In response to y
our reeuqst: le
t us know if the
y sound like the
basis for a jour
nalistic career
in the 21st cent
ury , the short
answer is no n
or were they the
basis for a jour
nalistic career
in the 20th cent
ury, either. As
someone who work
ed for 15 years
on various Fleet
Street newspaper
s, I have to say
that the checkli
st you provide w
ould lead to a v
ery brief career
, as it ignores
the Prime Direct
ive of Newspaper
Journalism: get
ting stories tha
t your rivals do
n't, or at the v
ery least, not m
issing stories t
hat everyone els
e runs. Very ear
ly on in my care
er, I decided no
t to cover a sto
ry because my sc
ientific trainin
g led me to be d
eeply suspicious
of it. The follo
wing day, the Da
ily Mail had a t
wo-page feature
on it and I wa
s rewarded with
the threat of re
dundancy from my
editor for missi
ng out on a stor
y run by a rival
, and a bit of
friendly advice
from the deputy
news editor: So
metimes you can
know too much .
In other words,
don't get all pr
issy about the s
cience if you su
spect your rival
s will be less f
ussy. I usually
tried to get aro
und this by call
ing a professor
somewhere and ge
tting him/her to
say what baloney
the story was, a
nd hope the cave
ats didn't get c
ut out by a sub-
editor. I wasn't
always successfu
l.With media out
lets under more
financial and co
mpetitive pressu
re than ever, th
e idea that jour
nalists put scie
ntific precision
before covering
their backsides
by getting a sto
ry into print ca
n, I'm sorry to
say, most charit
ably be describe
d as naive.