I have come to this analogy that the Newsroom is identical to a garden. If you change the plants into stories and the gardeners into news staff, it makes sense.

In the News Garden, you have stories that can grow big or small. The small stories tend to live for a few days or can be extended to 6 months. When a local street is closed for construction, the only thing left is to announce when it will reopen. Big stories have a longer life span because the resources for it keep raining in. The GOP Nominations kicked off in January and will extend through November. By then, the story is harvested and placed into the news archives.

These stories always start from a single seed, which is the idea on how it will grow. With the many seeds that need to be planted for a successful newscast, the garden has to be tended by the news staff. The only problem is the garden needs to be tended continuously. There is so much ground to cover when planting and maintaining these stories. It cannot be done alone and that is why the news staff needs the viewers to help pollinate the stories.

When the seed grows big enough to become a news story, the viewers are the ones that help with the pollination process. They help the stories extend their life span or help it bloom into something new. There are times when the viewer will plant the seeds themselves, but it is up to the news staff to water it themselves. Without the help of the viewers, the News Garden wouldn’t grow. The stories would either stay the same height or dissolve back into the ground.

The News Garden produces many new stories and will continue to grow over time. It’s up to the news staff and viewers to help maintain the life span for each story.