The News Editor who is anxious to maintain his contacts lunches out of his office two or three times a week. On other days he is satisfied if he can snatch half an hour for lunch in the office itself.
By the time he returns to his room the pace has quickened. Copy is beginning to arrive in a steady stream and either the News Editor or his assistant goes through every line of it. News lurks from most unexpected places. The early editions of the evening papers need to be watched carefully, if such editions are brought out.
The programme for the editorial conference which is held in most offices in the late afternoon and which is really the central point of the day’s activities, the custom differs in every office, but broadly speaking, the conference over which the Editor presides is attended by the head of every editorial department.
The agenda for this conference is prepared by the News Editor and his staff, with a separate page prepared by the Overseas News Editor, dealing with all the news which has come in from his realm. The news of the day is listed as far as possible in its order of importance and it is the News Editor’s job to explain it term by item.
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He must be ready to stand cross-examination on any detail, and the ordeal is usually a trying one, for he may have omitted to make himself familiar with the very point which other members of the conference consider to be the most important. It is then that the News Editor needs alertness and sense of humour.
Before the conference he has a talk with the Chief Political Correspondent so that he is able to report what is happening in the Lok Sabha and the amount of space which the Parliamentary Chief is asking for but does not always get.
The hot news of the day having been examined, there is time for a brief examination of the other editorial features including the pictures, the entertainment page, the special articles, the city news and the sports page. It is also time that the Editor announces the subjects selected for the night’s leading articles.
It is only after the conference has ended that the News Editor breathes a bit freely because his day’s work is drawing to an end. A final glimpse at the evening papers; a perusal of the teleprinter, a visit to the reporter’s room to see that everything is running smoothly and that the copy is not being held up; a talk with the Chief Sub-Editor to smooth out any difficulties which may threaten and then, most welcome sight, the arrival of the man who will relieve him, the Night News Editor.
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As the latter must remain on desk until the early hours of the morning it may have been impossible for him to attend the afternoon conference, so the News Editor informs him of all that has happened to ensure continuity.