Never kill a story with facts.

The old timers at the press club bar would laugh over the old law of reporting: Never kill a story with facts. A great example of this are the stories about the shooting at Ft. Lauderdale airport, all of which noted that it is legal to transport guns in checked baggage. The New York Times, Jan. 8, 2017, had a long story about this, headlined (in the Boston Globe): “It’s perfectly legal to carry a gun in checked luggage.” But you have to get to the 10th paragraph to read this sentence: “It was unclear if Santiago, who was arrested, was allowed to carry a handgun in Florida and if the gun was legally purchased.”

And that’s the story killer. The Times left the big question unanswered, using the journalese excuse, “It was unclear…”

Yes, the TSA says that if you have a license, you may transport a gun as checked baggage. But can you legally carry it out of the terminal in a different state from the one where you are licensed to carry? Is there reciprocity between States: if licensed on one state does that apply to some other states? Those are story-killing questions the NY Times, nor the Boston Globe, preferred not to ask.

You can check the Times story at http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/01/07/perfectly-legal-carry-gun-checked-luggage/o8RIIna2Tw6ZF78hzRIVlK/story.html