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[CT]UNDERSTANDING NEWS JUDGMENT

Even though most journalists would say their job entails reporting the news, any two journalists

probably would not come up with the same definition of the term news. An often-used definition

is that news is a report of what is happening now, or is anything of interest to a large number of

people.

For most of the 20th century, U.S. journalism schools taught that the news also should be

"objective" free of political bias from the publisher and free of personal bias from the reporters

and the editors. But in their role as gatekeepers people who control the flow of information to

others, selecting what is important and what shall be discarded reporters and editors make

personal judgments about whether to share the information with consumers.

This gatekeeping process colors all news. By choosing which stories are newsworthy,

gatekeepers set the agenda for what readers know and think about. Gatekeepers also embellish,

delete and improve messages. For example, sources decide what information to tell reporters;

reporters decide what information to report; and editors decide what information should be

included, combined or deleted from the final product and where it should be place in the paper.

[1]Characteristics of News

In their role as gatekeepers, reporters and editors are trained to recognize and value issues that are

"newsworthy" by virtue of how much the issue reflects, or can be made to reflect,

newsworthiness criteria. News judgment —understanding what is newsworthy — is the process

of selecting and grading news and visuals to determine if they should be used, if they should be

used in part or full, and where they should be used.

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No two publications look the same every day because the publications' editors do not

exercise their judgment in exactly the same way. But criteria do exist to help the editor.

Newsworthy criteria are audience, timeliness, impact, prominence, conflict, proximity,

uniqueness and science or progress.

[2]Audience

The publication's audience is the most important criterion. No two newspaper audiences are

exactly alike. News and visual selections of a newspaper whose circulation area is composed

largely of senior citizens are different from those of a newspaper that caters to a younger

readership. With the help of readership studies and focus groups, editors have a feel for the tastes

and interests of their audiences.

[2]Timeliness

Timeliness is an equally important criterion because news is important when it happens. Nothing

is more stale or of less value than yesterday's news. The "breaking" quality of news is its most

important characteristic. That's why media provide updates to old stories. Updates are attempts to

make old stories timely by presenting new angles, or new perspectives or information.

[2] Impact

The magnitude, or impact, of the event or action and its effect on individuals may determine the

news value of information or images. How many are dead? What is the extent of the property

damage? How many people will be affected? The BBC World News ranked the 7.5-magnitude

earthquake in southern India in 2001 as the biggest story of the year. The British broadcaster

ranked this story higher than the terrorist attacks against the United States that killed about 3,000

Americans because the earthquake killed an estimated 13,000 people and left tens of thousands

homeless.

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Impact also deals with information and images that are personalized and individualized so

audiences can identify with them. It is one thing to publish or broadcast stories and photographs

of the crippled landscape of southern India. It is another to show or report about a grieving child

whose family and home were destroyed. Who can ever forget the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

and the visual impact of photographs of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, or the

photograph of a firefighter in Oklahoma City in 1995 cradling a dying child at the wreckage of

the Murrah federal building?

[2]Prominence

Prominent individuals are newsworthy. Information from or about famous and infamous people

influences news selection. And the more famous or infamous the individual, the more likely the

mass media will use the information. For example, of the thousands of people who have died of

AIDS in recent years, few of their obituaries have made the front page. But the deaths of Rock

Hudson, Arthur Ashe and E-Zee-E's did. Although intruders break into homes every day, this

doesn't become the lead story for the evening newscast. But it did when an intruder broke

through security at the Hollywood Hills home of rock star Madonna, who was in England at the

time. Some Los Angeles anchors reported live from in front of the ornate mansion. Homicides

are all-too common in this country and normally not Page 1 stories. The arrests of actors O.J.

Simpson in 1994 and Robert Blake in 2002 were Page 1 stories because of the prominence of the

suspects.

Prominent individuals help us humanize and individualize information, making the

information more credible and understandable. For example, the abstract ideas of President

Ronald Reagan’s economic theory were personalized as “Reaganomics.”

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In addition, prominent individuals lure audiences to mass media information. Interviews

with “stars” in government, science, medicine, education and economics allow reporters to call

upon experts who help draw attention to information.

