Editing wire stories

1. Editing wire stories How they are a tool What the danger spots are

2. Editing wire stories: Some background Wire editors are also called “telegraph” editors from how stories were delivered in the Civil War era and beyond. These stories arrived from some external source, even the paper’s own correspondents. Now, these stories are delivered electronically – for a fee, of course. The Associated Press is the world’s biggest wire service – serving 1,500-plus U.S. newspapers and 6,000 broadcast entities. It has more than 15,000 clients worldwide, many of them Web-based. AP has “bureaus” throughout the world and U.S., including several in Texas (Dallas, Houston, Austin etc.) United Press International is much smaller – it went bankrupt in the 1980s and has since reorganized. Reuters (Britain) and Agence France Presse (France) are two of the larger international wire services. Client organizations pay for the rights to use wire copy. In turn, the client can also agree to provide its copy for the wire service. For instance, electronic copies of all Chronicle stories automatically are sent to the AP.

3. Editing wire stories: The Chronicle The Chronicle obtains stories, photos, graphics – and now audio and video (AP) -- from a variety of wire services, including the New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, McClatchy News Service (formerly Knight-Ridder), Newscom, Bloomberg News Service, Newhouse, and others. This content is used both in the print and Web products. The Hearst wire service provides stories etc. to some of those listed above. The Chronicle had five wire editors on the newsdesk (the desk has evolved); and there are wire editors attached to the business and online desks. Copy editors handle the wire duties in the features, sports and editorial departments. The newsdesk wire editors handle the daily national and international wire copy, the Newsmakers page, wire obits, state wires (once the State desk leaves) and provide advance copy for Sunday editions and holiday sections. They also now have to assist with providing content for the Chronicle Web page.

4. Editing wire stories: News judgment Wire editors have to be cognizant of : • The size of the news hole (even the Web has limits, although story cuts made for print can often be restored) • The significance of the story (importance and/or human interest) • Optional leads, writethrus, adds, correx, subs, new ledes etc. These are all wire terms that mean changes in words, paragraphs or whole stories may be necessary. Wire services do not tailor copy for a particular client. They aren’t localized. Wire services are not sacred; their copy can be used whole or trimmed as needed. Also, while generally accurate, they are capable of making some big errors.

5. Editing wire stories: Danger zones Some classic boo-boos: • The wrong verdict was sent out in the Lindbergh kidnap/murder case. The writer forgot to delete the “not” in front of “guilty” in a pre-written story about the impending verdict. • Confusing boxer George Foreman with former Vikings running back Chuck Foreman; the latter received a new name. • First day story on the A&M Bonfire tragedy, referring to the student Bonfire construction coordinators as “pot heads” (rather than “red pots” or “white pots”)

6. Editing wire stories: Danger zones Peculiarities to watch for in wire stories: • Datelines, wire credits, time elements: Stories don’t die off the wires at midnight; be wary of day-old news. • Transition: Updates and interjecting material from a variety of wire sources into one story may create flow problems. • Style and spelling: Not all the wire services follow AP style. Courtesy titles, Khadafy vs. Quaddafi, Koran vs. Quran, Mumbai vs. Bombay, etc. Reuters uses British spellings. • Overlapping jurisdiction: A communications problem. A Barry Bonds grand jury story will be on news and sports wires; so who gets it? The Olympic torch protests? • Reuters: Often too fast on the trigger, less reliable • Ethical pitfalls: standards may differ from one service to the next; McClatchy identified the Duke case accuser

7. Editing wire stories: Danger zones • Communication / Duplication: This is an addendum to the overlapping jurisdiction item. Sometimes two wire editors will “double team” a big story; one is responsible for the Page 1 copy while another takes care of the inside pages. While some content overlap may be unavoidable, the wire editors need to make sure the sidebar(s) is not overly duplicative. Competing wire services will often file on the same subject, sometimes days after the first story has appeared. Same story, but different byline – so beware. Or, updates on a breaking story may not “move the story forward” that much. You have to read your product!

8. Editing wire stories: Danger zones • Localization: Wire editors often try to localize stories to their particular market. They look for local angles (Houston-area troops killed in Iraq) and try to answer the reader’s “so why should I care” question. The wire editor can insert staff copy into a wire story or feed wire material into a staff-bylined story. For example, the Kurt Vonnegut obit in the Chronicle used a photo from the author’s 1998 commencement address at Rice. The TWA 800 explosion killed three members of a Houston family, making a national story into a local one as well. Conversely, a wire story about the shots used to stem the effects of nerve gas being a possible cause of Gulf War Syndrome failed to include comments from local veterans or even mention that there is a VA hospital in Houston.

9. Editing wire stories Some wire vocabulary • News alert, bulletin, urgent, flash. • Lede, take, write-thru, optional lead

10. LAS VEGAS (AP) - One key prosecution witness contradicted the account of another Friday, saying he used a key to admit O.J. Simpson and a group of men to a hotel room to claim Simpson's property, denying there was a ``military style invasion.'' ``I had a key and I let them in,'' said Thomas Riccio. ``Nobody was busting the door down.'' Riccio, a memorabilia dealer who set up the Sept. 13 hotel room meeting that led to Simpson's arrest on robbery and other charges, also said the former football star told him he never saw a gun during the confrontation. But Riccio said he saw a man wave a gun near his face as hundreds of items were being taken from two other memorabilia dealers. LAS VEGAS (AP) - A tiny room at a low- end hotel. Thousands of dollars worth of sports memorabilia spread out on the lone King bed. Nine men yelling about the stuff before some of them start hauling it away in boxes and pillow cases. Tom Riccio's description of the chaotic scene that led to O.J. Simpson's arrest was cinematic and at times comedic – until he got to the part where Riccio says someone pulled out a gun. At that point, ``there was no turning back,'' the collectibles broker said. Riccio testified Friday in the second day of an evidentiary hearing to determine if Simpson, 60, Clarence ``C.J.'' Stewart and Charles Ehrlich, both 53, should be tried on 12 criminal charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping. Optional leads

11. Editing wire stories The present and future: • Take a quick look at www.apexchange.com

12. Editing wire stories: exercise Story edit for a grade • Consider the AP story, Dallas Morning News and LA Times stories and decide how you will put together a Page One story on the Bush-Obama visit. You can re-top the AP story, just freshen one of the longer stories, mix and match the stories or just use one story; your choice. • Note the usual land mines. • Write a 3-36-2 headline • Trim to about 20 paragraphs