When laying out a newspaper press releases are rather recklessly releaved of their last inch of copy or whatever was needed to fit the hole. Usually without a reading or cursory glance the tailing inches of many press releases felt the slick sure snip of scissors and fluttered to the layout room floor.
I learned my lesson, of course, the hard way.
The story was about an autumn train outing in an era when any rail travel is of an event of significance. Great art, too; meaning the story would more likely be read. The section which had been so thoughtlessly discarded was the contact information for anyone interested in the trip.
The calls were immediate and insistent.
Page one of the next issue had a correction box. How I hate those, especially on Page One.
This could be an entre to talking about accountability and the press but that would be a digression.
News stories, like this report of the launch, is in the classic pyramid. Anything beyond that one second, one paragraph news item is the seasoning of a story. The basic taste should be veracity but there should also be something to tweak an interest. Some are like carnival barkers, setting out to draw your attention with the bright lights and pretty ladies of the sideshow but I am once again meandering.
In this story, the one line, what friend and mentor Hiram Lewis would call the 'goodness factor', came near that very vulnerable end.
According to Rene Oosterlinck, a European Space Agency spokesman, the race to the moon, which also includes a renewed US effort, is aimed at setting up permanent lunar bases as a first step to eventual exploration of Mars.
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