Does it get any better for a busy journalist than to have dozens of important events, dates, times, locations and contacts, all listed in one place, a week ahead of time and compiled by someone else?
The Associated Press daybook, as I’ve found out in my 11 months as a journalist, is nothing short of a godsend. For the daily reporter, perusing its contents should be as much a part of your morning as the mandatory cup of coffee.
Though many of its listings embody the definition of inanity (See: April 14-15’s annual genealogy fair at the National Archives), the daybook is a reliable source for everything from the oft-mundane congressional hearing to more dynamic events like rallies and speeches.
Unfortunately to get access to the daybook you must subscribe to the AP, which costs hundreds of dollars per month. Most journalists working at publications will get free access through their employers. Freelancers will have to fork over their own money, but for the convenience, it’s a worthy investment.
And with convenience comes the other side of the proverbial “double-edged sword.”
Having everything compiled for you, in a nice, tidy list can make you lazy. When we rely on anything too much, as most of us do with the Internet, we become paralyzed when that crutch is no longer available (See: the “Overlogging” episode of South Park when you get the chance, if you’re of the appropriate maturity level to handle the content).
I went through a phase in my early months as a graduate student journalist where I exclusively covered things that were listed in the daybook. I was almost certain there would be other reporters at these events, which in my mind gave them some semblance of credibility, no matter how boring or unworthy of coverage they may have been.
(Thank god I didn’t make it to the X-Conference in early May, which is “dedicated to ending the now 62-year truth embargo imposed by the United States government on the formal acknowledgement of an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race.”)
A word to the (un)wise: Every event listed in the daybook is not newsworthy, just as every newsworthy event is not listed in the daybook. BP oil spill—not listed.
It can be a jumping off point—the first thing you may consult when brainstorming for that next article. It can stir the creative juices and get you pointed in the right direction for that enterprise story you have been desperately chasing.
Or it can provide you with your daily, as it has for me countless times over the last year. (Thank you, AP, for informing me that the government’s ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ investigative report would be issued only 16 months after the plane ditched safely onto the Hudson River).
But be careful not to rely solely on the blurbs and contact information provided by the daybook as your only means of research before attending an event. The online version of the daybook provides no live links, meaning the reporter needs to take the initiative to at the very least visit the appropriate websites and compile a list of potentially valuable sources to contact.
(On a side note, the AP needs to begin adding links to its daybook because, as one of my astute colleagues noted: “It’s the Internet. It’s not a piece of paper.”)
When used properly, the AP daybook can be a reporter’s best friend. But like trusting a single source to vet a story, it is a mistake to rely entirely upon it as the basis for your journalism.
