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What is newsworthy? 

How do you decide what is news for Paso Robles?

Scott Brennan

Scott Brennan is the editor and publisher of the Paso Robles Daily News.

Someone asked me this question recently. I think it is an important one. Every day editors, reporters and readers are deciding what they think is newsworthy. Our goal is to be the most comprehensive news source for Paso Robles and our surrounding communities.

How do we decide what is news? The factors we think about are below. I put them roughly in order of importance.

Proximity: The closer a story is to Paso Robles, the more news value it has. The farther away, the less interesting it becomes. We can’t cover the entire county of San Luis Obispo, the state, or the nation. Fortunately, others are doing it quite well.

Timeliness: The more recent an event, the higher news value it has. Stories brought to light before anyone else are especially valuable. We call them scoops! A major car accident that happened yesterday is newsworthy today and tomorrow, but not so much next week.

Appeal: Will our readers be interested in the story? Thanks to the digital age, this is easy figure out after a story is published. Take a look at the “Most Popular Stories” on the lower right hand column of the home page. It shows the top stories ranked by views over the past 30 days. We can consider the preferences of our readers in deciding what is newsworthy.

Impact: The more people who are affected or will be influenced by the story, the more newsworthy it becomes. This is why we write about the city council, school board and occasionally the county supervisors. Their decisions affect everyone living and working here.

Conflict: Controversy often makes a good story. Crime, public outrage, complaints and disagreements can add to a story’s news value.

Money: How much money is involved? A story about a $10 million project is much more interesting that a $1 million project.

Bizarreness: Rare and unusual events and happenings are more interesting than common events. A dog biting a man is not that newsworthy. A man biting a dog? That’s interesting.

Prominence: Politicians, celebrities, the well-known and wealthy add to a story’s news value. It is a factor we think about when considering what readers will want to see.

Resources: Every news organization has limited resources. We strive to spend our budget on looking into news stories that give us the most bang for the buck. That means we probably aren’t going to travel out of town to cover a story, because we can’t afford to. It also means we count on submissions from readers and organizations who have important news to share with the community.

Once all these factors are considered, we use our best judgment to decide what will make a good news story for our readers. Tell us what you think makes a story newsworthy in the comments section below. Do you have a news tip to share? Send it to me at scott@pasoroblesdailynews.com.

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About the author: Publisher Scott Brennan

Scott Brennan is the publisher of this newspaper and founder of Access Publishing. Follow him on Twitter, LinkedIn, or follow his blog.