Editing the Wire
“The best training, the best resource that a gatekeeper
on a small paper has is the wire."
- Edward Seaton, 1998-99 president, ASNE
"We need to develop people who know how to edit the
wires."
- Susan Deans, editor, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach,
S.C.
"We're going snow blind reporting all the snowflakes ...
We need to achieve the proper context for these
episodic stories on the wire."
- Douglas Clifton, executive editor, The Miami Herald
Editing the Wire
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A culture is the stories we tell ourselves.
This can be seen most powerfully in the use
of wire service stories.
So much of what a culture understands about
the world is found through the efforts of the
nation’s wire editors:
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The gatekeepers on the events and life:
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Of the world outside our borders.
And the world inside our borders.
The Associated Press
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The Associated Press, or AP, is a U.S. news agency.
It is the world's oldest and largest.
AP is a cooperative.
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It is owned by its contributing newspapers and
broadcasters.
Journalists with those member organizations contribute
stories to AP and members use material written by those
journalists.
Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the U.S.
subscribe to AP. They pay a fee to use AP material.
The Associated Press
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The AP has 242 bureaus and serves 121
countries.
As of 2005, AP's news is being used by:
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1,700 newspapers
5,000 television and radio stations.
The Associated Press - History
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AP began in May 1848 when representatives of six
competitive New York newspapers decided to join
together to collect news from Europe.
Up to that point, newspapers tried to scoop other
newspapers by sending reporters out in rowboats to
meet the ships as they arrived in the harbor.
The first telegraph was developed and patented in
the United States in 1837 by Samuel Morse.
His Morse code quickly spread across the country in
the next two decades.
The Associated Press - History
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The first transatlantic telegraph cable was
successfully completed in 1866, allowing
transatlantic telegraph communications for the first
time.
In 1899, AP used the wireless telegraph to cover the
America's Cup yacht race off Sandy Hook, New
Jersey, the first news test of the new telegraph.
In 1914, AP introduced the Teletype, which
transmitted directly to printers over telegraph wires.
Eventually, it established a worldwide network of 60word-per-minute Teletypes.
In 1935, AP began WirePhoto, the world's first wire
service for photographs.
Editing the Wire – Trimming Stories
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Before you begin at the bottom – recall
pyramid style
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Trim or brief long stories by carefully condensing
text to retain key info.
That is, line and word edit. Find where you can
say the same with fewer words.
Watch out – there are often first mentions of key
points at end.
Eliminate repetition and unnecessary
attribution.
Editing the Wire – Trimming Stories
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Do away with clutter and jargon.
Quotes – don’t cut good, telling quotes – look
for the bland and inconsequential
That is, look for:
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Long quotes that can be reduced or paraphrased
Weak, say-nothing quotes
Redundancies and comments that add nothing to
story
Editing the Wire – Trimming Stories
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Remove background – but don’t lose relevant
context
Watch out – don’t cut first references or move
second references before the first ref.
Comb back through your story to check
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for first refs problems
if numbers still add up
to see how it flows
if there are any holes a reader would spot
Bloomberg Briefs
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Bloomberg, the financial news service, is
know for its package of well constructed
briefs that captures the world of economics
and business that day.
Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler told ASNE
that with a story 1,000 to 2,500 words long,
Bloomberg boils it down to a “very specific
four-paragraph lead model (with) no sacrifice
in news judgment, context or perspective.”
Bloomberg Briefs
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Winkler describes the structure of a Bloomberg
brief as follows:
“The lead is clearly what and why (the theme).
The second paragraph must ratify the lead ...
provide the authority that establishes why you
should be reading the story.
Typically, the second paragraph can be a quotation
from a recognized authority, making it clear that this
story is worth taking seriously.
The third paragraph is what’s at stake, why you
should care, why readers should be interested.
And then the fourth paragraph is the typical laundry
list of detail that establishes the factual basis for
the story ... .”
Bloomberg Briefs
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“The Bloomberg Way: A Guide for Reporters
& Editors” elaborates:
Determine the key piece(s) of information.
Failing to include the most important facts in
the theme, or including too many facts,
makes it difficult to attract readers’ attention.
Include the “why” along with the “what.”
Without providing the explanation as part of
the theme, the quotation and details don’t
help the story.
