Although newswork is usually accomplished through routine practices, some occurrences are far from routine. This study looks at how newsworkers at one local television station created their coverage of a major (“what‐a‐story”) story. Data came from newsroom observation. To manage this non‐routine occurrence, newsworkers improvised around well‐established routines, rather than developing an entirely different work process. Typifying likely story elements and story actors was a key strategy underlying their efforts to negotiate the status of the occurrence and to create n