When to contact your local news

This is something that I never really understood. Are you supposed to call the news when unique things happen to you? Did I miss that day in school?

I just read the story of a lady who was trapped in a closet for 20 hours when she decided to break through a wall to free herself. Here is the full news story and video. Take a look at it and then come back here.

Think now. This lady was all alone in her house. She went through this experience and then thought, "I'll call the local news and tell them what I did!" How strange! But then it dawned on me, how DOES the local news get all of their stories?

Are we supposed to call them whenever something unique happens? Should I have called them when a car went through a stop sign and got lodged on top of our hedge? Then there was that time I was mugged in downtown Stamford. Should I have called them then?

How do people know when, and when not, to call the news with a story? I'm really confused about this.