Last Updated: May 20, 1999
Printer-friendly version
Wire content
review
Wire Content Committee takes a look at one day’s worth
of news on several wire services
On Aug. 13, the United Parcel Service strike was having an impact on
many parts of the economy; a new report suggested that adults need more
calcium in their diets; and news events of various angles were breaking
in the Middle East.
The wire services most widely available to and used by America’s newspapers
pretty much agreed these were the three biggest stories of the day. So
a handful of editors meeting in Indianapolis to evaluate how well the wire
services did on Aug. 13 studied their treatment of those three stories
carefully.
The results of the subjective evaluation of the three stories: The Associated
Press led the pack, while all of the services studied showed some strengths
and some weaknesses.
Reuters, for example, covered the events of the day in the UPS strike
as well as anyone and better than most. That was its strength in an otherwise
lackluster report.
The study was done by the ASNE Wire Content Committee as a follow-up
to its look at one story — the Timothy McVeigh verdict. Editors participating
in the "day-in-the-life" project were Craig Klugman, editor of The Journal-Gazette,
Fort Wayne, Ind., and the committee chair; Ray Moscowitz, editorial director
of Nixon Newspapers; Peter Johnson, night managing editor of The Cincinnati
Enquirer, and Barb Drake, editorial page editor of the Journal Star in
Peoria, Ill.
Following is how this group of editors evaluated the three top stories
of the day.
Calcium report
Maybe these editors were showing their heartland bias, but they much
preferred the work on the stories about the new calcium report to the other
stories.
The stories reported on the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that
Americans need more calcium in their diets.
AP topped the grades, followed closely by the New York Times News Service
and Gannett News Service.
Johnson said reading the AP’s coverage of the calcium story — as well
as AP’s other work in evaluations done for the ASNE Wire Content Committee
— has made him look at AP in a different light.
"After these stories and the McVeigh stories we went through, I have
a greater appreciation for AP," he said.
Drake thought AP’s work was clearly the best.
"This was so much better than anything else I read," she said. "It balanced
the people with the science. It was a good explanation of what had changed."
AP’s story by science writer Paul Recer was accompanied by information
for two charts, one showing which foods are richest in calcium and the
other showing what the institute considers adequate daily intake levels
for calcium.
Moscowitz called the New York Times report "typical comprehensive New
York Times stuff" and Klugman noted that it was the only wire service to
tell readers where to write for the full report.
As for Gannett’s coverage, it was short and to the point — "absolutely
perfect for some newspapers," Klugman said.
Editors particularly liked this summary paragraph in a story by Kim
Painter of USA Today (through GNS):
The Institute of Medicine recommendation, which replaces old recommended
dietary allowances, comes down to this- Drink your milk and eat your greens,
because if you don’t, your bones will suffer.
Both Knight Ridder/Tribune New Service and the Los Angeles Times/Washington
Post News Service received B- grades. Editors regarded the work as better
than average, but both services were marked down because the stories were
not written as clearly and simply as they could have been.
Klugman said he was "very, very distressed" by the lead on a KRT story
by Brigid Schulte:
When it comes to getting enough calcium, those ubiquitous milk moustache
ads are not working.
"I applaud the effort, but there is nothing in the story to back that
up," Klugman said.
As for LAT/WP report, stories by both Ridgely Ochs of Newsday and Sally
Squires of The Washington Post were considered less "reader friendly" than
many of the other stories offered on the calcium study.
Editors were not impressed with the Reuters effort. Klugman called the
story "excruciatingly straight with no translation" of scientific detail,
such as how much is 1,200 mg to the reader?
Scripps Howard did not move a story on the subject.
UPS strike
All seven wire services offered solid coverage of the United Parcel
Service strike. No grade was lower than B-.
Leading the curve on this story were the New York Times and Reuters.
New York Times coverage included a mainbar on the resumption of talks
and a sidebar detailing the pension plan issue. The strength of the mainbar
was its explanation of the political pressures that were mounting in the
case.
Reuters finally got a good grade from the editors.
"We finally ran into a story that Reuters did pretty well," Klugman
said.
Johnson agreed: "The mainbar was solid, a straightforward news story
that covered all the key angles."
Drake called it "very comprehensive."
