One writer had not filed for three weeks. One morning paper prides itself on wide coverage, stories about night meetings from remote bureaus. But the daytime reporters downtown have no deadlines, file late, and swamp the desks so they can t edit the late copy at all. A newspaper needs deadlines simply to be a newspaper. Without deadlines, the paper loses its sense of urgency, which is the essence, and the fun, of our profession.
Stories slide in their reporting, waiting for complete information.
Editors hold stories because they lack something or might cause somebody somewhere a problem, until they get old and die. Modern production methods, especially graphics and pagination, have not speeded up our output. Rather, they require more coordination, more teamwork and more effort. But newsrooms continue to shrink, necessitating even more precise interaction. Properly met deadlines keep the gears meshing.