CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | Beginning in Newspaper Work—The Reporter’s First Experiences—His Progress—Unpleasant Tasks | [1] |
| II. | The Collection of News and Its Preparation for Print | [29] |
| III. | Newspaper Composition—The Art of Writing in Simple yet Entertaining Fashion | [51] |
| IV. | The Fascination of Writing for the Editorial Page | [74] |
| V. | What to Print—The Problem of How to Interest and Inform the Reader | [87] |
| VI. | The Pleasing Experiences of the Foreign Correspondent | [106] |
| VII. | The Technical Press | [115] |
| VIII. | The Village Newspaper’s Important Place in American Journalism | [125] |
| IX. | The Daily Newspaper in the Small City | [138] |
| X. | The Rewards of Journalism—They Are Found Chiefly in Congenial Employment | [144] |
| XI. | Newspaper Influence—Ways of Persuading the Public—Community Service and Service to the Government | [159] |
| XII. | The Study of a Specialty—Great Advantage Follows the Mastery of Two or Three Subjects | [179] |
| XIII. | The Activities and Patriotic Service of Newspapers in Times of War | [185] |
| XIV. | Newspaper History—The Modern Newspaper | [197] |
THE YOUNG MAN AND JOURNALISM
CHAPTER I
BEGINNING IN NEWSPAPER WORK—THE REPORTER’S FIRST EXPERIENCES—UNPLEASANT TASKS
The beginner in newspaper work usually starts as a reporter of the simplest and most unimportant kind of routine news. The city editor tells him what to do and how to do it. The start is made easy for him. The prevailing supposition that reporters go out into the streets and hunt for news is far from fact. They do so in the small cities but not for big newspapers.
Newsgathering has become vastly systematized. Nineteen twentieths of the news comes through established channels of information and this explains why nearly all newspapers have the same facts. The sources of information are known in all newspaper offices. If a man falls dead in the street, or a fire starts in an important building, or an automobile crushes a child, or anything unusual happens in any street, it is known to every city editor within a few minutes; for a policeman reports it to police headquarters immediately, and reporters grab it. Similarly, shipping news is sent to the ship-news office; cases of sudden or unexplained death must be made public by official physicians; public parades and demonstrations are anticipated through the permit bureau, and so on. All day and all night this kind of news pours in to the city editor. With almost instant judgment he decides on its news value, discards it or hustles a reporter for the details. The new man gets the least important of this kind of work.
The city editor keeps a future book—like milady’s engagement calendar—in which under proper date he records the events to be of that day: business meetings, conventions, adjourned cases, public dinners, everything and anything requiring the presence of a reporter. It is one of the important factors of the newsgetting system. Its proper keeping involves constant drudgery and painstaking care in the reading of newspapers for announcements or for clews to anything that is to happen. He reads, for instance, that an important business meeting has appointed a special committee to report at the next meeting; but no date of the next meeting is given. So he asks the new reporter, maybe, to ascertain and record it in the future book. The new man does many such errands, verifies many statements of fact, chases down many rumors.