Other services did almost as well on the story. The Los Angeles Times/
Washington Post rated a B+. The service offered three mainbar stories to
choose from. Drake chose a Washington Post story by Frank Swoboda.
"If you were looking for one story to tell your readers what was going
on that day, this was it," she said.
Both Gannett and KRT earned B for their efforts.
KRT’s approach was to provide four sidebars and no real mainbar. Editors
liked the stories but suggested many papers would not be interested in
running them.
"I don’t know if I would run it, but I admire the risk they took," said
Klugman. "How much of this was really big breaking news this day? I was
cautiously impressed."
Gannett took a similar approach, with a five-paragraph mainbar and a
30-paragraph sidebar or backgrounder.
"I wondered if I wasn’t looking at what deep thinkers would say is the
future of American journalism," Klugman said.
Johnson, on the other hand, called the main story "really unsatisfying."
AP, the favorite of the committee on most things, was deemed "solid
if unspectacular" and given a B-.
Scripps Howard matched AP with a B-. Its story of the day was a look
at the stakes for labor and Teamsters leader Ron Carey. "It stood out in
the crowd for moving the story ahead," Johnson said.
Middle East
The editors agreed: these stories were a chore to read. Some of them
were well done, but the topic clearly falls under the "need to know" heading
as opposed to stories that readers might really want to read.
Coverage on this day centered on the end of U.S. envoy Dennis Ross’s
attempt to bring Israeli and Palestinian leaders closer together on the
peace process.
Work by the AP was graded at A- to head the class. Clarity was the key.
"It was easy to grasp," Johnson said of the report. "It was pretty straightforward
and clear. The main story also got quickly to all three sources involved."
AP outdid other services with volume, as well, and had angles other
services didn’t.
One story written by Barry Schweid focused on an Israeli ambassador’s
claim that Syria was preparing for war as it talked of peace. Another was
about the destruction of seven Palestinian homes that were built without
permits.
Still another broke out information about the CIA taking on a new role
—that of mediator on security in the Israeli-Palestinian talks.
The New York Times offered good detail and thoroughness, earning it
a B+ from the editors.
"Wire editors really had a choice here," Klugman said. "On the one hand,
a solid, policy-based piece by the New York Times gave interested readers
a lot of detail. This had a clear explanation of King Hussein’s presence
at the time. The CIA angle was minimized, compared with some other wire
services’ report.
"On the other hand, the piece by Cox Newspapers was unorthodox. But
it put a human face on the story and was a workable, feature-like approach
to a story that could turn a lot of readers off."
KRT also was graded as a B+ with its stories by Stephen Franklin of
the Chicago Tribune and Barbara Demick of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Klugman pointed out the stories presented a challenge for wire editors.
They placed different values on the news that the CIA would mediate talks
— Franklin calling it "an extraordinary security arrangement" and Demick
stating well down in her story that "CIA officials have attended such meetings
in the past."
"This would be extremely frustrating to me as a wire editor," he said.
"The wire service gave wire editors two very different approaches."
Los Angeles Times/Washington Post offered two stories, one by Rebecca
Trounson of the Times, and one by William Drozdiak of the Post. Neither
received particularly high marks from the editors and the wire service
was graded as C+ on the story.
"I thought the Washington Post story was too much to even get through,
practically indecipherable," Drake said.
Johnson said the stories were contradictory. "They had different views
of what transpired," he said.
Trounson’s lead said Ross "ended his emergency Middle East mission Wednesday
with an unsuccessful appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to ease the punishing sanctions ..."; Drozdiak started his story with "Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded a conciliatory note Wednesday
by promising to lift sanctions against Palestinians living in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip as soon as Yasser Arafat shows signs of good faith
... "
Reuters received a C. The CIA angle so prominent in other news services
was missing, and the writing, editors agreed, was "laborious."
Scripps Howard received an I (incomplete). The wire service moved a
short story on the Middle East Aug. 13, a round-up that devoted a paragraph
or two to Ross’s mission, meetings between Netanyahu and King Hussein of
Jordan and the demolition of homes in occupied territories.
Gannett News Service didn’t move any stories on the Middle East this
day.
Zaltsberg is editor of The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind.
