Errors and Omissions

Architecture of Newspapers, part 3

In today's Times, the paper's ombudsman, Byron Calame, discusses "enterprise stories."

This was the first I'd heard this term, and though he doesn't define it in the article (which would have been helpful for non-journalists), it means stories that begin with proposals from editors, reporters or publicists, rather being inspired by breaking news. Journalism.com provides some helpful context here.

In his article, Calame surveys an edition of the Sunday Times, and researches the origin of twenty-three enterprise stories (there were two breaking news stories and two columns as well) and is gratified that most of the ideas came from reporters, as opposed to editors (i.e., bottom-up vs. top-down ideas).

He's also happy that only two of the twenty-three enterprise stories came from publicists. That seems like a reasonably low percentage, but I'm curious about something: the stories Calame referenced were all front-page stories. Was the percentage of publicist-generated stories after the front pages higher than this? I'd bet that it was.

The actions of publicists placing stories in the mainstream media is a hidden side of the business I'd like to learn more about. How about that deeper analysis, Mr. Calame?

New York Times, journalism, public relations

posted by Unknown @ 5/07/2006 09:28:00 AM