People and Parliament

News Stories and Their Sources

News stories are generated from two sources:

the newspaper's own reporters or freelancers wire services

If a story is written by a newspaper staff reporter, the reporter's name may appear as a by-line. Wire service stories are identified by a credit line identifying the service. Stories from both sources can be combined. Wire services A wire service is not a newspaper. It is a company, or news co-operative, that specializes in gathering and distributing news. A wire service has its own network of reporters on assignment around the world. A wire service reporter collects news in the same way as a newspaper reporter does. The stories are edited by the service and sent to subscribing newspapers electronically. These newspapers, which pay a subscription fee, choose which stories to print, write their own headlines and are free to edit the stories for length. After subscribing to a wire service, each member paper is required to provide news and feature stories to the service from its circulation area. There are many news agencies in operation, and you can determine which ones your newspaper subscribes to by searching the credit lines. Some newspaper chains have their own news-gathering services. The following is a partial list of services around the world:

CP The Canadian Press; PC La Presse Canadienne (French-language service ) (Canadian) Southam News (Canadian) AP The Associated Press (American) Reuters (British) AFP Agence France-Presse (French)

This page is from the People and Parliament teaching resource. Permission is granted for teachers to reproduce the materials for classroom use. For information on this resource, please contact the Library of Parliament Information Service at 1-866-599-4999 or check www.parl.gc.ca/education. To obtain multiple copies of newspapers to use with this resource or for information regarding other newspaper-based teaching materials, please contact your local daily newspaper.

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People and Parliament

Steps to publication The following is a brief summary of the steps involved as a story develops from initial assignment to publication:

Reporter receives assignment from an editor. Reporter gathers information through observation, interviews and research. Reporter writes a story and submits finished product to an editor. (At this point the reporter's job is generally finished.) Stories selected for publication are edited for accuracy, grammar and length. They are then assigned a page position. A headline is written. Ads and stories are then brought together. Pages are ready to go to press.

This page is from the People and Parliament teaching resource. Permission is granted for teachers to reproduce the materials for classroom use. For information on this resource, please contact the Library of Parliament Information Service at 1-866-599-4999 or check www.parl.gc.ca/education. To obtain multiple copies of newspapers to use with this resource or for information regarding other newspaper-based teaching materials, please contact your local daily newspaper.

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2007 PARLIAMENT OF CANADA