You don’t have to work in the news business for very long to notice a pattern: the news flows differently depending on the day of the week. Of course, “spot news” like natural disasters, fires, and crimes can happen any day of the week. But a lot of other news follows a weekly cycle.
MONDAY
It’s the start of the week for industries who work regular business hours (unlike the news business), and there’s little happening. Press conferences and media events usually aren’t held on Monday, possibly because people like to have a workday to prepare before making their announcement. Some businesses will put out news releases but no one will be available for an interview. Law enforcement agencies confirm information about things that happened a couple of days ago. Some public meetings are held in the evening.
TUESDAY
This is the real beginning of the week. Everyone who didn’t hold a news conference or make their big announcement on Monday is doing it today. In fact, too many people are releasing information and some of it will get missed, even if it’s newsworthy. Courts are in full swing, too, with people arrested over the weekend being charged before the legal deadline in some jurisdictions. More public meetings are held in the evening. So much happens on Tuesdays that I sometimes refer to unusually busy days as having a “Tuesday level” of events.
WEDNESDAY
See: Tuesday. We’re in the core of the week. (If Monday was a holiday, Wednesday is the “Tuesday” of the week.) The flow of news might slow down a bit, but officials are releasing lots of information, businesses want to tell you about their new offerings, and courts are in full session. Still, people will be “in meetings all day” if they don’t want to do an interview.
THURSDAY
News is still happening, but the newsroom is getting frazzled. Patience is running thin and people are starting to get on edge. Use caution.
FRIDAY
Little new information is released because businesses are wrapping up the workweek. A lot of contacts are leaving early, especially if it’s a holiday weekend. Some big news may come out by the end of the day. People often call this a “news dump,” but sometimes it is a legitimate desire to get information released before the end of the week. While people in other industries may be able to take it easy on Fridays, putting a newscast on the air takes just as much work on Friday as it does any other day of the week, so the news staff can’t slack off.
SATURDAY
There’s more going on than you can cover, but few hard news stories. News planners are filled with community gatherings, competitions, fundraisers, fairs, and carnivals. During the spring and fall, there will be a half-dozen walk/run events all happening at the same time. Most communities have a major weekend event at least a few times a year that could be justified as a lead story. Other Saturdays, reporters may expand on the serious aspects of a fundraiser or do a followup to a major story that broke on Friday.
SUNDAY
News? What news? If you thought Saturday was slow for hard news, Sunday is going to be a shock. Most Sundays, almost nothing happens. Information is hard to come by because everything is closed, and no one is available for an interview. However, news consumption is high on Sunday evening because people are trying to catch up after being disconnected since Friday. Enterprising reporters will start working on their stories days ahead of time and get interviews on Friday for Sunday night’s lead story. Savvy PR people will make their announcements on Sunday knowing that they will get a lot more coverage than if they waited until Tuesday.
Jon Ellis has worked in small-market TV news for 20 years in assistant news director and producer positions.
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