News coverage can make the world seem bewildering. Most items are new, often startling, and rarely connected with the news events of other days and weeks. Nearly every magazine shows a remarkable consistency in content, with articles on topics of recurring interest to a specific readership. Tow Times, for example, regularly explains new equipment and changes in liability laws that affect the tow truck drivers who read it. Middle Eastern Dancer regularly addresses the health concerns of professional belly-dancers.
Cats publishes a monthly calendar of cat shows.
Table 1 shows the lists created by students in a recent class. Break into groups. Each group picks a number from each column and challenges another group to come up with at least one article idea based on that combination. After the challenged gives its answers, other class members contribute their ideas and the challenged group picks three items to challenge the next group. And so on.