SPECIAL REPORT TO EDITORS: DEPTH
EXPANDED LOCAL AND REGIONAL COVERAGE
UPI is committed to comprehensive local and regional news reports for domestic and international clients.
Major areas of development include:
New Bureaus UPI has established 31 new bureaus in the United States and abroad and has added approximately 100 journalists to its network.
Regional Washington Correspondents Regional UPI Washington correspondents have been assigned to Washington to report exclusively on stories of interest to their home divisions. A newspaper trying to track down a hearing on a local issue can request coverage by the reporter in charge of that state.
Regional Features Every decision is developing targeted feature coverage in response to subscriber needs.
Regional Business Coverage Special writers appointed by UPI are developing business stories of special regional interest to supplement national business coverage.
UPI-Evans/Naisbitt Regional Index A major new project, the UPI-Evans/Naisbitt Regional Index, soon will provide newspapers with specialize regional business information and analysis unavailable elsewhere.
UPI's pioneering regional survey, using a unique data collection process, combines the domestic news-gathering resources of UPI and the economic forecasting capabilities of Dr. Michael Evans and John Naisbitt, author of the book Megatrends. The two provide and interpret information on emerging growth and economic trends throughout the country with specific data broken out for each region.
The UPI-Evans/Naisbitt Regional Index will feature monthly tables produced for the 100 top SMSAs (Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas) with interpretive text on what the tables reveal regionally and nationally.
------ PHOTO: "The rapid expansion of local coverage continues in 1984. Some of UPI's best and most important efforts are on the local and regional levels." -- Jordanka Lazarevic, Assistant Managing Editor, Regional Administration ------
Metro Wire To meet demands for comprehensive local news, UPI has created a local newswire in Los Angeles. Called MetroWire, the service is an in-depth newswire keyed to Southern California media. The service includes a constantly updated daybook, tips and advisories, coverage of breaking news and feature material. The Los Angeles bureau of UPI has added 13 reporters to its staff of 25 to produce MetroWire.
------ PHOTO: MetroWire is delivered in Southern California via Equatorial receiving dishes. ------
Electronic News Collection UPI is expanding its present electronic news collection (ENC) capabilities to bring more newspapers into the UPI system forthe dissemination of local news. Under UPI's ENC system, now operating in several divisions, client newspaper computers "talk" to UPI computers for fast distribution of local and regional news.
UPI CONTEXT
UPI has launched a new service that provides instant background information to newspapers and broadcasters on major news stories
UPI CONTEXT delivers the background editors need on deadline to give readers a more complete understanding of the breaking news stories.
The service will provide detail and perspective for stories on Central and Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States. Background reports will be combined with graphic information, such as maps and charts, transmitted immediately after the main news story.
UPI national and international divisions, the Washington reporting staff, sports and financial departments and regional and state bureaus will contribute to UPI CONTEXT.
Different formats for UPI CONTEXT give newspaper editors a variety of options for sidebar play:
UPI CONTEXT is designed to help an editor package and present news material, thereby making UPI a working partner in the editorial process.
------ PHOTO: Newspapers need background information to put complex, rapidly changing news stories in perspective for their readers. We are providing it through UPI CONTEXT." -- Ron Cohen, Managing Editor ------
INVESTIGATIVE TEAMS
The strong play given nationally to UPI's 1984 investigation of congressional travel, "American Royalty," is a good example of the importance of in-depth reporting and the impact of such stories. UPI's 10-part series made public more than $15 million in hidden congressional overseas travel costs.
UPI is assembling investigative teams on a year-round basis to provide original, in-depth reporting on federal, state and local programs, health, and other major social and economic issues. The project will be directed by UPI reporter Greg Gordon, winner of the 1983 Raymond Clapper award for national reporting, and will provide subscribers with a continuing flow of original stories. The task force approach will be broadened later to include international reporters.
CHILDREN'S EXPRESS
"Children's Express", a popular feature, offers the fresh views ofchildren on major issues and encourages young people to read newspapers. UPI's introduction of "International Writers' Service" in 1984 provides another dimension in high-quality analysis and feature material for newspaper use.
QUADRENNIAL COVERAGE
UPI will bring more than 100 of its best sports writers, photographers and editors from bureaus around the world to provide fast, colorful and innovative coverage of the Olympic Games this summer. UPI reporters have already been assigned to specific sports and have been covering their specialties through the pre-Olympic trials. Prior to the Games, UPI will carry extensive layouts of pre-Olympic material, including analyses and profiles of the star athletes from the U.S. and other countries.
Our top political writers, supported by teams of regional reporters and photographers, will cover the Democratic and GOP conventions from inside and outside the convention halls. UPI will carry a special high-speed Convention Wire running 24 hours a day and featuring news, daybooks, schedules and other information for subscribers in the convention cities and news organizations covering the event. Reporter David Lawsky, whose delegate tabulations are being printed daily in major U.S. newspapers, will continue to provide accurate up-to-the-minute delegate counts. UPI will have 100 news people at the conventions to provide thorough, comprehensive national and local coverage.
An Olympic Report Wire also will be offered in Los Angeles for the Summer Games.
------ PHOTO: "UPI has a special ability to communicate quickly with bureaus worldwide and gather information rapidly and thoroughly. This capability, supported by the investigative teams, promises to add a new dimension to in-depth reporting and expand the definition of what a wire service can offer to newspapers." -- Greg Gordon, UPI Investigative Team Director ------ PHOTO: Britain's Sebastian Coe wins the 1,500 meter gold medal at the 1980 Olympics. First place, Sports, World Press Photo Companies. ------ PHOTO: "We're putting resources where they're needed -- on the ground, producing the news," -- John Griffin, Assistant Managing Editor, New York ------
DATAPOLITIX
To help subscribers cover the 1984 political campaign, UPI has expanded its full-time political editorial staff and launched a new service for newspapers, DataPolitix.
DataPolitix provides newspapers with a complete, regularly updated 275,000-word database on all aspects of this year's elections.
DataPolitix contains:
The DataPolitix staff in Washington, directed by UPI political writer Clay Richards, and managing editor Ron Cohen, coordinates and edits the services' encyclopedic information base.
DataPolitix is provided free to all UPI subscribers.
------ PHOTO: "DataPolitixs amounts to a complete research team placed at the disposal of newspaper writers and editors 24 hours a day. It is fully indexed, referenced, and instantly available." -- Clay Richards, UPI Political Correspondent ------