What Is News?

News is sometimes defined as whatever happens to or near an editor.
That is especially true if one assumes that an editor is a typical resident of the community, interested in what other residents are interested in, and affected by the same things that affect other residents. Government, for good or for bad, is one of those things.
Good advice for covering government is to cover it as if you live in the community and as if it matters to you. Unfortunately, that's not always how we do it. Too often we and our newsrooms consider it "boring but important" - and sometimes not even important.…