REP: THE NEWSPAPER NEWSROOM

What is a Newsroom?

A newsroom is the central place where journalists work to gather news to be published in a newspaper and/or an online newspaper or magazine, or broadcast on radio, television, or cable. Some journalism organizations refer to the newsroom as the city room. The concept of newsroom may also now be employed by some public relations practitioners, as representatives of companies and organizations, with the intent to influence or create their own “media”.

Newsrooms are all different- some are big, some small; some publish once a day, some once a week; some publish online and on the radio as well as in print; others stick to print. While how a newsroom works can differ, the steps to how a newspaper gets published remain the same.

Newspapers used to fall into one of three common categories: morning dailies, afternoon dailies, and weeklies. Press times for morning dailies often would be after midnight, allowing time for late-breaking stories and coverage of late sports events to make the morning paper. Afternoon dailies are usually printed during the mid- to late-morning hours, allowing papers to hit newsstands by lunch and reach home-delivery subscribers before they got home from work. Print schedules for weekly papers varied by publication and depended on publication days.

In larger media outlets, such as metropolitan newspapers, radio or television, the newsroom is much bigger, with a larger staff of people. They can include:
● Journalists/reporters.
● Photographers.
● Camera operators.
● Sound and lighting technicians.
● Editing room staff (where television and radio stories are cut and compiled).
● Sub-editors (who edit newspaper journalists’ stories and check them for any legal, factual or other problems before publication).
● Receptionists and News Desk coordinators.
● Archive or Library staff (sometimes)
● Graphic designers
● Editors or chiefs of staff – either in charge of sections of the media’s coverage, or of its overall coverage.


General Working of A Newsroom

The starting point is the story idea. The reporter may come up with a story idea- maybe from talking to a contact, reading or observing something- and pitch it to the chief reporter.

NEWS CONFERENCE
The chief reporter takes the main ideas of the day to the news conference. There are generally two conferences held in a day. In these conferences all editors sit together to decide which story to work upon and how to work to pursue it.

THE REPORTER’S WORK 
After the news conference, the chief editor assigns one or more topics to the reporter. The reporter now starts researching wherein they might make calls, interview people, go through already existing similar articles etc.
After researching, the reporter articulates his research and puts it into the word limit assigned. Once the story has been written, it is ‘filed’ for the chief editor to go through. 
The chief editor now checks the story for accuracy, balance, and fairness, and asks the reporter to re check the gaps again if any. Once the chief reporter is satisfied, the story gets sent to a general news ‘queue’ or basket from where the story goes to the news editor.

TO THE NEWS EDITOR AND PRODUCTION TEAM
The news editor assesses the story to decide whether and where to use it in the newspaper. The news editor also monitors the wires for stories. After their satisfaction, the story is now sent to the production team.
The production team allots space to each story, picture, headlines etc according to layouts to get a rough idea of how the newspaper might look and further sends it to the sub-editor. The sub editor’s job is to fit the story in its given space and look for any factual inaccuracies. The sub-editor also writes the headline and credits for the story. After having done this, the story is double checked by another sub editor and printed on pages for proofreading. Thereafter, the newspaper is sent to the printers who print the copies and send it further for distribution.


Newsrooms in Print Publications

In a print publication’s newsroom, reporters sit at desks, gather information, and write articles or stories. These stories are submitted to editors, who usually sit together at one large desk, where the stories are reviewed and possibly rewritten. Reporters generally use the inverted pyramid method for writing their stories.

How a newsroom is structured and functions depends in part on the size of the publication and when it is published, especially if it is a daily newspaper, which can either be published in the morning (an a.m. cycle) or the evening (a p.m. cycle). Most daily newspapers follow the a.m. cycle.

BUDGET MEETING
In almost all newspaper newsrooms, editors customarily meet daily with the chief editor to discuss which stories will be placed on the front page, section front pages, and other pages. This is commonly called a budget meeting because the main topic of the meeting is the budgeting or allocation of space in the next issue.

ASSIGNMENT DESK
Newsrooms often have an assignment desk where staffers monitor emergency scanners, answer telephone calls, faxes and e-mails from the public and reporters. The assignment desk is also responsible for assigning reporters to stories or deciding what is covered and what isn’t. In some newsrooms, a teamwork-integrated system called the Maestro Concept has been applied to improve time management of the newsroom. This maestro system is a method to improve the presentation of stories to busy readers in today’s media. Teamwork and collaboration bring a story to life from an initial idea by integrating reporting with photographs, design and information graphics.

MORE DETAILS on How a News story gets published
Stories come into the newsroom – this can occur in a number of ways, some of which are:
● Through tip-offs from contacts, or press releases
● Through coverage of newsworthy events, activities and occasions.
● From story leads followed-up by journalists.
● From issues or stories the editors, producers or chiefs-of-staff themselves want covered.
● From calls by journalists chasing up new angles on current stories.

As this pool of stories develops, journalists are either assigned stories by editors or, in some smaller media organisations, cover the stories themselves.
● This is done either by attending the event or through phone or face-to-face interviews or the use of press releases.
● At times they may use archival material, such as old photographs, footage or sound, which is stored in written archives or on computer.
● At this time photographers, camera operators, sound and lighting technicians come into play.

In larger print media organisations, the visuals for stories can be organised through the photographic editor.
● In smaller organisations like suburban newspapers, journalists and photographers often liaise directly to organise photo opportunities and book photos.
● Sometimes photographers and camera operators get sent out to do their job on site, while journalists stay in the office to follow up the story or conduct interviews on the phone.
● Any graphics needed to accompany a story is organised and the work allocated to graphic designers.
● Once photographers or camera operators return with their visuals the newsroom can become a frantic place, as items are put together and the stories are completed before the deadline.
● For print media, photographs are loaded into a computer and saved.
● At this stage any other graphic information needed is completed or almost completed and ready for use. 

Meanwhile, the journalist spends time finishing their story before it is saved and sent to sub-editors.
● At this time, particularly in larger newsrooms, editors, producers and chiefs-of-staff often meet again to review the story list and see if there are any new stories to include (or others to discard) and re-order them in priority for presentation in the newspaper or bulletin.
● When stories or news items are completed, they are usually checked to ensure they are factually correct, make sense and adhere to any legal requirements.
● Copy or check sub-editors (copy subs or check subs) will go through stories.
● Lay-out sub-editors then draw the story, photograph and graphic elements together and lay them out through a computer on the page.

For more detailed notes on the topic, please go through the following links:
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/understanding-the-news-cycle-2295933
https://www.slideshare.net/starrjulie/how-newspaper-newsrooms-work-1065878
https://www.ourcommunity.com.au/marketing/marketing_article.jsp?articleId=1607
https://www.ourcommunity.com.au/marketing/marketing_article.jsp?articleId=1607

-Apurva Gouri
Lady Shri Ram College for Women 
Batch of 2022

(Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal)