“There are no new stories, only new reporters” (journalism adage)

“There is nothing new under the sun” is from Ecclesiastes 1:9 of the Bible. By at least 1900, it was said that “there are no new stories under the sun.” Each story is similar to a story that has already been published.
 
“There are no new stories, only new reporters” is a journalism adage that has been cited in print since at least 1974 (when it was dubbed an “old but somewhat venerable adage”).
 
   
The Free Dictionary
There is nothing new under the sun.
Prov. Everything that is happening now has happened before. (Biblical.)
 
BibleGateway.com
Ecclesiastes 1:9. New International Version (NIV). 9
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
 
Google Books
January 1900, The Editor, pg. 33, col. 2:
It is perhaps true that there are no new stories under the sun, but we fancy that a novelist of to-day can hardly afford to parallel so closely a scene from another writer.
 
Google Books
The Supreme Surrender: a novel
By Alfred Maurice Low
New York, NY:Harper & Brothers
1901
Pg. 205:
“The trouble is, there are no new stories; they are simply variants of the original seven.”
 
Google Books
The American Almanac, Year-Book, Cyclopaedia and Atlas, Volume 2
New York, NY: New York American and Journal
Pg. 332:
For there are no new stories, no new ideas, ever. There are only new forms of expression.
 
8 July 1974, Morning Star (Rockford, IL), Bob Hill column, pg. A4, col. 1:
This may even be more so in the news business, which deals so much in cycles. “There are no new stories,” the old but somewhat venerable adage goes, “only new reporters.”
   
Google Books
The Art and Craft of Feature Writing:
Based on the Wall Street Journal guide
By William E. Blundell
New York, NY: New American Library
1988
Pg. 8:
“There are no new stories, only new reporters,” the saying goes, and some truth lies behind the cynicism.
   
Google Books
Old Friends:
The best of Bob Hill
By Bob Hill
Louisville, KY: Green Thumb Pub.
1991
Pg. 157:
It’s an occupational problem; there are no new stories, only new reporters.
 
Google Books
Cop Land:
Based on the screenplay by James Mangold
By Mike McAlary
New York, NY: Miramax Books
1997
Pg. 34:
There are no new stories in New York, most good reporters know. You just have to know which old tale the new story duplicates.
 
30 April 2006, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “From First and Spring: Yellowed Pages”:
As the saying goes, there are no new stories—just new reporters.
 
Tammy Swofford
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Young J. Edgar Hoover: The Making of a Despot
An axiom of journalism holds that there are no new stories: only new reporters, editors and readers.
 
Bloomberg.com
The Justice Department’s MF Global Scandal Dates to 1932
By Jonathan Weil
Jul 27, 2012 2:02 PM CT
There’s an old saying in journalism that there are no new stories, only new reporters. The revelation that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s old law firm used to represent the bankrupt brokerage firm MF Global Holdings is a great example.