Wire editors are also responsible for selecting the wire copy for the entire paper each day. Many of the procedures and staffing, however, vary from bureau to bureau. In the bureau where I work, we see about 15-20 stories a night. Again in this bureau, there are two people on the desk, but we're expecting a parttimer to start soon. The workload is divided either by the two local page fronts we have or by one of the two editions my bureau publishes.
Career paths are hard to figure on the desk.
It's a split between those interested in copy editing and those interested in design. I come in on the copy-editing side. There isn't much advancement opportunity on the desk itself. Most stay with designing newspages. Assigning editors work closely with the desk.