Should we chase down this tip? Is this meeting worth covering? How can we shed new light on this issue?

Editors and reporters face those kinds of questions every day. So how do they decide what to cover — and how to cover it?

“A question I often get asked is, ‘What is the one thing that you wish everybody knew about the newspaper, but they don't?’” said Julie Hirshan Hart, editor of the Laconia Daily Sun. “And my answer is always, ‘We want to cover everything. We just don't have the resources. You know, if we could cover every story idea that comes in, we would.’ ”

Some of the coverage depends on the type of outlet and the audience it serves. A statewide news outlet might pay more attention to state-level policy stories or issues facing multiple communities across the state, while a loc

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