BE TRUE
Thomas Carlyle: To every writer we might say: Be true, if you would be believed. Let a man but speak forth with genuine earnestness the thought, the emotion, the actual condition of his own heart; and other men, so strangely are we all knit together by the tie of sympathy, must and will give heed to him. In culture, in extent of view, we may stand above the speaker, or below him; but in either case, his words, if they are earnest and sincere, will find some response within us; for in spite of all casual varieties in outward rank or inward, as face answers to face, so does the heart of man to man.
. . . VOICE OF THE LOWLY AND OPPRESSED . . . ADVOCATE OF THE FRIENDLESS . . . RIGHTER OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WRONGS.
INSTRUCTIONS TO COPY READERS
The copy reader's position carries with it larger responsibilities than the position of any other member of the staff. He can mar or ruin a good story; he can redeem the poor story; he can save the reporter from errors of commission or omission in the matter of his story or in the manner of its writing. No matter how accomplished a writer a reporter may be, the copy reader who handles his story can destroy his product. Then, too, it is the function of the copy reader, if he believes that a better story can be written with the same facts as a basis, to suggest to the city editor that the story be rewritten by the reporter, by another reporter or by the copy reader himself. Because a man is reading copy, he should not imagine that he is not to write a story or rewrite one when occasion demands.
Charles G. Ross writes: "His [the copy reader's] work is critical rather than creative. It is destructive so far as errors of grammar, violations of news style and libel are concerned. But if his sense of news is keen, as that of every copy reader should be, he will find abundant opportunity for something more than mechanical deletion and interlineation. He may insert a terse bit of explanation to clear away obscurity, or may add a piquant touch that will redeem a story from dullness. To the degree that he edits news with sympathy and understanding, with a clear perception of news values, his work may be regarded as creative. If, on the other hand, he conceives it his duty to reduce all writing to a dead level of mediocrity * * * * he richly deserves the epithet that is certain to be hurled at the copy reader by the reporter whose fine phrases have been cut out—he is in truth a 'butcher' of copy."
Dr. Willard G. Bleyer writes: "The reading and editing of copy consists of (1) correcting all errors whether in expression or in fact; (2) making the story conform to the style of the newspaper; (3) improving the story in any respect; (4) eliminating libelous matter; (5) marking copy for the printer; (6) writing headlines and subheads."