When trying to build a debian package it fails as the file NEWS doesn't exist

The debian packaging defines that a NEWS file should exist (debian/docs); however, no such file exists. This causes the packaging stage to fail with the following error:

dh_installdocs
cp: cannot stat `NEWS': No such file or directory
dh_installdocs: cp -a NEWS debian/thrift-compiler/usr/share/doc/thrift-compiler returned exit code 1
make[1]: *** [binary-common] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/ricky/development/git/thrift'
make: *** [binary-arch] Error 2
dpkg-buildpackage: error: fakeroot debian/rules binary gave error exit status 2

I checked to see if this file is meant to be auto-generated but could find no obvious mechanism for doing so. I can get the package to build in two ways:

1. just add a NEWS file (touch NEWS in the top-level folder works)
2. Remove the line containing NEWS from the debian/docs file

If this file isn't actually needed removing it from the debian/docs is probably the best solution.