这种对于新闻本质的观念并非是什么新创，而是一个可能长期在讨论的问题。通常只不过是一种高明的讲故事的方式，通常有了这点就够了。但是现在有一种观点值得讨论。
我们告诉自己，我们是生活在一个信息时代，之前是电视时代。这种新的信息流通常容易被叫做是“数据流”。这听起来并不像是新闻书册。它是别的，而且通常更有用的东西，但却不是那种我们在日报里的每个人能把它叫做新闻的东西。
911那天，日报华盛顿局的记者编辑Bryan Gruley 收到了50多名记者的急件。如果我们是电视的话，Bryan Gruley会让这50名记者全部在观众面前将他们头脑里的所有的东西一一背出。因此我们称他们“用大脑讲话的人”。但是我们不是电视，不过，我们的头版头条，“面对恐怖，全国陷入一片疑虑”，后来成了日报申报普利策奖的侯选作品，这篇报道可谓对当日所发生的事进行了丝丝入扣的详尽的报导，简直就像是一个人写出来的。
这篇报道所做的，也就是好的报纸应做的，就是在信息高速公路上拔云绕雾，在一片纷繁中理出一个理智而清晰的条理来——先是通过记者，然后是一系列编辑，再是版式编辑，那些能在几个小时内将千头万绪有机的联系连续起来的人们。反过来，我们希望，读者们对于我们每天所描述的这个世界的看法，也能是想到关联和连续的。
报业的日常事务过于繁琐，所以很难保证在任何时候，我们的思想都是高明的，这样来要求也未免有些不尽人情。但是这样的时刻却能够恰当地揭示新闻工作的本质：911那天上午也好，下午也罢，报纸人都在竭尽全力地去报道事实，坚信我们将所见证到的人们所遭受的痛苦，所身处的问题，以及那些残暴的事件用文字记述下来，然后经过撰写，编辑和出版，这样将有助于他们解决这些问题，这就是新闻工作的本质所在。
WHY WE DO IT
A NEED TO KNOW, A NEED TO TELL.
BY DANIEL HENNINGER
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL HAS BEEN CELEBRATING THIS WEEK THE AWARDING OF ITS PULITZER PRIZE IN THE CATEGORY OF BREAKING NEWS. THE NEWS WAS THAT ON SEPTEMBER 11 LAST YEAR FOUR AMERICAN AIRLINERS LOADED WITH HUMAN BEINGS WERE USED AS WEAPONS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.
ONE PLANE WAS CRASHED INTO THE U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT, TWO OTHERS INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, WHICH BURNED AND FELL, AND THE PASSENGERS OF THE FOURTH PLANE FORCED IT TO CRASH INTO A QUIET FIELD IN PENNSYLVANIA. ALL OF THIS IN ONE MORNING. SO IT IS TRUE TO SAY THAT THIS PRIZE, AND THAT OF MANY OTHERS WON THIS YEAR, WAS BORN IN AWFULNESS. BORN ON A DAY WHOSE DETAILS ARE BY NOW KNOWN BUT WHOSE MORAL AND EMOTIONAL CONTENT MAY NEVER COME FULLY INTO VIEW, AT LEAST NOT FOR MANY OF US.
THE STORY OF WHAT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL DID THAT DAY HAS BEEN TOLD. ESSENTIALLY, EVERYONE WORKING ACROSS THE STREET AT THE WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER EVACUATED, MOST LIKELY NOT TO RETURN. WHAT THIS LEAVE-TAKING WOULD MEAN TO REPORTERS IS HARD TO EXPLAIN. THE METAPHOR ISN'T EXACT, BUT THE DECISION TO FLEE FOR GOOD THE BUILDING WHERE YOU PUT OUT A NEWSPAPER EVERY DAY WOULD BE LIKE A CAPTAIN ABANDONING HIS SHIP. MOST REPORTERS AND EDITORS WOULD JUST AS SOON GO DOWN WITH THE SHIP, HOPING TO GET THE FINAL EDITION OUT.
MY COLLEAGUE JOHN BUSSEY, THE FOREIGN EDITOR, IT HAS BEEN TOLD, HAD TO BE CONVINCED TO LEAVE THE BUILDING, EVEN AS HE WAS BROADCASTING LIVE FOR CNBC. IT HAS NOT BEEN TOLD HOW MY COLLEAGUE ON THE EDITORIAL PAGE, PHIL CONNORS, SENT AN E-MAIL AT MIDAFTERNOON, SAYING HE WAS AT HIS USUAL DESK ON THE DEWINDOWED 9TH FLOOR, HIS PC WAS STILL ONLINE, AND DID ANYONE NEED ANY WORK DONE? TOLD, BY E-MAIL, TO GET OUT, PHIL GRABBED A LEFT-BEHIND DIGITAL CAMERA AND DODGED THE COPS TO TAKE STARTLING PHOTOS OF WHAT WAS NOT YET KNOWN AS GROUND ZERO. OF COURSE WE ALL WANTED TO DO THE SAME THING.