I agree about your comments pertaining to freelancers looking to pitch stories to editors. This happens to me frequently. It does become time consuming since they are not covering hard news. For them to flesh out a treatment for their pitch, when they are dealing with firematic subject matter that is complex, becomes a teacher/pupil relationship. I do it though because I understand there plight in needing viable stories to put food on the table.

I have also seen a trend of more freelance reporters approaching us to help them pitch ideas to networks, that upon acceptance, they will come back to us to help write. I have built solid relationships with some amazing local and national reporters, but even they seem very strapped for resources and time and look to me to provide any assistance I possibly can.

While my interactions with the media are somewhat different, I am often left with doing a lot of the legwork for the reporters too, even with hot putton stories that should write themselves.

I am not sure if this is a trend or merely a figment of my imagination, but I’ve recently noticed a deep slump in hard news being reported during morning and evening network broadcasts. News has been reduced to American Idol recaps and, this morning’s highlight, the astrological implications of what month you decide to get married in. I’ve stopped expecting to see real news from network news stations (lost faith in CNN yrs ago).