Someone in the newsroom asked me a good question earlier – what makes a really good front page story?
Many people, as I’ve explored in previous blog postings, believe local papers are there to educate and inform – entertainment isn’t our business.
Others would dispute this, including my first editor. He used to apply the ‘down the pub test’ as his barometer, the theory being a good story is one that gets people talking over their pints and peanuts down the boozer on a Friday night.
For what it’s worth I fall somewhere between the two, but believe the best stories are often those that involve a ‘human’ element – everyday stories and about people’s everyday lives.
This week’s likely front page won’t win any awards for groundbreaking investigative journalism, nor does it tackle a pressing, major issue.
But it certainly passes the ‘down the pub test’.