Bloomberg Briefs
Be sure the quotation backs up the theme. In some
cases, quotes don’t help readers understand the
story. In others, they conflict with the theme.
Select details that relate directly to the theme.
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Good writing involves deciding not only whether
information belongs in a story, but also where it belongs.
Details put in the wrong place can sidetrack readers rather
than inform them.
Explain the news sufficiently before providing
context.
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To understand why a news event matters, readers must
have a clear understanding of the event first.
Otherwise the context and perspective become
meaningless.
Editing the Wire – Compiling Stories
Have the relevant wire services’ phone
numbers on hand.
Pick one of the two or more stories as your
basis to build on
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Use that story’s structure and organization to
merge other info from other stories
Ensure you lose no relevant information
Editing the Wire – Compiling Stories
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Make sure names of people and things are
consistent & fix inconsistencies by checking
facts – DON’T ASSUME
This can happen, too, with quotes
Ensure you do not repeat information.
Determine if there is info missing from all
the stories that needs to be found through
fact checking
Editing the Wire – Compiling Stories
Recall where your readers reside.
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Change words, idioms, locations, directions,
currency, land areas, etc.
For example:
What does “lorry” mean?
What does it mean “to table” something?
Editing the Wire – Compiling Stories
Ensure that datelines do not lead to
confusion about where a story was reported
from.
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Often, stories on the same subject will have
different datelines.
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In that case, it is often prudent to remove datelines
But be sure to make clear in story where it is being
reported from
Editing the Wire – Crediting
From staff and wire reports
Compiled from Times wire services
The Associated Press contributed to this
story
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Shirttail with staff or story from another wire
The Language of AP – Bulletin*
BC-Obit-Shabazz,0032
 BULLETIN
 NEW YORK (AP) — Betty Shabazz, the
widow of Malcolm X,died Monday of burns
from a fire allegedly set by her 12-year-old
grandson. She was 61.
MORE
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* Adapted from Editor’s Guide to AP News Services for Newspapers, By The
Associated Press, Edited by Dave Tomlin and Marty Thompson
The Language of AP – Urgent
BC-FBI Spy,0079
 URGENT
 Former FBI agent gets 27 years for spying
 ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Former FBI agent
Earl Pitts was sentenced Monday to 27 years
in prison for spying for Moscow. Prosecutors
had requested nearly 24 years.
MORE
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The Language of AP
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AP editors decide whether to file a Bulletin or
an Urgent based on an estimate of a story’s
news value.
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A Bulletin story should almost always be worth
Page One consideration.
A Bulletin consists of no more than one or
two paragraphs, followed by a notation
promising that MORE will move quickly.
The Language of AP
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An Urgent can run up to three or four grafs,
followed either by a MORE or a pickup line
showing where the copy flows into a story
already on the wire.
Bulletins and Urgents typically are followed
by several short adds, each of them slugged
Urgent and running no more than about three
or four grafs.
The idea is to provide short bursts of
information as quickly and in as well-crafted a
form as possible.
The Language of AP
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Once all the basic new information available
has moved, work begins immediately on a
Writethru that combines the various pieces
into one file.
This provides a chance to sharpen the lead, if
necessary, smooth out the copy and
incorporate new information at the same
time.
The Language of AP
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While the copy is moving, AP editors provide
advisories about an upcoming Writethru:
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What AP’s staffing plans are
Photo prospects
Likely timing of further leads
Information about relevant sidebars.
The Language of AP
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Once the initial Writethru is on the wire,
further Writethrus will be filed as aggressively
and frequently as the magnitude of the story
warrants.
On a major, fast-developing story like a
jetliner crash, the number might well go to a
dozen or more leads before the cycle is over,
and in rare instances the number can go
much higher.
Power of the Wire Editor *
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Note: The news editor usually depends largely on the wire
digests for guidance.
Therefore, the wire editor must look for stories that:
Present a provocative human-interest feature from abroad.
Illuminate a social trend.
Offer a clear analysis of a complicated issue.
Are of particular local interest that's connected in some way to
the community.
Are inherently important (deemed to have a major impact on
public affairs).
Are intrinsically compelling (touch a common chord).
Are especially well written and/or presented ... or, in other words,
good journalism.
* Adapted from “Using Wire Copy,” www.asne.org