---
title: "What Makes News"
description: "The study identified what “triggered” something to become a story—was it a campaign event? Newsroom initiative? An accusation by a candidate? Or something from outside the campaign? The answer is journalists, for the most part, decide what is news in campaigns. More than half of all stories, 56%, were initiated by journalists deciding to pursue […]"
date: "2000-10-31"
authors:
  - name: "Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media staff"
    job_title: "Guest Contributor"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2000/10/31/what-makes-news/"
---

# What Makes News

The study identified what "triggered" something to become a story—was it a campaign event? Newsroom initiative? An accusation by a candidate? Or something from outside the campaign?

The answer is journalists, for the most part, decide what is news in campaigns. More than half of all stories, 56%, were initiated by journalists deciding to pursue a certain subject. For newspapers, four-in-ten of these pieces were editorial and op-ed columns, but the bulk of it was still news coverage.

Candidates and their campaigns succeeded in triggering a little more than a third (37%) of the stories.

These numbers, incidentally, are virtually identical to what we found in the primaries.

---

**Next:** [Final Topline](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2000/10/31/final-topline.md)