Newspaper Writing and Editing

by Willard Grosvenor Bleyer

Methods of Reporting Speeches. The two problems in reporting these various forms of oral or written expression are, how to get the exact words of the speakers, and how to condense long utterances effectively.

The body of news stories of speeches can often be written while the speaker talks, in what is called a “running story,” particularly when it is necessary for the reporter to have his copy ready for publication soon after the speaker finishes. In such cases the reporter picks out and combines into a connected verbatim report the most important statements, summarizing briefly the less important ones. To do this he depends on long-hand writing so that what he writes can be used as copy without being transcribed. If time permits, he may take notes during the address, sermon, or trial, and write up his story later. Short-hand, although occasionally convenient, is not commonly used by newspaper reporters, and very few of them can write it.

The greatest skill is required to condense all of these forms of expression within a comparatively limited space. A speech, for example, that in complete form would fill three columns must often be cut down to half a column; and a report that would fill a page often cannot be given more than three quarters of a column. To select and combine separate parts into a unified, coherent reproduction that is only one-fifth or one-tenth of the original, is no easy task. Despite this great condensation the news story must be an accurate presentation of all the important material in the original. When a newspaper reporter or editor is satisfied to pick a few striking statements out of their context, and present them in a new combination, the result too often is that neither the spirit nor the substance of the original is accurately given; in fact, not infrequently the speakers’ ideas are completely, though often unintentionally, misrepresented.

“Playing Up” Misleading Statements. This distortion is often brought about by taking a striking sentence out of its context, in which it may be modified or explained, and by “playing it up” as a feature of the lead in a way that gives an entirely false or very misleading impression of the speaker and his utterance. The accuracy of the quotation under such circumstances does not justify the inaccuracy of the effect produced. Nor does the supposed news value of a striking but misleading quotation at the beginning of the lead justify the misrepresentation involved. Unless when taken from its context a quotation, direct or indirect, gives accurately not only the expression but the point of view and spirit of the original, it should not be used. Generally, by means of some connective or explanatory matter, such a quotation can be made to represent the original accurately. Great care should be taken not to give a wrong impression in the lead.

How to Begin the Lead. In news stories of speeches, lectures, and sermons, or of reports and similar documents, eight different forms for the beginning of the lead may be suggested: (1) a direct quotation of one sentence; (2) a direct quotation of one paragraph; (3) an indirect quotation of one statement; (4) an indirect quotation of several statements; (5) the keynote; (6) the title quoted; (7) the name of the speaker; and (8) the conditions under which the utterance was made. The reporter should choose the form best suited to the subject, the substance, and the occasion of the speech or report.

The single sentence quotation, as in the following form, should be used when the thought or expression which it contains is the most significant feature:

“The sentiment of the working class everywhere is for peace rather than for war,” declared Charles P. Neill, United States commissioner of labor, in speaking on “The Interest of the Wage Earner in the Present Status of the Peace Movement,” before the Lake Mohonk Conference of International Arbitration.

The paragraph of direct quotation is necessary when the most important point of the speech is not expressed in a single sentence but requires several connected sentences, or when the single sentence is sufficiently long to fill a whole paragraph, thus:

(1)

“The treatment for bad politics is exactly the modern treatment for tuberculosis—it is exposure to the open air. One of the reasons why politics took on a new complexion in the city in which the civic center movement originated was that the people who could go into the schoolhouse knew what was going on in that city and insisted upon talking about it; and the minute they began talking about it, many things became impossible, for there are scores of things in politics that will stop the moment they are talked about where men will listen.”