I need to interview journalists. Anyone want to help?

Question

I'm working on a Girl Scout badge and have to interview journalists.
How do you meet your daily,weekly,or monthly deadlines?What topics are newsworthy?Also,I need some opinions on if it's better to have longer "lead time" for nonfiction articles,or to feel the "rush" of daily newspaper deadlines.
Lots of questions,I know,but please reply. Thanks!:)

Answer 1

1. Planning is the key word. You have to plan ahead to meet deadlines. If you are working on a daily basis, you are always thinking about the next story ... and sometimes the story after that. I write a column that appears every two weeks, and I try to keep a schedule in my head for two or three columns.

2. That's a tough one. It's a bit of a guessing game, but one with judgment accumulated after the years in the business. But the basic question is: what do people want to read about? If you are interested, many others might be as well.

3. Lead time? Hmmm. At a newspaper, that's becoming smaller and smaller ... and that's becoming a problem, because there's less chance to catch mistakes. The urgency of a daily deadline does push you along nicely, but it can be a grind on a daily basis.

Hope this helps.