When I moved to Phoenix, I worked the nightshift. I often covered breaking news. Because the station had already assigned dayshift reporters to other stories, it called me in early or sent me out the door immediately to cover breaking news that reared its ugly head. I didn’t often cover light feature stories when working the nightsift.
When I moved to the dayshift, I spent more time in morning editorial meetings deciding with producers what stories to cover for the day. I more often covered feature stories. I often had more time to invest in these stories.
Knowing a reporter’s shift is important. A reporter pitched one of our story ideas, but her producers declined to cover it. A different reporter later told us she may have had more success pitching the same idea. Why? The first reporter who pitched the story apparently worked the nightsift. She covered “harder” stories. The second reporter who worked the dayshift told us she can “get away with more.”
We lost track of the reporters’ shifts. We believed both reporters worked the same shift, so we didn’t see the advantage of picking one reporter over the other for that reason alone. Reporters’ shifts change. To complicate matters, some reporters work both dayshifts and nightshifts depending on the day of the week. Sometimes reporters fill in for shifts they do not normally work. Keeping track of reporters’ shifts is not always easy but try when possible. Something so simple can sidetrack your story pitch.