There’s a reason newspaper articles are called stories. That’s what they are most of the time. Stories. A reporter is nothing more that a storyteller when it comes right down to it. He has a limited number of facts to work with, and from those facts he must weave a tale that will hold the reader. Some of the facts the reporter has are accurate; some are not. But either way, the facts are not the story. The story lies in the inferences, the color, and the spin. These are what reports are paid for, and their job – their sacred oath – is to make the news pop. It has to sing. It has to thrill. Without all that, it isn’t really news to anyone.