[2]Conflict

Information that pits men and women against one another or against animals or nature creates

conflict, and conflict creates drama. Conflict — a disruption in the normal state of affairs

[these dashes look like they are different lengths – AU [Dona: The authors’ dashes look like

en-dashes rather than em-dashes, so you will have to let Joanne know to make them em-

dashes, except between page numbers, etc., in Notes — ca]leads to tensions between foes and

often to some type of conclusion or resolution. Conflict arises in the following situations:

[NL]

1. Good vs. bad. Coverage of arrests, indictments, trials and sentencing provides drama.

2. David vs. Goliath. Audiences are attracted to the drama of the powerless taking on the

powerful or the underdog exposing corruption or winning a battle. Stories of the powerful

victimizing the powerless also attract audiences.

3. Efficiency vs. inefficiency. Uncovering waste in government and industry creates information

that is dramatic and newsworthy.

4. Humans vs. nature. Covering the aftermath of natural disasters such as hurricanes and

earthquakes is essentially a race to save lives and prevent the spread of disease.

The most dramatic and newsworthy form of conflict is violence. President George W.

Bush described the terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001 as a conflict between good

and evil.

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The O.J. Simpson trial played like an evening soap opera. Two people one a beautiful

mother of two had their throats slashed in one of the nation's most fashionable communities.

The accused was a prominent millionaire football hero and movie star. The actors in the trial,

which pre-empted regular daily television programming, included a "dream team" of America's

most noted lawyers for the wealthy defendant, while the People were represented by an attractive

prosecuting attorney.

The 1969 violent slaying of actress Sharon Tate by members of Charles Manson's

"family" remained newsworthy for years. And the brutal and bloody reign of terror in California

by satanic serial killer Richard Ramirez in 1984 likewise remained on the news scene for a long

time.

Newsworthy events that pit humans against nature include accounts of flood and

earthquake devastation. This type of story frequently includes reports about large and small acts

of heroism and how the victims are coping with the devastation around them. The story of Apollo

13’s ill-fated journey to the moon in 1970 is told in terms of humans and technology vs. the

deadly environment of space.

[2]Proximity

Stories in our own back yard have more impact than those that are thousands of miles away.

When a freight train slammed into a passenger train in Southern California in 2002, killing two

people and injuring more than 200, the story and photo ran on Page 1 throughout the region.

Papers in other parts of the nation either ran one of the dramatic photos on Page 1 with the story

inside or had no Page 1 coverage of the wreck. People are more affected by a tragedy close to

home.

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Finding the local angle of a national or an international story will heighten reader interest.

The newsroom word for this is localizing, which can be done with breaking stories as well as

features. How will a new state tax law affect readers in my community? How were local schools

rated on state or national tests? How did my city or state rank in the annual list of best places to

live? Wire editors always check the names and hometowns of victims of plane crashes and other

disasters to see if any of the victims were local residents.

[2]Uniqueness

Novel, deviant or odd information is newsworthy. The more novel, deviant or odd the

information or image is, the more newsworthy it is. In his book, On Press, Tom Wicker writes:

[EXT]The dull, the routine, the unexciting, is seldom seen as news, although ... the dull,

routine, unexciting management of rates and routes for the railroads, truckers, and airlines

may affect far more Americans in their daily lives than some relatively more glamorous

presidential directive or congressional action.

Many TV and radio newscasts end today with some unusual or odd piece of information.

[2]Science and Progress

Some stories about technological or medical breakthroughs have an impact on our lives because

we use that technology and we or someone we know has that disease. Other times these stories

simply pique our curiosity.

For example, NASA’s Web site received a record number of hits on July 4, 1997, when

the Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars and began transmitting images of the distant planet. These

historic photos had no impact on people’s lives, but millions of people were anxious to see them.

[Comp: Keep line of space here because the following paragraph relates to the whole

section]

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The most newsworthy stories are the ones that contain several of the above

characteristics. Stories on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks on the United States contained

timeliness, impact, (the attacks resulted in the highest death toll from a single terrorist attack),

conflict and proximity (they occurred in the United States).

[1]Determining the Front-Page Lineup

Despite the characteristics of news pounded into the heads of every journalism student, surveys

of U.S. newspapers show that journalists seldom agree about what news and feature stories and

images find their way onto America's front pages. One study of the nation's most influential

newspapers The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post found that 25

percent of stories on each paper’s front page did not appear at all in the other two papers.

