some extra background research and also helps if you are tired, hungover, or just not in the mood for work.