The decision is made at the afternoon news conference of senior editors. Each editor presents a list of stories that are being prepared by reporters in the courts, police rounds and specialist areas such as health, science, education, transport, law, the environment and social welfare. The sport, business, foreign and political editors also present their best stories of the day. After discussion, the most senior editor either the editor of The Age or the managing editor - chooses which stories will go on page one. They also choose the page one picture from the best images put forward by the picture editor.
Most days there are about four stories on the front page.
The most important is called the lead, and it has the biggest size headline. The most obvious are stories about suicides The Age has a general policy of not publishing such stories, because they are believed to encourage further suicide attempts. Exceptions included the suicide of Federal Labor Party MP Greg Wilton, because of his position in public life and the death of Michael Hutchence. Most journalists nowadays begin their careers after obtaining a degree. In organisations such as The Age, a degree is a basic requirement to become a trainee journalist.