The only time newspapers agree on front-page news is when it is a major story. For

example, stories of the terrorists attacks on the United States, the deadly earthquake in India, the

U.S. attack on Afghanistan, escalating violence in the Middle East and the collapse of

Argentina’s economy were all Page-1 stories throughout the world in 2001.

What stories and images make it to the front page is determined by a number of factors.

They include decisions by newsroom executives, the role of the paper in the community, what

readers care about, reader demographics, space, influences by America's elite press, the quality of

stories and external pressures on the news media.

[2]Newsroom Decision Makers

According to Los Angeles Times' media critic David Shaw:

[EXT]There is no blueprint, no grand design, no formula or quota, just different editors

all human, all capable of error viewing the world through the prisms of their different

life experiences and making decisions on a daily basis for different readerships in

different historical, cultural and geographical contexts.

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The front-page lineup usually is decided by a committee that consists of the executive

editor, managing editor, metro editors, chief wire editor, graphics editor and photo editor. The

top editor usually has the majority vote. For example:

[BL]

A major newspaper had an executive editor who liked to travel and was interested in stories

about airfare price wars. Other editors at the paper began to routinely put airfare stories on

Page 1 without considering their significance to readers.

Another editor was into computers and technology. Stories about innovations in technology

or the Internet frequently ended up on Page 1.

The New York Times runs a lot of international news on Page 1 because many of its top

editors are former foreign correspondents and they take a great interest in what is happening

on the international scene.

[2] Role of Newspaper in the Community

Page 1 lineup depends upon the newspaper's role in the community. For example, regional

newspapers such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe are less

parochial than small, local newspapers, although local news is still important. USA Today, the

Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor are national newspapers with little or no

local news. The community they serve is the entire nation.

Community-oriented newspapers often publish in the same market as regional

newspapers. They tend to focus on local news. For example, a presidential election may not be

the lead election story in a community newspaper if there is a major local election to report that

day.

[2]What Readers Care About

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Page 1 lineup also depends on readership and what readers care about. At the Orange County

(Calif.) Register, editors at their story-budget meetings classify some stories as "talkers." These

are stories that people in the coffee shops, beauty salons and the like are talking about. They are

usually local, human-interest stories that may not have significant traditional news value, but they

probably will run on the Register's cover.

[2]Demographics

Demographics of a newspaper's readers are not all the same. For example, New York Post

readers tend to be blue-collar workers, while The New York Times' readers tend to be white-

collar. These two demographics have different interests, and the papers report different news in

completely different styles.

[2]Space

Space determines what will end up on Page 1. Most newspapers have six to nine stories on the

cover. The Los Angeles Times runs a Column One exclusive feature on its cover, which limits

the space for other news of the day. Many other newspapers run a one-column index with visuals

touting what's inside that day's edition.

Other newspapers have policies of always running large photos, or personality profiles or

other types of features on Page 1. This takes away space for other Page 1 candidates.

[2]The Elite Press

The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times influence

what will be included on front pages of other newspapers. Many newspapers subscribe to The

New York Times or Washington Post/Los Angeles Times news services.

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These news services provide stories written by the three newspapers' reporters. Each day

the news services also send their subscribers the lineup for their own front pages. The decisions

made at these three papers influence decisions made at other newspapers.

[2] Quality of Stories

Page 1 lineup depends on the quality of the stories. Several years ago the Los Angeles Times was

one of the few newspapers in the nation to report on food riots in Egypt on Page 1. A Times

editor explained that the story ran on the cover because it was written so well. The quality of the

reporting made it a Page 1 story.

[2]External Pressures on the News Media

The mass media's information function in determining what is news and where it is displayed is

influenced by numerous pressures: consumer pressures, political pressures and commercial

pressures.

[3]Consumer Pressures

Individuals, groups and organizations, usually through publicists, attempt to manipulate

information by manipulating deadlines and access and by packaging events. Media managers

manipulate deadlines by releasing information to reporters as close to deadline as possible so

there is little time to scrutinize controversial or accusatory information. Others "hide"

information from the media until Saturday night or early Sunday morning, when papers have

already gone to press.

The wire services will run these stories, but the elite press The New York Times, Los

Angeles Times, Washington Post and others prefer to have their own reporters write major

stories, and these reporters often are not available on weekends. These papers probably won’t run

a story on Page 1 if other papers published a wire-service version the day before.

