Frequently
Asked Questions about International Digest News
International Digest (ID) is IGW's
big bulletin board. It's our best way of providing a brief, comprehensive
and balanced snapshot of what's going on in the professional. Striking
that perfect balance can be tricky. Here are our responses to readers'
most frequently asked questions and comments about International
Digest.
| 1. |
What's the best
way to submit news for International Digest?
Be brief.
A summarized report of about 300 words works perfectly! Longer
stories can sometimes be condensed to fit elsewhere in the magazine,
but short blurbs can make the Digest section almost every time.
Send original material.
That doesn't mean your writing
has to be perfect or even in complete sentences. Bullet points
or notes from an association meeting work just fine. Incident
report summaries, personal comments or department press releases
are also great. It's best to avoid sending stories from newspapers
if you don't have reprint permission from them.
Include contact information.
It's really tough to track down
a source once it gets separated from the text. Please put your
name, title and contact information on every submission.
Use electronic format.
If possible, send your story on
a disk or as an email attachment. This is a big time saver.
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| 2. |
We don't have a regular
contributor for IGW. What sources do you use when our association
doesn't send news in?
a. Websites.
b. Federal, provincial and state press releases.
c. Agency magazines.
d. Association newsletters.
e. International news reports.
f. Organization updates.
"All of the above." If we didn't use all these sources,
we would sometimes have only a handful of agencies, states or
provinces represented.
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| 3. |
Sometimes
only a portion of our news makes it in the Digest. Why don't
you publish everything we send?
We do our best to publish the
news you take time to send us. Our number of contributions grows
each issue, which means we have to condense most stories and
leave some out. The news from just four or five agencies - if
printed in full -- would easily fill the entire Digest section.
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| 4. |
Newspaper clippings
I send in are rarely used. Why?
This is usually due to one of
three things: we can't obtain reprint permission, we can't seek
permission because the name and date of the publication are
omitted or the original source will charge a fee if we reprint
the story.
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| 5. |
What criteria does
IGW use to select stories for International Digest?
We listen to your feedback. We
keep hearing that you want Digest to give you a broad snapshot
of news and that you want to pick up ideas and techniques from
other officers. That's what guides us.
Balance:
we look at the volume of news
we have from all sources, how significant and broad the content
is and where in the world the news comes from so we can strike
the best geographic and content balance.
Space:
we're serving US states and territories,
Canadian provinces and many international locations and we have
only about 10 pages for the Digest section. For comprehensive
and fair coverage, we have to edit and condense submissions.
Content:
it's not unusual for us to receive
several stories on the same topic. We may simply publish the
first one submitted. We may choose the briefest and best written.
We may combine several submissions to illustrate a trend.
Reprint Permission:
we are fortunate to have reprint
agreements with many association and agency publications. We
don't have that luxury with other media, and we have to be careful
about copyright infringement. All stories we use have to be
original material, public domain or accompanied by reprint permission.
Source:
we prefer to use news submitted by your agency or association
rather than reports from outside sources.
Photos:
Stories that include print-quality
photos are given some priority. A photo submitted with a good
explanatory cutline could be as effective as a full story. This
is also more likely to fit when space is really tight.
Format:
stories submitted in print require retyping and can be time-prohibitive.
Stories submitted electronically are preferred.
Timeliness:
as a quarterly magazine, our content
is always somewhat dated by publishing time. We do, however,
try to loosely base our content on seasons and we try to balance
what's most newsworthy with what's current.
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| 6. |
What can we do to make
sure IGW publishes our agency or association's biggest and best
stories?
Any kind of checklist or summary
you can provide is welcome! Even if you don't have time to write
an entire update, you can send a note to us listing your state
or association's priority stories for the quarter. That will
help us make smarter choices. We
appreciate every IGW submission. We know it's an effort to
do your job and then go home and write about it. But readers
tell us it's worth the effort -- they appreciate officers
who go the extra mile to keep their colleagues informed.
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| 7. |
News submissions are due on the 15th
of February, May, August and November, for the respective issue.
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