Sarah Bahr | The New York Times
When news breaks, as everybody knows, reporters race to call their sources, confirm the facts and get the story.
But it is then that the real clock begins to tick: the race to type it all up. Translating the scribbled notes and audio recordings into words on a page, arranged in a coherent fashion, on deadline.
We recently decided to put New York Times journalists’ keyboarding skills to the test. About 80 reporters and editors accepted our challenge to take an online typing trial, with results ranging from 35 words per minute (for a veteran reporter who covers the legal system) to 134 (a data reporter).