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Still other media managers capitalize on slow news periods weekends and holidays —

when editors are scrambling for stories to fill the next day's edition. The media managers offer

self-serving stories that would be rejected on a busy news day.

Publicists can influence the press by controlling access to those who have the information

and by favoring reporters who are friendly "lapdogs" over those who are "watchdogs." Reporters

also can be denied access to the scene of a story. For example, President Reagan denied press

access during the U.S. government's invasion of Grenada. Some years later, reporters who were

not part of a "pool" were denied credentials to cover the Persian Gulf War. And those who were

part of the "pool" were denied access to wounded soldiers and front-line troops.

The news media were denied almost all access to Afghanistan by both the U.S. military

and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime during the U.S. offensive there in 2001. The Israeli

government restricted journalists’ access to its occupied territories during its offensive in 2002.

Media managers influence news elements by packaging events. Historian Daniel Boorstin

coined the term pseudo-event to describe an arranged event that publicists use to transform their

clients or their causes into newsworthy events that will be covered by the mass media. These

manufactured events are usually photogenic and have high emotional appeal. Pseudo-events are

pre- and post-packaged by press releases, which control how the event is to be viewed; news

feeds, sound bites, which attempt to control television and radio coverage; and "spin doctors,"

who are sources who are on hand to provide a biased perspective of what was said or happened.

[3]Political Pressures

Presidents manipulate information through pseudo-events, press conferences, exclusive

interviews and press leaks. Government agencies manipulate access to information in the name

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of national security, and local governments manipulate news judgment by threatening the

financial base of the media organizations.

Presidents can control information by bypassing the mainstream media and holding their

own staged events and press conferences and by granting interviews to favored journalists.

These avenues allow people or issues tied to presidents to become newsworthy. Press leaks by

presidential aides and other government officials also are used to test the assets and liabilities of

issues and possible appointments or to embarrass someone.

Government agencies have denied information to the news media because of "national

security" reasons or for "protection of vital interests." Meanwhile, local governments can threaten

the income of small weeklies and dailies by jeopardizing their status as "papers of record" a

designation that allows them to publish lucrative legal advertisements mandated by

municipalities and states.

[3]Commercial Pressures

In addition to consumer and political pressures, news can be influenced by advertising pressures

and the threat of lawsuits. Advertising is the main source of income for most newspapers and

magazines, and it completely finances most radio and local television stations. More than one

advertiser has threatened to pull its advertisements or sponsorship because of an unfavorable

story. For example, the Washington State Fruit Commission withdrew $71,300 worth of

television advertising from CBS affiliates in St. Louis, Atlanta and Tampa in 1989 after “60

Minutes” ran a story on the chemical daminozide (better known by its trade name, Alar).

Besides pulling advertisements, companies have threatened media organizations with

libel lawsuits. The threat has made many news organizations think twice about pursuing

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investigative reports on controversial issues. The TV program “60 Minutes” reportedly backed

off a story about the tobacco industry in 1995 after it was threatened with a lawsuit.

[1]Categories of Information

Journalists categorize information into hard and soft news, straight and feature stories, spot and

enterprise news, along with terms for specialized forms such as investigative reporting. The basic

kinds of information are hard news and soft news.

[2]Hard News

Hard news is the factual account of a timely event one that occurred during the previous 24

hours and treats an issue of ongoing concern. Traditionally, hard-news stories were written in the

inverted pyramid style in which the most important news elements who, what, when, where,

why and how were included in the first few sentences of the story. The first sentence of an

Associated Press story illustrates the inclusion of these elements.

[EXT]BIRMINGHAM, England A private jet bound for the United States crashed on

takeoff Friday at Birmingham International Airport in central England, killing five

Americans on board.

Various types of hard news stories are spot, enterprise and investigative. Spot news, or

breaking news, is up-to-the-minute coverage of events as they happen. The most dramatic

breaking news in recent years occurred when the TV networks disrupted regular programming

for several days to cover terrorist attacks and their aftermath in New York City.

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After the attacks and the U.S. response, the public was bombarded with numerous

enterprise news or exclusive stories. Here, editors and reporters come up with their own story

ideas, such as airline safety, U.S. intelligence capabilities or the Islamic faith.

