One of the most oft-asked questions I get is how exactly we get our stories.

Stories and story ideas come in from all kinds of sources: government meetings, open hearings, press conferences, press releases, phone and e-mail tipsters, court filings, public documents, and the list goes on. Readers often ask to see stories on topics they want to see, and there is a small army of publicists who are working on behalf of their clients trying to get placement in our newspaper or online.

We have a few dozen reporters who have developed certain areas of expertise in various coverage areas and they are responsible for developing stories. Some are assigned to multiple beats.

If you cover the City and County of Honolulu, as reporter Gordon Pang does, then you call your sources who are involved with government, you attend council hearings and committee meetings and scan through agendas and public records for story ideas. In Pang's case, he also helped cover the selection of the new police chief and has had to keep an eye on Native Hawaiian affairs.

Reporters cover tourism, the military, real estate, government, health care, education, parenting, the airline industry, the courts, fashion, food, law enforcement, travel, college sports, high school sports, entertainment, nightlife, the rail project and the environment, as well as issues on the Neighbor Islands. There are also a handful of generalists who report on whatever doesn't fall under those categories or when breaking news occurs.

While many reporters generate their own stories, there are a number of editors, myself included, who are busy suggesting new story angles and avenues to pursue. Reporters would rather concentrate on their own story lists — I always did — but are mindful that great story ideas can come from anywhere, even editors.

Because we are the largest media organization in the state, we are expected to cover as much news as possible, but there are more stories than even we can handle, so we have to filter through the mountain of information that comes across our desks each day. There's a large percentage of news that our readers need to be informed about and everyone will be reporting. But we also need to cultivate and develop the stories that nobody else will have.

Resources being tight, we have to consider the amount of time a story will take and what likely impact it will have on our readership. A story that is of interest to just a few is probably going to be jettisoned in favor of one that highlights questionable public spending or an explanatory piece that puts an important issue into perspective.

We appreciate all the suggestions and story ideas. Please keep them coming.