LTN tidbit 28: Figuring out where stories are filed

May is 31 tidbits about Lake Tahoe News month.

LTN tidbit No. 28:

Lake Tahoe News uses broad category names to classify stories instead of drilling down.

One day we might expand beyond what we have or add subcategories. It will depend on what readers desire, what makes sense and how much content we produce on a daily basis.

People have the most questions about the Feature and Grab Bag categories. Featured Articles are the ones that have been the lead story of the day. They are then categorized into one of the other sections as well.

Grab Bag is for items that don’t fit under one of the other traditional categories. This is where super short stories – briefs – are found. We also put Snippets in Grab Bag. This is a collection of short (a sentence or two) items that are thrown together with five or six items contained in each Snippets.

Sometimes we file things under more than one category because we know not everyone goes to each category and it could easily be considered two things. For example, the recent mining story about Yosemite was filed under News and Outdoors & Sports.

Obits are always filed under Lifestyle, with the occasional one also being a News story.

Most animal stories are under Outdoors – because that’s where they live.

Travel pieces are usually in the Lifestyle section because we are writing about a lifestyle.

If all of this seems too confusing, one way to keep in the know is to get the daily digest each morning. It gives you the headlines from the last 24 hours. Just put your email address in at the bottom right of the home page to activate that free service.

That is different than becoming a paid subscriber – which right now only costs you a buck, unless you want to offer more.