"It is better to print a boring, truthful story than an exciting lie".
ARTICLE:[START]: Shocked Newton Abbot residents woke to find metre deep holes in a walkway joining their area to Milber Trading Estate. Although Police cordoned off the danger, local workers are concerned to see a fire hydrant and six drain covers still missing.
Matthew Sharland, a local office worker said: “This is ridiculous, the covers were taken in the middle of the night, they are right on a walkway and we’re lucky no-one has fallen down and killed themselves”.
This incident is the second theft of metal drain covers in just over two weeks. The first being from behind a pub in North Hill, Plymouth, fifty miles away.
Drain smuggling in Devon hit the news three years ago when local Church Bells were also stolen from a restoration shop in Tavistock. The following year four inscribed plaques and 500 Devon road signs joined the increasing list of metal-related crime in Devon.
Rising metal prices (£640 a tonne) have encouraged thieves worldwide to join in what has been inaccurately described as a ‘victimless crime’. With 60% of recovered metal being exported legally from the United Kingdom, according to Police Review, it is one of the fastest growing crimes.
Anyone with information about the two thefts should call police on 08452 777444 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. [STOP]
How did I do it:
I'm always talking to friends and contacts about what's going on and encouraging them to pass me articles. An old health and safety contact text me and said had I heard about what had happened. It wasn't until I started looking into why the drain covers would be taken that I realised it was the second time in two weeks drain covers had been stolen. Newton Abbot is fifty miles away from the other incident in Plymouth. So I emailed the story to the Western Morning News first as they cover the geographical area and the Advertiser which covers Newton Abbot wouldn't be interested in the fact there was another theft in Plymouth. I didn't hear anything from WMN, I emailed the same email to the newsdesk instead of just the Editor, heard nothing. So I emailed the story and photo's to The Advertiser, but as yet have also heard nothing. Possibly they've already covered it, possibly they will re-investigate it themselves and write the story, possibly it's just not interesting enough.
I was happy with myself, as I received the information about 3pm and I'd got photo's and the article researched and written by 1am, ready for the morning paper should it be necessary. In terms of the industry, the amount of time it took to get photo's etc. I can see why a lot of journalists are office bound. In the time it took to complete this article I could have researched and written possibly ten articles received from PR/wire services.
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