It’s getting to be a late night, but you are still going strong. Replaying your interview footage, considering background information from anonymous sources, and reviewing your documents, you begin to realize that the local school district has actually been operating inefficiently for the past ten years. The district ran far over budget on several major construction projects and spent well above the state average on coaching staffs and sports equipment for its football program for the past eight years.

 

You begin to see that administrators could have better prepared their district for this budget crisis if they had managed taxpayer dollars more carefully and built up budget surpluses in previous years. Write. Finally, it’s time to set it all down in words. As your mental gears begin to turn and your fingers start to click away at the keys, you can see that your story is headed in an exciting new direction. You know your situation and audience; you are inspired by your creative vision and armed with the information gleaned from interviews and research. Now it’s time to write a story that will be driven by facts, insights, and a new perspective.

 

Remember, you would have not gained all of this had you bypassed the Professional Strategy Triangle and the active thinking process at its center. It still takes you most of the night to assemble and edit the story, but you and your news director are extremely happy with the final package. Best of all, the story makes a major splash on the news that evening!

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