GETTING THE "SCOOP"
"Quick," said the editor. "Get that story ready. We need it in this edition to be ahead of the other newspapers. This is a scoop." Zhou Yang had just come back into the office after an interview with a famous film star. "Did he really do that?" asked someone from the International News Department. "Yes, I' m afraid he did," Zhou Yang answered. He set to work.
His first task was to write his story, but he had to do it carefully. Although he realized the man had been lying, Zhou Yang knew he must not accuse him directly. He would have to be accurate. Concise too! He knew how to do that. Months of training had taught him to write with no wasted words or phrases. He sat down at his computer and began to work.
The first person who saw his article was a senior editor from his department. He checked the evidence, read the article and passed it on to the copy-editor. She began to edit the piece and design the main headline and smaller heading. “This will look very good on the page,” she said. "Where is a good picture of this man?" Then as the article was going to be written in English Zhou Yang also took a copy to the native speaker employed by the newspaper to polish the style. She was also very happy with Zhou Yang's story. "You are really able to write a good front page article," she said. Zhou Yang smiled with happiness. Last of all, the chief editor read it and approved it. "Well done," he said to Zhou Yang. "But please show me your evidence so we're sure we've got our facts straight.” “I’ll bring it to you immediately," said Zhou Yang excitedly.
The news desk editor took the story and began to work on all the stories and photos until all the pages were set. All the information was then ready to be processed into film negatives. This was the first stage of the printing process. They needed four negatives, as several colours were going to be used on the story. Each of the main colours had one negative sheet and when they were combined they made a coloured page for the newspaper. After one last check the page was ready to be printed. Zhou Yang waited excitedly for the first copies to be ready. "Wait 611 tonight," his friend whispered. "I expect there will be something about this on the television news. A real scoop!" |