Last Wednesday I was in the newsroom preparing for my law class when my editor forwarded me a release from the Chief Boone County Prosecutor's office. The release said the prosecutor did not plan to file charges against the man who shot and killed Brandon Coleman last May. The document was several pages long and I had only read a short article about the case before I started reporting it. I read as fast as I could, but it was definitely more than I could absorb in just a few moments. I think if I covered crime reporting more often, I could have synthesized the information faster. But, my inexperience with the terms and the legal system slowed me down. I managed to write up a few paragraphs, but had to get to class and unfortunately, couldn't spend the rest of the afternoon helping to report the story. I experience I did have was really interesting, though. Covering breaking news requires two skills:
- speed reading for content
- speed writing for precision (it's easy to miss quick details when speed reading)
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