WASHINGTON –As a journalism student, I have been taught to always put the most recent news first – in the top paragraph in an article and in the first part of a video. That is what makes news, well, news. But in an ever-changing industry heightened by the pace of the 24-hour news cycle, keeping up is a continuous challenge. I experienced this first-hand when I covered what seemed like a mundane panel discussion on what American politicians can learn from the British elections. What was supposed to be a simple, daily story became an article changed three times to accommodate major developments that happened throughout the day.
The British elections were held on May 6. No party won a majority of the 326 seats in the House of Commons resulting in a hung election. The panel discussion was held five days after the election. And in those five days, negotiations were ongoing on which parties would form a coalition between the Conservative (aka the Tories), Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. On the day of the panel discussion, no one, including the experts knew what the result of negotiations was going to be.
The following is a review of that day’s events and how I had to adjust for breaking news.
8:45 a.m. I arrive at American Enterprise Institute where the panel discussion “The British Election: Lessons for America” was going to be held.
9:15 a.m. The panel discussion starts.
“From Friday to Sunday, it seemed like there would be a Conservative Liberal Democrat deal. Then yesterday, it looked like a [Conservative] Labour deal,” said Michael Barone, moderator of the panel and co-author of the Almanac of American Politics. “I haven’t checked in the past 15-20 minutes so I’m unable to say anything more. You should all check your BlackBerry.”
Little did I know that the rest of my day would have major developments.
11:30 a.m. I am back in the newsroom and I start writing my article.
2:10 p.m. I finish what would be the first version of my article out of three. I get in line to be copy edited.
2:20 p.m. Prime Minister and Labour party leader Gordon Brown gives an emotional speech in front of 10 Downing Street.
“It was a privilege to serve and, yes, I love the job, not for its prestige, its titles and ceremony, which I do not love at all,” said Brown. “I wish the next prime minister well as he makes the important choices for the future.”
Brown leaves for Buckingham Palace to give Queen Elizabeth II his resignation. At this point, I started reworking my article making Brown’s resignation the news.
2:45 p.m. Brown leaves Buckingham palace and his resignation is confirmed.
3:05 p.m. Conservative party leader David Cameron is asked to meet with the Queen and leaves for Buckingham Palace.
I assumed the Queen will be inviting Cameron to be the next prime minister so I started researching Cameron. If he accepts the invitation, the news will be that Britain has a new prime minister.
3:35 p.m. Cameron, 42, accepts the Queen’s invitation and becomes the youngest prime minister since 1812. He leaves the palace for his new residence at 10 Downing St.
I wait for his arrival at the residence, while completely reworking my article.
3:49 p.m. Cameron speaks in front of 10 Downing St. where he gave his first announcement as prime minister and enters his new home with wife Samantha. He said that he wants a “full” coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
4:25 p.m. I finished writing the article.
5:16 p.m. The article gets published.
You may ask how I was able to keep track of what was happening half-way across the world. I was lucky that the BBC had minute by minute tweets and that I am seated in front of the TV where CNN had live coverage. I am not an advocate of relying on other news organizations on primary details in my own work so I also made a few calls to the British Embassy and AEI making sure my facts were correct. It can be extremely stressful to keep up with news especially when you are not where it is happening, but always fact check.
Every journalist knows that news can break any time, more often when you least expect it. Be ready to throw away what you have been working on for the sake of keeping your story fresh.