These go into the paper first. Editors are always hounding reporters to fill the news hole. Reporters are always looking for something new, something that's taking place right now. They have no secretaries, they answer their own phones, and do their own typing. They have little privacy, and sit at desks in big open rooms or in cubicles.
Newsrooms are busy, noisy and boisterous.
They work against deadlines, and the deadlines are immutable. The one place of comfort a reporter can find in all this pressure is his sources. A source is someone who calls the reporter back within the hour. A source is someone who always has a quick and catchy quote he can use. A source is someone who, if he doesn't have the answer, will do some checking and at least get back to the reporter with something.