1. A news story production system, comprising: a database of audio and video information; a database of stories including text in a structured format; a first editing system having a user interface that permits a user to specify text for a story and associated segments including the audio and video information, and including a memory device, including a data structure stored in the memory device, wherein the data structure comprises data representing a story as a list of media segment data structures and a corresponding list of text segment data structures, wherein each media segment data structure represents a media segment and comprises: data indicative of a type of the media segment, indicating an origin of any sound for the media segment, data indicative of a list of video clips for the media segment, and wherein the types of each media segment include script, sound on tape (SOT) and voice, and wherein SOT and voice segments each include a list of timing control elements that determine the length of the media segment, and wherein video clips attached to the media segment are automatically trimmed to fit the length of the media segment; and wherein each text segment data structure comprises data representing text associated with the corresponding media segment, and the first editing system further including an output configured to store edited stories in the database of stories, and a second output configured to provide a sequence including audio and video tracks corresponding to the associated segments of the audio and video information; a second editing system that receives the sequence including audio and video tracks configured to permit finishing of the sequence for playback; and a playback system including means for processing the text for a story and means for processing the associated segments of the audio and video information.