Chapter Eleven, Covering Planned Events

On a slow day with no breaking stories and little spot news, planned events can save a newscast. The benefits of a planned event are easy to see: The location is given beforehand, the time and date are scheduled well in advance, background information of the event is given upfront, and contact information of the principal players are provided if anyone has questions.

All of these reasons can be summed up thus—planned events are the unique news stories to which the reporter has received an invitation. Spot news stories may show suffering or a criminal activity, while an enterprised story could reveal an investigation that shows someone in an unflattering manner. But a planned event, outlined beforehand with a press release or an agenda, is a story that already provides a who-what-when-where for a reporter.

This chapter discusses these events and describes why some of the events are newsworthy whereas others are not. City council meetings, which are planned events, may be tedious, yet have vital information for the audience. Conversely, a showy press conference may have more visual impact but not the newsworthiness of the council meeting. Learning to gauge why to cover these stories and how to cover them well are the key elements of this chapter.