Starts with K

As has been the case in every newsroom I’ve worked, we are a tightknit bunch at the Steele County Times.

That doesn’t mean that we always agree.

Take, for example, our annual meeting to choose the top 10 stories of the year.

There are obvious choices that spring to mind immediately; if we all mention it, it’s probably going to make the list.

But at most, that’s four or five stories. That leaves a lot of room for … debate, shall we say?

Even Johnnie Phillips, our stellar sports editor – who, by the way, gets to decide all of his top 10 stories on his own – chimes in.

After we brainstorm, it’s time to start winnowing.

Long before it was used in data management and IT, the term “golden copy” was a newspaper term. If a reporter became defensive about edits or an editor’s questions about a story, someone would good-naturedly call out, “don’t touch that golden copy!”

Often, it was less good-natured and more caustic, accompanied by plenty of eye-rolling.

The implication was that the story was so important that not a word should be changed, much less cut.

Welcome to the winnowing of top 10 year-end stories.

Because I write a lot of the public safety, education, city government and feature copy, I campaigned hard for big court cases, school news, local spending and quirky human interest stories to be on that list.

When Johnnie suggested the story of Tanner Wencl, who has made an incredible recovery after being critically injured last winter, my eyes lit up – then narrowed ominously when he decided to keep it for himself.

We eventually arrived at our top 10, fudging just a bit with a couple of categories that include more than one story.

Choosing the “top” stories is subjective: Do they affect the greatest number of people? Do they have a significant financial impact on readers? Do they provide valuable service/information? Do they just make us feel good?

In no particular order, some of my stories that didn’t make the cut included a 95-year-old skydiver; fatal crashes at the hands of drunk or distracted drivers; non-profits that offer help to the marginalized and forgotten; the complexities of running a city; court cases that could affect public safety or the taxpayers’ wallets – or both.

There were stories of students working to improve their communities; kids who devote most of their free time to raising a purple-ribbon animal; churches and service organizations raising money for strangers; a small-town newspaper that was named best in the state.

All told, we write and publish about 900 stories every year, not counting columns and briefs – those short little informational pieces about community events – so you can see why it’s so hard to decide what makes the top 10.

You may have questioned our selections or raised an eyebrow about our summary.

We get it; not all of the choices were unanimous.

The bottom line is this: My coworkers and I work hard every day to bring you the stories that matter – to someone. We hope it’s you.

Happy new year.