On catching my attention

As News editor I get 20 to 50 e-mails a day, depending on the day of the week. I am annoyed by most of them and delete at least half. Others I flag to return to at a later time and the handful of useful ones I print and add to my clipboard.

Today I got a cute little card in my real mailbox about the College of Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition. "I guess I'll send a reporter to this," I said to Lisa. She in turn pointed out how this is a perfect example of contradictions in my character.

"If you had been e-mailed the same information, you would have deleted it," she said. "But because they sent an actual invitation, you're going to send a reporter."

This is true. Had it been an e-mail, I would have ignored it and the student body would never hear about the poster competition. But because the College of Sciences put in the extra effort to make me feel like they really wanted the Evergreen to be there, I'm more willing to comply with their request.

I should note that telling me in an e-mail that a story is VERY NEWSWORTHY does not count as putting in extra effort to catch my attention. When I receive 50 e-mails a day, if you want coverage your event better actually be newsworthy or you should do something to make me like you better. Cute cards are apparently effective, though nothing can make up for a story that has no relevance to our readers.