Feed story ideas to reporters and they rarely will generate their own. Specify exactly what you want from particular assignments and often, that's what you'll get. The result can be pallid, predictable newscasts that lack compelling reasons to watch. But it need not be so! Expand and enliven editorial meetings, especially the first one of the day. Include photographers as well as reporters, producers and desk folks in what should be a provocative session to start the news day. Attendance should be mandatory unless an early assignment prohibits it.

• Make it part of every reporter's job description to generate original story ideas on a regular basis. Job descriptions should require all staff to offer suggestions about story approaches, people to interview, production possibilities and visual opportunities, not just for the stories assigned to them, but for others as well.
• Require reporters to submit story notes before leaving the newsroom each day. These should include future information on the story they covered that day, details about a story they hope to cover the next day, and ideas for future stories. The assignment editor and/or planning editor files and uses these for reference and they become a backup for reporters on dry days or when another story falls through.
• Create a system that allows you to track who's generating original ideas so you can fairly evaluate reporters on this requirement. And then discuss it during each performance review.
• Hold the editorial meetings in a place big enough to accomodate all reporters, photographers and producers. Otherwise you signal you don't really want them to come.
• Start the meeting with original ideas (possibly from reporter story notes) and spend a few minutes on each one. Then go through the assignment sheet. The reverse order suppresses original ideas and signals you value scheduled news over spot news.
• Ask magic questions to generate good thinking fast when an idea is offered:
  • What interests you about that? What happened to trigger the idea?
  • Who is most directly affected by this?
  • From whose point of view shall we tell this story?
  • What approach can we take that will be fresh and new?
  • What might we use for visuals? Natural sound?
  • What kind of graphics might we need?
  • How can we help?
• Make assignments quickly, perhaps allowing a reporter or photographer to leave the meeting for a couple of minutes to make a phone call or two.
• Consider allowing one reporter just to trawl for an hour or so each day to reward them for coming up with a good idea and enable them to develop it for that day or the next. Then they can go on to another assignment. Of course, the results of the trawl must be included in that day's story note.
• Spotlight enterprise stories in the first block of the newscast or another prominent spot.
• End the meeting with a brief summary of where everyone is, what packages and vo/sots are in development, who will be in touch with what reporters during the day, and so on.