Newspaper Writing and Editing

by Willard Grosvenor Bleyer

“Breaking Over” Front Page Stories. In order to preserve the alternation of large heads with smaller ones on the front page, as well as to get as much of the most important news as possible on this page, long stories with large heads are continued from the first page to one of the inside pages. One column of these stories, or often only one-half or two-thirds of a column, is put on the first page, according to the make-up of the lower half of the page, and the remaining part is put with a jump-head on an inside page. When a story is “broken over” from the front page, a dash or rule is put at the end, with the words “Continued on third page” beneath, if the break is at the end of a column; and a dash, or rule, and these words followed by another rule are used if the break is not at the end of a column, the purpose of the second rule being to set off the explanation “Continued on third page,” from the following matter. The jump-heads, as was shown in Chapter XI, are of several kinds: (1) a reproduction of the whole of the original head, (2) a reproduction of the top deck of the original head, or (3) an entirely new head, usually in smaller type than the original one.

Grouping News. Various kinds and forms of news matter are grouped in various ways. Local, state, national, and foreign news is often arranged each kind on a separate page, as is also the society, the sporting, and the market news. Short one-paragraph news stories, usually with one line of type for a head, are often assembled under such heads as “City News In Brief,” “News of the State,” “Sporting Gossip,” and are arranged in order of size, the smallest being put first, or vice versa. The society news is also frequently arranged in order of size, the longest stories being put at the beginning. In some papers, the heading of these one-paragraph stories, instead of being a separate line, forms a part of the first line of the story and is separated by a dash from the beginning of the story, which fills the remaining third or quarter of the first line.

The “Make-Up” Page by Page. The pages that contain little or no live news matter are made up as far as possible in advance of the first edition of the paper so that they will be out of the way when the news pages are to be arranged. The editorial page, and special pages such as the woman’s page, the theatrical page, the continued story or feature page, can usually be made up, stereotyped, and put on the press ready for printing before the news pages are made up. The first page is, as a rule, made up last, so that all of the very latest news may be given a prominent place. Evening papers that make a special feature of the financial and market page, make up that page last in order to print the closing quotations of the day and to get the papers out on the street as soon as possible after the closing hour of the exchanges.

The Man Who “Makes Up.” The actual work of arranging the type in the page forms is done by the make-up men of the composing room under the direction of one of the editors. On some newspapers the managing editor directs the make-up, on others the assistant managing editor, and on still others the night editor, or the news editor. With a set of proofs at hand the editor directing the make-up indicates where all the important stories and cuts are to be placed, and then usually allows the make-up men to fill in the shorter matter with the smaller heads. The experienced editor can picture in his mind the appearance of the first page in print, as he directs the arrangement of the masses of type and the cuts. A diagram, or schedule, is usually made out by the editor in advance to indicate the position of the most important news and cuts.

“Making Up” Different Editions. As every large newspaper prints several editions, the page forms, after being stereotyped, are returned to the composing room to be made over for the next edition. On a morning paper the first edition, intended for places at a considerable distance, is made up to leave the composing room about 9.30 in the evening. A second mail edition follows this at about 11.30 P.M., another at 1.30 A.M., and the regular city edition at about 2.30 or 3.30 A.M.

On an afternoon paper the first edition may be made up at 6 o’clock in the morning, and other editions may follow at intervals of about two hours throughout the day. Generally, however, the noon edition, made up about 10.30, is the first. This is followed by a mail edition made up at about 12.30; by the home edition for distribution by carriers made up at 2.30; and by the market edition made up at about 3.15, or as soon as the closing quotations are received from the leading exchanges all over the country. The sporting extra, following the market edition, is made up the instant the complete score is received of the baseball game in which the local team played, or whenever the result of the most important sporting event of the day is announced. Following the sporting edition, many afternoon papers get out a special mail edition, dated the following morning, for distribution to distant points in competition with the earliest mail edition of the morning papers.

In making up the several editions, it is desirable to change as few pages as possible in order to save time and to avoid additional stereotyping. When arranging the news on the inside pages for the first edition, the editor can make up some of the news pages so that they need not be made over for several editions at least. The front page is made over for each edition and usually one or two inside pages. As the value of news changes considerably in the five or six hours between the first and the last editions, the longer stories with large heads that occupy prominent places on the front page in the earlier editions are often cut down, given smaller heads, and put in less conspicuous places when later news requires the best position. Front-page stories of the first editions often go over into the inside pages with headlines unchanged, sometimes with the story cut down and sometimes in the original form. Often only the top deck of the head is rewritten to be set in smaller type, and one or two of the decks are cut off to reduce the size and prominence of the head.

Composing-Room Terms. In the composing-room the editor in charge of the make-up finds a number of technical terms in common use in addition to those pertaining to type that are explained in Chapter X.

When all the “takes,” or pieces, of copy have been given out to the linotype operators or compositors, the copy is said to be “all in hand”; when it is all in type, or all set, it is said to be “all up.” Each operator puts a “slug” containing his number at the beginning of matter that he sets as his take. Advertisements are set in the part of the composing-room known as the “ad alley.” Matter set by hand or on a linotype machine is arranged by “bank men” in proper order in galleys on a “bank,” or sloping shelf. After type has been used or has been killed, it is “distributed” by hand, letter by letter, into the cases. Linotype slugs, and usually all type smaller than 12-point that is cast on a monotype, are thrown into the “hell-box” to be taken to the stereotyping-room and melted up, so that the metal can be used again.

Page forms are made up on the “stone,” a smooth table top, formerly of stone, now of metal. Forms are “justified” to make all of the columns exactly the same length by inserting leads here and there between the lines when a column is too short, and by taking out a few leads when it is too long. After being “justified,” the forms are “planed down,” or leveled, with a “planer,” or wooden block, which is tapped with a mallet to force all type and cuts down to the level surface of the stone. Type that does not stand squarely on its base is said to be “off its feet.” The forms are “locked” by means of screws, or of wedges known as “quoins.” After the first page form is thus “closed,” it may have to be “ripped open” for late news. The forms are “put away” when they are sent to the stereotyping-room.