Getting the story

Two good tales of "getting the story" from over the weekend.

Terry Morrow tells in his blog how he got to talk to local-boy-turned-superstar-country-singer Kenny Chesney -- and no other media did -- during his low-profile show show at a local nightclub on "the Strip" on Sunday night.

After 20 years as a reporter, my biggest rush is still getting to an elusive celebrity, the person no one else can touch. Ah! I know it makes me a loser to say that's what gets my juices flowing, but, hey, it's true.

And Corpus Christ Caller-Times editor tells in a column how the paper broke the VP hunting story on Sunday afternooon.

We broke the national story at 1:48 p.m. Sunday with an e-mail alert and a story on our Web site Caller.com, 48 minutes before the Associated Press moved anything on the story and a full hour before CNN issued an e-mail alert.

We got the story the way dedicated journalists have tracked down news for years - through strong, consistent building of sources and good, old-fashioned reporting.

Both are pretty good reads.