TERMINOLOGY
All manuscript for the press is copy. Clean copy is manuscript that requires little or no editing. The various steps in the gathering and writing of news that precede printing are indicated briefly in the following explanation of newspaper terms:
Story.—Any article prepared for a newspaper. A three-line item and a three-column account of a convention are both, in the newspaper sense, stories. The term is applied also to the happening with which the story deals. Thus a reporter sent to get the facts about a fire is said to be covering a fire story. A happening of unusual importance makes a big news story. Reporters are assigned or detailed by the city editor to cover certain stories, and the task given each is his assignment. A reporter assigned to visit certain definite places which are covered regularly in the search for news (as police stations, hospitals, courts, fire headquarters, city hall, etc.) is said to have a run or a beat. A reporter scoops competing news gatherers when he gets an exclusive story. The story is called a scoop or a beat.
Stickful.—A term frequently used in defining the length of a story. A stickful is about two inches of type—the amount held by a composing stick, a metal frame used by the printer in setting type by hand.
Lead.—Loosely used to indicate the introduction, usually the first paragraph, of the story. In the ordinary sense the news story has no such thing as an introduction. The lead goes straight to the point without preliminaries. Do not confuse this word, pronounced “leed,” with the word of the same spelling pronounced “led.” The latter word lead, as a verb, is an order to the printer to put thin strips of metal (leads) between the lines of the story in type, thus giving additional white space and making the story stand out more prominently on the printed page. Editorials are usually leaded.
Copy Reader.—A sub-editor who puts the copy into shape for the printer and writes the headlines. Sometimes called copy editor. Do not confuse copy reading with proofreading (the correction of proof sheets), which is done in another department.
Slug.—A solid line of machine-set type. As used by the copy reader, the term usually means the identifying name given a story, as “wedding,” “fire,” “wreck.” A story is slugged when it is so named for convenience in keeping tab on it.
Head.—Abbreviation for headlines. A copy reader is said to build a head on a certain feature of the story.
Feature.—Noun: The most interesting part of a story is the feature. Verb: A story is featured or played up when it is prominently displayed. Adjective: A feature story usually depends for its interest on some other element than that of immediate news value.
Make up.—Verb: To arrange the type in forms for printing. Noun (make-up): The process of arranging the type or the result as seen in the printed page. A newspaper is said to have an effective make-up when the disposition of the stories on a page and the general typographical appearance of the whole contribute toward making the desired impression on the reader. The make-up editor supervises the work of making up. A page may be made over to insert late news.