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NEWSPAPER WRITING
AND EDITING

BY

WILLARD GROSVENOR BLEYER, Ph.D.

CHAIRMAN OF THE COURSE IN JOURNALISM, AND
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM IN
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

BOSTON  NEW YORK  CHICAGO  SAN FRANCISCO

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

The Riverside Press Cambridge

COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY WILLARD GROSVENOR BLEYER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.

TO
A. H. B.

PREFACE

Seven years’ experience in trying to train college students in methods of newspaper writing and editing has convinced the author of the need of text-books in journalism. Newspapers themselves supply the student with so miscellaneous a collection of good, bad, and mediocre work that, with an uncritical taste, he does not always discriminate in the character of the models which he selects to imitate. Lectures by experienced editors and writers, although fruitful of much inspiration and general information, seldom give the student sufficiently specific and detailed directions to guide him in his daily work. What he needs is a handbook containing typical examples of all of the kinds of newspaper work that he is likely to be called upon to do during the first years of his newspaper experience. These examples should be carefully selected from well-edited newspapers and should be analyzed to show the fundamental principles that underlie their construction. With such a book illustrative of current practices in newspaper making, he can study more intelligently the newspapers themselves and can assimilate more completely the advice and information given by newspaper men in active service. Furthermore, such a book, by giving specific suggestions with examples of their application, serves as a guide to aid the student in overcoming his difficulties as he does his work from day to day. It is to furnish a handbook and guide of this kind that the present text-book has been prepared.

This book is adapted both for use in college classes in journalism and for study by persons interested in journalism who are not attending college. The needs of these two groups are not essentially different. Both desire to know the basic principles of newspaper writing and editing and to get the necessary training in the application of these fundamental principles to their own work. In each chapter, accordingly, explanation and exemplification are supplemented by material for practice work.

To formulate a large number of rules for the writing of news stories, the editing of copy, the writing of headlines, and other kinds of newspaper work, is plainly impossible, even if it were desirable. Methods of newspaper making during the last fifty years have undergone so constant and rapid a readjustment to new conditions in the transmission of news, in mechanical production, and in the sources of income, that only a few traditions have remained unchanged. The tireless effort to secure novelty and variety in present-day journalism prevents the news story or the headline from becoming absolutely fixed in form or style. Instead of attempting to formulate dogmatic rules and directions, the author has undertaken to analyze current methods of newspaper work with the purpose of showing the reasons for them and the causes which have produced them. The examples selected to illustrate these methods have been taken from newspapers in all parts of the country and are intended to represent the general practices now prevailing. For obvious reasons names and addresses in most of these stories have been changed. To retain the newspaper form as far as possible, the examples have been printed between rules in column width.

Inasmuch as this book is intended to prepare the student for the kind of work which he is likely to do during the first years of his newspaper experience, it does not consider editorial writing, book-reviewing, or musical and dramatic criticism. To discuss these subjects adequately would require more space than a handbook on reporting and editing permits.

It is assumed throughout this book that the student of journalism is familiar with the elementary principles of grammar and rhetoric, and has had sufficient training in composition to be able to express ideas in simple, correct English. Faults in such rudimentary matters as grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are not considered at all. No attention is given to diction or questions of good usage. All these matters are fully treated in numerous books on English composition.

In the discussion of the news story, an emphasis has been given to the “lead” that may seem disproportionate. This has been done in the belief that the rapidity with which newspapers are generally read makes the beginning the most important part of the story. The average reader gleans the significant facts of each piece of news from the headlines and the first paragraphs. He expects in the “lead” the “feature” as well as the gist of the news. To the student this problem of massing skillfully, in a compact and interesting form, the substance of his material, is a new one, and he must be shown all the varied possibilities of this treatment. The author has not been unmindful of the fact that efforts are being made to break away from the “gist-of-the-news” beginning, and has given examples of other forms. For stories in which entertainment rather than information is the purpose, beginnings that do not summarize may undoubtedly be used to advantage. In such stories the student must be shown how to arouse the reader’s interest and curiosity in the first sentences so that he will read further.

