CRIME STORIES
In covering a story of murder or suicide, don’t stop with the facts that appear on the surface—get the motive. When one hears that a friend has killed himself the first natural inquiry is: Why did he do it? It is this question that the city editor urges upon the reporter starting out to cover the story. “Get the motive” is the order, expressed or implied. If the story does not show the motive, it must have other marked elements of interest to receive more than a few lines of space.
It is not within the scope of this book to discuss newspaper ethics and ideals, except in relation to news writing, but attention may be called briefly to that phase of the newspaper’s daily problem that has to do with crime news. Whether or not such news is “featured” depends altogether on the newspaper’s individual policy; there are no general standards that fit all cases. A story that one paper cuts to a few lines or throws away may be “played up” in another to the extent of a column or more. Any newspaper will give liberal space to a story that vitally concerns the entire nation or community, such as the attempted assassination of a public official. Divergence comes in the treatment of human-interest news. Take for example the story of a shop girl who kills herself because she has been jilted. Here is a story that may be developed for its human-interest features, may be dismissed with a bare statement or may be ignored. The theory is widely accepted that the publication of a suicide story, especially one that goes into detail, may implant the suggestion of suicide in persons of morbid mind, or may lead those who have been thinking of suicide to act. It is largely for this reason that many newspapers give little space to news of this character unless it concerns someone of prominence or contains some unique human-interest feature. Ordinary, routine suicide stories receive bare mention at the most, and then usually in an inconspicuous part of the paper. What shall be done with a story is the editor’s problem. The problem of the reporter is to get the facts and present them to the best of his ability. And if a suicide story is to be covered in detail, don’t stop with the obvious—find out the “why” of it all.