STUFF JOURNALISTS LIKE

#65 Post-it notes

It doesn’t take much to be a journalist.

To report the news, all that is really needed is a pen, a reporter’s notebook, a word processor, a scandal and a load of student loans. But there is one other tool that has become synonymous with journalists. And that tool is the Post-it note.

It’s been reported journalists and newspapers are some of the biggest users of Post-It notes, only kindergartner teachers and accountants use more.

The length of tenure of any journalist can be measured by the amount of Post-its plastered across a desk and computer screen.

Journalists jolt down all manner of notes on their beloved Post-its. Next to a Post-it about the morning’s budget meeting could be a quote from a whistleblower revealing the scandal of the year.

Journalists also use Post-it notes to remind them to call back a state senator, pet peeves of the copy desk, edicts from the publisher and the names of their children they haven’t seen since the Obama inauguration.

Another use of Post-it notes by journalists includes replacing Rolodexes with scattered Post-in Notes across binders, notebooks and computer screens. This helps the journalist avoid the task of organization and sorting. Journalists also make use of Post-it notes as a cheap way to add color to the often drab décor of the newsroom. 

Though journalists usually don’t splurge on name-brand items, like footwear or health care, they prefer Post-in brand notes, not “sticky notes.” There is a difference, check the AP Stylebook.

 Thanks fellow Twitters @paigelealav, @CubanaLAF and @athompson87 for the input!

#16 inches

The measure of any journalist can be measured in inches - literally.

It’s not unusual to overhear journalists talking about how many inches they have. At first thought, this kind of comment might be construed as journalists in the midst of a pissing contest. And while that probably stands true, the journalists were probably talking about inch count.

Most working folks measure their days in units of time but for the working journalist, it’s measured in inches.  

A typical journalist’s day looks like this:

• 15 inches before lunch.

• During lunch, edit a 25-inch piece.

• Finish 35-inch piece before deadline.

But because newspapers are shrinking, 10 inches in journalism isn't what it used to be. With column widths getting smaller, journalists are having to learn the hard rule of brevity. A difficult rule for the long-winded journalist.

Journalists measure their stories by inch count because of phallic tradition.

Before Web sites, computers and  the decline of print journalism, newspapers were measured by inch count and laid out by hand. Even though the practice is no longer necessary thanks to computer pagination, editors and journalists alike, who fear change, cling to measuring stories by the inch.

Journalists have their own ways of measuing the inch count of their stories. Officially, there is a formula. It goes something like dividing the number of words into 35 or dividing the number of lines by four. But if there is anything journalists are known for, it’s they are not good at math. So for most veterans, they have their own way of measuring their inch count – mostly by eyeballing it. And like a single guy at a bar on Friday night, journalists hope what they got is long enough.

After authoring a couple hundred of stories, computing a story inch count becomes second nature.

So if this post is 320 words, let’s see add the five . . . carry the one  . . .