The attacks also brought a proliferation of investigative reporting. These stories included

reports of governments and organizations linked to terrorists and allegations of racial profiling by

authorities.

Straight news is synonymous for this hard-news type of reporting, but it is considered

more of a factual style of writing than a type of news. This is in contrast to a feature treatment, in

which the writer relies heavily on quotations and descriptions. For example, this is how the

writer for the Los Angeles Times began a feature story related to the terrorist bombing in

Oklahoma City:

[EXT] They consider themselves apostles of liberty, but for the last six weeks Terry and

James Nichols have been prisoners of a government they do not recognize.

Terry Lynn Nichols, a 40-year-old with a bank teller's countenance, is confined to

an isolation cell in the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma. His death

may be sought by authorities he believes have seized unlawful power. When he appears

in court, Nicholas shuffles like a windup toy, hobbled by iron shackles.

His brother James Douglas Nichols, bearded and balding with an intense,

blue-eyed gaze, won a measure of freedom last week with his release from federal

custody in Detroit. But the 41-year-old man who once railed about government

restrictions remains tethered to an electronic bracelet, his daily movements limited by a

judge's order.

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The remainder of the story provides readers with the rage these blast-probe figures had toward

government and explores whether they indeed moved beyond mere words in attacking the federal

government.

[2]Soft News

The above feature treatment could be classified as more of a soft news story. Soft news is less

timely, of little consequence and importance and not always based on a current news event. Take

the Los Angeles Times' feature on UCLA's "supersurgeon" Keith Black, who is zeroing in on a

way to remove malignant tumors. Though the article has some hard-hitting information the

prediction that malignant brain tumors may be curable within 10 years the story will be just as

fresh if it were run next week, next month or next year.

Or take the Orange County Register's story of a woman who shed 621 pounds, her house

and her husband. Readers could live without the information, but it made for a good feature that

provided much fare for the tabloids and television talk shows. She became a regular guest on

“The Maury Povich Show.” Her debut on the TV talk show is just one example of the blurring of

lines between information and entertainment that has been seen in television, radio and

newspapers.

[CL] CHECKLIST: NEWS JUDGMENT

>News judgment is used to determine which stories are newsworthy and should be reported to

the paper's readers. It is the process of selecting and evaluating stories and visuals to determine if

they should be used, how much of the story and visuals should be used and where they should be

used in the paper.

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>The people who decide which stories to use and how to use them are called gatekeepers, and

though they always attempt to keep their own biases out of their decision-making process, their

values, cultural background and interests influence news judgment.

>The criteria for newsworthiness are the needs of the paper's audience, the story's timeliness,

impact on readers, prominence of the people involved, conflict, proximity to readers, uniqueness

and science or progress.

>Page 1 story selection is influenced by the newspaper's role in the community, the

demographics of the paper’s readers and what they care about, amount of space, the editors’

interests, story selection by the nation’s elite press and the quality of the writing.

>News judgment also is influenced by consumer, political and commercial pressures.

>The two basic types of stories in a newspaper are hard news, or factual accounts of timely

events, and soft news, which are less-timely stories that may have little consequence or

importance but that the readers might find interesting.

[R]Suggested Readings

Fuller, Jack. “News Values: Ideas for an Information Age.” Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1997.

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. “Interplay of Influence: News,

Advertising, Politics and the Mass Media.” Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1992.

Kovach, Bill, and Tom Rosenstiel. “The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should

Know and the Public Should Expect.” New York: Crown Publishing, 2001.

Leonard, Jr. Downie and Robert G. Kaiser. “The News About the News: American Journalism in

Peril.” New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.

Robinson, Matthew. “Mobocracy: How the Media’s Obsession with Polling Twists the News,

Alters Elections, and Undermines Democracy.” Roseville, Calif.: Prima Publishing, 2002.

Shaw, David. “News With Impact? It’s Simple.” Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 1992.

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[I]Internet Resources

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). http://www.fair.org/fair

James Fallows Central. http://www.clark.net/pub/rothman/fallows.htm

Pew Center for Civic Journalism Civic. http://www.cpn.org/sections/affiliates/pew.html

also http://www.pewcenter.org/index.php

Project Censored. http://www.projectcensored.org

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[E]Exercise 1: Defining News

How do you define news? What characteristics determine whether a story or a visual appears

on Page 1? What is meant by the agenda-setting function of the mass media? Can you think of

any present-day example of where a visual or a story in one medium became a story in another

medium?

