Bennett's Paper Was One of the First to Use the Practice

Bennett's paper was one of the first to use the practice of "news beats" which were

A) a "black mark" against a reporter who failed to beat the competition in reporting a story.
B) a regular or recurring theme or topic that would periodically show up in news coverage.
C) a subject or part of the city a reporter was assigned to cover for the sake of gathering news.
D) a token reward and recognition to a reporter who got a story before competing papers did.