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It's got a good beat

Well, you just plumb got to love this: As we, along with every other thinking newspaper, reconsider the sorts of stories we're writing, it all leads back to the beats at the newspaper. Gangrey, which has this wonderful slogan: "Prolonging the slow death of newspapers," opens a discussion of what beats newspapers should have.

Lucas Grindley, from whom I found this, liked these:
Desperation. Or, the things people do when they are forced to do something (abandon morals, embrace new ones, kill others, kill themselves, learn things, beg, win, lose, ignore the problem, take risks, become the Wiggles)." - rlake
"Firsts and lasts -- first date, first kiss, first drink, first underage party, first baby, first house . . . first communion, first tooth, first lost tooth. last time you spoke with your grandma before she died, last day at a job, last day with a car before selling it, last day of school, last football game, last day in jail, last day in office." - Janine
"Night security guards and the stories they could tell." – Raja

Me, too. And

I like:

Alcohol. Alcohol should be a beat at every paper. Imagine if one person at every paper covered everything having to do with alcohol -- crime, family court, discontent, lonliness. Wow. - Ben

Porn: everything from internet porn, hotel porn, the cultural, legal, criminal, sexual, and economic implications. The industries that support it. - Roy Peter Clark

We're trying to do a better job of finding stories, rather than relying on stories that find us. Help us out. To quote Gangrey:

So.

What else?

What would you write about if all bets were off?

Comments (1)

To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.

Joe Killian said:

I'd like to be the first to volunteer for either the alcohol or the porn beat.

Or both.

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