The Process of Passion

The Story of a Journalist Finding Her Place on The Breaking News Desk

Meredith Mazzilli has had many incarnations as a journalist. She has worked writing about commodities for a trade publication, to working on longform articles and then to her current role on the breaking news desk at Reuters.

As a career journalist, there is no a specific piece of work of which she is most proud, but a role —her current one at the breaking news desk of Reuters newsroom in New York.

Mazzilli is proud to be a part of breaking news, and collaborate with so many other journalists.

In her job, teamwork is key as many journalists touch each piece of news as it moves through the story process.

A breaking “stand alone news headline” is released within minutes of the news being released from a source, in what is called a snap . Then, as more information about the story breaks, a lead is added into what is called an urgent, which Mazzilli describes as a mini story. A piece of information from a source gets turned into a snap and then an urgent in under fifteen minutes.

In order to get a good piece of news formed into digestible snaps and urgents so quickly, Mazzilli and the others on her team must first find the news. They do this by getting information from sources.

Journalists have a network of sources,look at newly filed court documents, use press releases to point them to breaking stories, or sometimes, are contacted by people wanting to give them a scoop. If the latter,the source must be vetted as much as possible to ensure accuracy of the information, while a snap is simultaneously being created.

The team, including Mazzilli,have to then build on the snap by investigating the information as much as possible for an urgent.

From there, a format called a nut graf is formed, which makes up the meat of the story. This “trunk” will often be built upon until a full piece is constructed, often worked on by many different people in the newsroom.

This key part of Mazzilli’s job is also one of the things that she finds the most challenging. It is hard to continuously report on a story , minimizing repetition and finding fresh angles for every new release she says.

Mazzilli’s position is also a high pressure one, as she needs to be “as fast as possible in every aspect,” she says. Reporters on her team also need to be accurate, as well as transparent, a main facet of the Reuters breaking news desk style; the reader needs to know where the story is coming from.

Even so, Mazzilli likes these challenges, as well as the teamwork and variety that her post affords. “We can influence the stock market,” she says, especially with snaps. “Some traders look at just the snaps,” she says, noting the importance of accuracy, vetting sources and transparency, “its kind of cool that we have that power.”