Karen Florin: The word on wire stories in The Day
Apr. 14—Some of you have asked how we select stories from wire services for publication in The Day's digital and print editions.
The Day newsroom is consumed with local news, so we rely on other publications to keep our readers connected to the rest of the world.
I got the lowdown on wire story selection from copy editors Joe Turco and Robin Watson, who serve as our primary news wire editors while also editing, laying out and proofreading pages. I also spoke with John Ruddy, copy desk chief, Kristina Dorsey, features editor, and Scott Ritter, production manager.
It's a complicated daily dance juggling how much space we have, which wire stories have "moved" or arrived in our system by deadline and not least, news judgment.
Editors who work "dayside," post wire news on the website throughout the day. Sometimes it's a major story that makes it into the next day's print edition; other times it's eclipsed by more timely news.
We get wire content from the Associated Press, Washington Post/Bloomberg, Tribune and Connecticut Mirror, all credible sources that keep our readers informed of state, national and international developments and trends.
We wish we could afford additional services, but ... you know the deal by now with newspapers and finances.
Balance and variety
The wire editors are aware readers expect balanced content, particularly when it comes to national politics. They tailor their selections to the region, keeping an eye out for stories on the Navy and submarines, nuclear power, casinos, and the Coast Guard.
The wire services send out daily lists, called advisories, of the stories they'll be moving, and at the beginning of their "nightside" shifts, the wire editor makes a list of the top stories.
"I distill from there," explained Watson. "I look at, what did we run today? What did we run yesterday? What's on the TV? I check the news in general to see what everyone's talking about. I check our website to see what has comments. I look at what's going on in the state, politics, business."
Ruddy, who manages The Day's Twitter account, watches Twitter, where news often appears first, and looks for wire stories when he sees newsy items. Turco doesn't pay attention to Twitter, and said it's not because he's old-fashioned.
"It's because I'm working here with what's on the wire. Until the story moves, I can't do anything," he said. He does look for interesting stories he sees on TV.
Ritter, a long-time wire editor, said he looked for "second day stories," or stories that "advanced the ball" when choosing wire on major news that readers would have likely heard elsewhere by the time they read the paper.
Sometimes an explainer, or analysis story is the best second-day story, and to help our readers recognize they're not reading a straight news story, we label it as such. When available, we add biographical information on the author, who is often a reporter who has covered a topic so extensively they can write these pieces with authority.
Prior to the digital age, we aspired to be more exhaustive in our news coverage, or as Ruddy put it, "to be everything" for our readers. Now we're free to look for more interesting content. If you see a story about space exploration or dinosaurs, Turco was probably the wire editor. If it's something about celebrities and pop culture, Watson likely chose it.
Dorsey selects wire stories for the Daybreak arts and entertainment section, which you'll find on line under the heading "Arts."
"The big thing for me is variety," Dorsey said. "I try to get things of interest to a range of readers." She said she looks for stories on everything from TV to food to parenting to video games.
We can post wire stories on line any time, so you'll notice some stories on theday.com that don't appear in print, usually because other stories deemed more timely or important have been selected by the time the copy desk decides on wire selections.
The wire editors take their work seriously, but don't lose sleep over it.
Watson said she's conscious of representation and tries to grab stories for men, women, old and young, people of different backgrounds and people of color. She looks for stories that will grab readers' attention and brings a sense of humor to the work, occasionally choosing a story about a topic as random as Brazilian butt lifts.
"I know I can't please everyone all the time, but I try to be as diverse as possible in the wire stories I offer," she said.
Turco said, "If they don't like what they're reading, tell them to wait 24 hours and they'll have a whole new paper again."
The editors pay attention to reader comments, including those who complain when certain stories haven't been played as much.
"I think we kind of dropped the ball when that guy was caught outside of (Supreme Court Justice) Kavanaugh's house, and we were getting hammered for it," Turco said. "So I went and looked. I had to go back three days to find a wire story."
I recently fielded a complaint that we had run a wire story that quoted Georgia's Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green saying New York City is repulsive and smells bad, but had not published a story when our state's Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, during a radio appearance following the NCAA Final Four tournament, jokingly called Houston, Texas, "butt ugly." I did a quick search of "butt ugly," didn't find anything, and responded that the story wasn't available on our wire services. The reader fired back with links to coverage in the AP, Courant and WTNH. He was right.
We keep you in mind as we make our wire selections, but sometimes your reactions surprise us.
"There are times I think, 'They're going to go ballistic over this,' and it's just crickets," said Turco.
Karen Florin is The Day's managing editor. Reach her at k.florin@theday.com or (860) 701-4217.
