Discussion questions for Cabela’s media day, thin slices

So because Cabela’s has a media day today, that brought up questions about story placement for tomorrow’s paper.

Assistant city editor Dan Hansen is taking the tour, collecting audio and writing a story. Photographer Liz Kishimoto is shooting photos.

The store is open for the media today, and for the public on Nov. 9.

Aside from the “Wow” aspect, here were some of the discussion questions at the table

- How much interest does Cabela’s attract?
- Are there business angles / Will there be significant economic impact?
- What past coverage has The S-R done on Cabela’s?
- This is a media day - Is this story more suitable to be published when the store opens to the public?
- Does the fact that it’s “media day” make it ‘manufactured news’? “This is a media event - and that really bothers me,” said photo director Larry Reisnouer, who cautioned against giving this Cabela’s story front-page placement because it’s not a public access event.
- What other grand opening events has The Spokesman-Review covered? Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, among others.
- This story will have multimedia. Does that change anything?
- Dan Hansen is an outdoors geek. Will he be overexcited? On the other hand he is an outdoors expert and will also know more about the products and displays in the store.
- Does Cabela’s have entertainment value? “That’s why we occasionally put American Idol on A1…” said Carla Savalli, senior editor for local news.
- The threshold is different for editions too - Idaho could more likely have this on page 1 than Metro.

By the 4:30 meeting, editors should also have a better idea of what other stories are competing for page 1 in sections A and B.

Click here to watch the meeting , and there’s also a fresh discussion thread at News is a Conversation

Thin slices

Greg Vojtko / Associated Press
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