By Anne Harpham

What's news?

Webster's dictionary defines it as reports of recent happenings. A journalism textbook talks about the "process" of gathering news because that is as much a defining characteristic as the facts themselves. Throughout the day, reporters and editors make dozens of decisions about what to cover, what parts of a meeting or event merit mentioning and what don't.

That process also occurs as editors and reporters review press releases and news tips that come by fax, mail, e-mail and phone.

For journalists, of course, it's all second nature. To everyone else it can be a somewhat mysterious process.

Whom do you call? How much information should you include? Where do you send it? How do you know it got there? And, perhaps most important, when is it going to run? And, sometimes, why hasn't it run?

On Page A4, on most days, we publish phone and fax numbers for newsroom departments. Also, a complete list of staff phone numbers and Web addresses is available at honoluluadvertiser.com. At the bottom of most stories are the phone number and e-mail address of the reporter. But that doesn't always answer questions about where to send information and how to get someone's attention.

The best advice is to do your homework first on where to send the information, be straightforward in presenting the information, and if you don't know whom to send a release to, call and ask us. You can call me at 525-8033 or call our city desk at 525-8090. If you can provide the basic facts about what news you're trying to get out, we can tell you where it should be directed.

If it's local community news, it should go to the city desk. The fax number is 525-8037. The e-mail address is hawaii@honoluluadvertiser.com.

If it is business news, it should go to the business section. The fax number is 525-6763 and the e-mail address is business@honoluluadvertiser.com.

If it is an item for Island Life or TGIF, the fax number is 525-8055 and e-mail is islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com.

The sports fax number is 525-5491 and e-mail is sports@honoluluadvertiser.com.

You're busy and we're busy. The best way to get a reporter or editor's attention is to be concise and precise. Include the basic information — who, what, when, where, why, how. Give a name and phone number of someone who can answer questions and is going to be available.

Please don't flood the newsroom with multiple copies of the same press release — we don't like to see paper wasted. And don't worry about misrouting a press release. We're pretty good at directing information to the right department.

What piques our interest? It all depends. It depends on what else is going on and how much we know about the event or news you are pitching. But the more people affected or interested, the better your chances of getting it published.

We are always looking for community news. Nine reporters cover neighborhood news. Their names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses are listed on our Contact Us page, under City Desk. You can call or e-mail those reporters with your news tips.

I know it is disappointing when you send us information and it doesn't get into the paper or it takes a while. While our appetite for ideas and news tips is insatiable, we cannot cover everything that is going on. And while we list all promotions, awards, grants and honors that we are told about, we can't guarantee when they will run. That is simply because of the volume of such announcements.

If you have a question about submitting information or about something you have sent us, please call me and I will try to get you an answer. Or you can call the city editor, Marsha McFadden, at 525-8090; business editor, Judi Erickson, at 525-8063; sports editor, Curtis Murayama, at 525-8017; or the Island Life editor, Elizabeth Kieszkowski, at 525-8034.

In this section today are excerpts from a speech given by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye yesterday at the state Democratic Party convention. We don't run a lot of partisan political speeches in the paper and when we do, we usually try to give equal space to the other side. Given the extraordinary political events of the week on the Democratic side, and given Inouye's position in the party and in the state, we thought readers from across the political spectrum would be interested in reading what he had to say. That shouldn't suggest that we're not interested in the Republicans, only that the Democrats made a lot more news in the past few days.

Senior Editor Anne Harpham is the reader representative of The Advertiser. Reach her at 525-8033.