Where does news happen?

Ok – that question has a fairly obvious answer: News happens everywhere. So, why ask? Because there seems to be some confusion when people submit news about the location of the news.

When you submit a news report, you are asked to fill in the place where the news “took place.” That answer is NOT where you were when you reported the news. It IS where the news itself happened.

Let’s look at some examples:

I am in Mesa AZ. I want to report about a change at the allvoices offices. The office is in San Francisco. I reported it as  San Francisco | CA | USA.

User reported on the verdict for Senator Stevens. She is normally in San Francisco, so that is the location she put down for the report. The trial was in Washington DC.  The events happened in DC and in Alaska. Talking to the user, I learned that she  saw the report as her opinion on the trial. She reported it  as San Francisco | CA | USA.

User reported on the New York City Council’s decision to allow Michael Bloomberg to run for another term. The decision happened in New York, the user is in Sioux Falls, SD. She reported the news as  New York  City | NY | USA.

User reported a state by state list of websites for results. User is in Berkeley CA. The lists are of web sites created across the US. He reported the news as Berkeley | CA | USA.

User reported on the first peek at Windows 7. User is in Chennai India. The story was reported elsewhere with a location of Springfield, MA. The presentation was done at a Microsoft conference in LA (PDC 08). He reported the story as Springfield | MA | USA.

Let me ask you…

Which of these locations are correct and which are incorrect? In a perfect world, all news would be reported as happening at the location of the news. But, if the piece is opinion, should that still apply?

The way I locate news is simple: I start with where the news happened. If my piece is opinion based, I then think “Will people look for this where I am? Or will they look for it where the actual news happened?” For me, the answer is almost always where the original news happened.

There are exceptions.

• If an event is web based, I place it where the person initiating the event is located. If I can’t determine that, then I put it where I am.

• If an event is happening in many places at once, I will try to pick one location. If I can’t, then I locate it where I am.

Why is this important?

One of the things that makes allvoices unique is the ability to find news by location, topic, reporter, keywords, or tags. If the location isn’t right, it makes it harder for people to find the news you report. If they can’t find it, they won’t read it. If they won’t read it, they won’t know what is important to you.

The next step is up to you…

Do you agree with my approach? How do you locate your news? Let us know.