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How we write The Context

  • Emily Previti/PA Post
The Context., PA Post's weekday newsletter, launched in September.

The Context., PA Post's weekday newsletter, launched in September.

The Context” is PA Post’s newsletter. It’s been publishing every weekday since September, but only recently prompted this question submitted through the Listening Post:

“I have only a short question and a long compliment! How do you decide what to cover in each day’s PA Post The Context? I love it and feel it is the only source of PA news I can consistently rely on,” Cathy from Springettsbury Township wrote.

Here are answers from The Context’s writers, Emily Previti and Ed Mahon:

Thanks for the kind words, Cathy! I filled in a few times as writer for The Context last year, and now Emily and I rotate each week.

When it comes to the first part of The Context, I tend to look for trends across the state, whether it’s struggling newspapers, financially troubled school districts or new gun restrictions. The Best of the Rest section is a good opportunity to highlight different areas of the state, other issues or just really interesting stories.

I consume a lot of news, and I tend to be particularly interested in anything having to do with K-12 education, guns and political campaigns. But I make a point to branch out.

I usually check out the Sunday front pages of Pennsylvania newspapers at the Newseum website. I find Twitter lists to be pretty useful. I created one for Pennsylvania political reporters and another one for Pa. public media journalists (there is some overlap between the two).

Feedback from readers helps us, too. Sometimes we turn our Listening Post answers into part of The Context, and we also know from survey responses that our readers care a lot about politics and policy. So that influences our approach.

–Ed Mahon

 

Thanks for reading and reaching out, Cathy. We appreciate the positive feedback.

For the top section, I check Twitter and our partner sites daily for inspiration, in addition to other Pennsylvania-based newsletters, to identify stories that overlap or relate to one another in some way — even if it’s over the course of a few days or a week.

I tend to gravitate toward accountability stories and those that give voice to vulnerable populations and/or people we don’t often hear from. A good data visualization or policy comparative will pique my curiosity as well. Same goes for legal affairs; specifically, a compelling court case or high-impact judicial decision.

I also create Google alerts for key stories we follow closely, such as gerrymandering, and keep them active even when the issue fades from the headlines. That gets at part of our mission at PA Post, which is to report undercovered stories or find new angles.

And I read policy-oriented news (of high interest to our readers) that draws from all over the country, wrapping it into the newsletter when warranted to give Pennsylvania news some scope and provide a fuller picture.

It is, after all, “The Context” for a reason.

— Emily Previti

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