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[E]Exercise 2: Grading the News

Examine you local newspapers and determine which characteristics of news made the stories on

Page 1 newsworthy. What other stories in the paper that day were candidates for Page 1? Would

you have made the same choices as the editors of the newspaper?

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[E]Exercise 3: Grading the News

You are an editor for a major Southern California metropolitan newspaper. During your daily

editorial conference, your news editor, metro editor and photo editor vie for space for these

stories and visuals. Your front page usually has a mix of local and non-local news. Which six of

the following stories would you use on page 1? What visuals would you use? What would be your

lead story? Explain.

News Editor

OFF THE LABRADOR COAST After two days of storm, the night sky is clear and there is a

half moon over the ice. The red curtains of the northern lights have faded early. A sputter of

static issues from the radio in the wheelhouse of the sealing ship, a hissing backdrop for the

murmured voices of the captain and his mates. (Story about a seal hunt, a frigid, perilous rite of

passage)

WASHINGTON Rigorous academic standards and avoidance of fads seem to be the secret of

success for high schools whose students are bucking a trend toward lower Scholastic Aptitude

Test Scores. That's the conclusion of the National Association of Secondary School Principals,

which studied 34 high schools whose students have done unusually well recently on the

Scholastic Aptitude Test.

BEIRUT, Lebanon The reputed "godfather" of international terrorism was reported dead by

Palestinian officials, but a mystery developed over the cause and place of death of the man who

topped Israel's most-wanted list.

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TEL AVIV, Israel A movement of Israeli army veterans calling itself "Peace Now" drew a

crow of 25,000 to a rally demanding that the prime minister make new concessions for peace.

LAGOS, Nigeria The U.S. president visiting here warned against Cuban military meddling in

Africa and attacked white racism, saying the day will come when Africans cry out with Martin

Luther King, "Free at last! Free at last! Great God Almighty, we are free at last."

WASHINGTON To federal railroad authorities, the nightmare was painfully familiar: a freight

train derails in a small town. Tank cars loaded with toxic chemicals rupture and burn. The town

is evacuated in the dead of night. (Think piece on railroad holocausts linked to jumbo tank car

defects, with file photo)

NEW YORK A paralyzing subway and bus strike has been averted in New York City when

negotiators for the Transport Workers Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority

reached agreement on a contract 4½ hours after a midnight deadline.

Metro Editor

Thirty-three low- and moderate-income families walked away from a lottery with the prize of a

lifetime, a lease on and a chance to eventually own a home valued at $90,000 to $150,000.

(With photo)

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The predicted showers, up to 3 inches of new rain, failed to measure up to that billing, and the

National Weather Service promised a warm and sunny day under partly cloudy skies.

United Automobile Workers Local 148 members rejected by a narrow margin a contract proposal

from Boeing Corp. that would have ended an 11-week strike at the Los Angeles facility.

It was more than four weeks ago, but the memory of that fearful morning at the airport remains

vivid for Dolores Bowen and Gordon Dina. They were released from Memorial Hospital after

more than a month of treatment for injuries they received in a crash of a Hawaii-bound

Continental DC-10. Two others remain in the hospital in critical condition.

Renovation or replacement of a local medical center, expected to cost $250 million, has been

called inevitable by a top county health services official who is reviewing the troubled facility.

Photo Editor

Preparing for the Kill. A seal hunter prods a mother seal so that he can kill her white-furred pup

on the opening morning of hunting season. (To go with seal-hunt story)

New Friend. The first lady holds a Nigerian boy during visit to crafts show. (To go with Nigerian

story)

Lofty Goal. The president reaches high to shake hands with performer on stilts at cultural show in

Lagos. (To go with Nigerian story)

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Luck. The mayor reaches into hopper and the governor names the winner at the housing lottery.

(To go with housing-lottery story)

Inferno. File photo of nine propane-laden jumbo tank cars that erupted in mushroom clouds of

fire over Los Angeles last year. Fires raged for 56 hours. (To go with railroad story)

New Stone Age. Japanese police display a mobile stone-thrower built by foes of new airport at

Narita Airport.