Examination — The Reporter's Craft: How News Gets Found, Checked, and Told

1.Four stories reach a Grafton paper's desk the same evening. Which leads tomorrow's front page?

2.The topic on your desk is school bus safety. Which of these is a reporting question you could answer this week?

3.A warehouse roof collapsed Tuesday night. For what happened inside at the moment it fell, which is a primary source?

4.Before she says a word, a hospital administrator sets her terms: "Use what I tell you, but call me 'a hospital official,' not my name." Which arrangement has she asked for?

5.A clerk leaks you a memo that only four people received. Quoting the memo verbatim in your story risks —

6.Your story question: why did the Elm Street firehouse fail its 2025 electrical inspection? Write the one-sentence records request you would send — name the record series, the date range, and the office that holds it.

7.Three months onto the parks beat, which habit will hand you stories no press release ever will?

8.Fifteen minutes with a nursing-home director after a weekend heating failure. Put your four questions in working interview order.

1. ⋮⋮The October maintenance log flagged the boiler — what happened after that flag? ↑ ↓
2. ⋮⋮Walk me through the night the heat failed. ↑ ↓
3. ⋮⋮Is there anything I should have asked that I didn't? ↑ ↓
4. ⋮⋮Families say their calls went unanswered for three days. Who was responsible for returning them? ↑ ↓

9.You ask whether the bridge passed its April load test. The county engineer replies: "Our inspection program is the most rigorous in the state." Your move —

10.Asked about a losing season, the coach laughs and says: "Sure, we're the worst team in the league." Printing the sentence straight — no laugh, no question — is —

11.The county intake report shows the shelter turned away 41 people in January. Which sentence carries that fact honestly?

12.Match each attribution to what it quietly tells the reader.

13.A tip says the mill will close. The union president confirms it; a shift supervisor confirms it; asked how they know, each points to the plant manager. You also hold the layoff notice the company filed with the state. How many independent sources do you have?

14.Fairview, population 40,000, logged 14 aggravated assaults last year; Lakewood, population 250,000, logged 60. To compare the two towns fairly you compute rates. What is Fairview's rate per 100,000 residents?

15.Tonight a dramatic clip of a grain-silo explosion circulates, captioned as your county. A reverse search finds the identical clip posted in 2022, from another country. What is settled?

16.Your published story called the tax increase 4 percent; it is 0.4 percent. Which note repairs the record?

17.A hiring manager tells you the city added 500 jobs this quarter. In one sentence: name the two working questions you put to that claim before it prints.

18.From memory: what makes two confirming accounts independent, and when may a single source honestly carry a claim alone?

19.A tanker overturns on Route 6 and spills fuel; the highway will stay closed both ways through the weekend; no one was hurt. Which lede serves the reader?

20.A bakery burns. Order the four paragraphs as an inverted pyramid, most newsworthy first.

1. ⋮⋮The bakery opened in 1988 and was known citywide for its rye. ↑ ↓
2. ⋮⋮Fire destroyed the Corner Bakery on Main Street early Sunday, putting its 12 employees out of work. ↑ ↓
3. ⋮⋮Investigators traced the blaze to a faulty oven thermostat, the fire marshal said. ↑ ↓
4. ⋮⋮The owner says she will rebuild; demolition of the shell begins this week. ↑ ↓

21.A leaked personnel file proves the new school security chief failed his background check. The same file lists his home address and his children's names. The pillars say —

22.From memory: the lede's working standard — length, voice, and job — and the ordering rule that governs every paragraph after it.