The function of the newspaper has been discussed at some length in order to call the student’s attention to the importance of the newspaper as an influence in a democratic government and to point out the significance of his own work in relation to society. An effort has been made to analyze the problems of newspaper making in order to show the fundamental issues involved. The purpose has been, not to settle these questions dogmatically, but to stimulate the student to think for himself.

“Newspaper English” has so long been regarded by many teachers of English as a term of reproach, and instruction in journalistic writing has been so recently introduced into the college curriculum, that some English instructors still question the value of systematic training of students in newspaper writing as a part of the teaching of English composition. Nevertheless, every teacher of English in the secondary schools and colleges recognizes the fact that one of the most serious weaknesses of present-day training in composition is the lack of a definite aim for the student in his writing, and a corresponding lack of interest on his part in doing work that has no real purpose. To report actual events for publication, either in a local newspaper or in a school paper, gives the student both material and purpose, and to that extent increases his interest and his desire to write well. If the application of the principles of English composition to newspaper writing and editing can be demonstrated to the student, as the author has attempted to do in this book, the student can undoubtedly be given valuable practice in these principles through systematic training in newspaper work.

“Every professor of journalism must write a textbook on journalism in order to justify his claim to his title,” was the facetious remark made at the first Conference of Teachers of Journalism. Until journalism has been taught in colleges and universities long enough to have developed generally accepted methods of instruction, the text-book produced by every teacher of the subject must be regarded, not as a demonstration of his claims to the title, but as a contribution to the development of methods of teaching based on his own experience. If this book is of assistance to those who aspire to become newspaper workers or to those who are undertaking to train students of journalism, it will have accomplished its purpose.

The author is indebted to the publishers of Collier’s Weekly, of the American Magazine, and of the Independent for permission to reprint material from these magazines. Acknowledgment is also due to the many newspapers throughout the country from which examples have been taken and to which due credit has been given whenever the “stories” thus reproduced have been important or distinctive in character.

The facsimile newspaper headings reproduced in this book represent styles of type used in newspaper offices throughout the country. These specimens are included by courtesy of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company of New York.

University of Wisconsin,
Madison, March 3, 1913.

CONTENTS

NEWSPAPER WRITING
AND EDITING

CHAPTER I

HOW A NEWSPAPER IS MADE

Newspaper Production. To furnish for a cent or two a fairly complete record of important events that take place in any corner of the world, editorial comment, market quotations, reviews of new books, critiques of plays and concerts, fashion hints, cooking recipes, cartoons, and illustrations, as well as advertisements of all kinds, would seem a stupendous, not to say impossible, task if it were not an everyday phenomenon. A single copy of a daily newspaper in a large city contains, exclusive of advertising, from 60,000 to 80,000 words, or as many as does the average novel. These metropolitan papers print from 100,000 to 900,000 copies each day, numbers far in excess of the editions of most successful novels. While it takes the novelist months to produce his work, and his publishers months to print it, the newspaper is made and printed in from one to ten editions within twenty-four hours.

The successful achievement of such an undertaking, day by day, requires extensive equipment and effective organization. The rapid production of a large edition demands many expensive machines to transform written matter quickly into type, and huge presses to print the papers at the highest speed. Furthermore, it makes necessary a large staff to gather and prepare news and other reading matter, a large force to put this material into type, to print it, and to distribute the papers, besides managers and clerks to carry on the many business transactions involved in so big an enterprise.

Newspaper Organization. Although in its main divisions the organization of newspaper publishing is essentially the same, the size of a paper determines to a considerable extent the number of employees and the degree of division of labor among them, as well as the character and the extent of the equipment. On large papers where many men are employed and many editions are printed daily, there needs must be considerable specialization in editing and reporting; while on small papers the size of the staff requires that each man perform a variety of tasks. Sometimes conditions of ownership or control, and on older papers office traditions, modify the usual duties and authority of different members of the staff.

No one form of organization that can be described in detail, therefore, will apply to all newspaper offices even when they are of the same relative size, but a composite type of organization for large newspapers may be explained to show the division of work.

Newspaper publishing consists of three distinct parts with three entirely different classes of workers: (1) the business management, (2) the mechanical force, (3) the editorial staff.

The Business Management. The business organization, as its name implies, has charge of the commercial side of newspaper publishing. From the financial point of view the purpose of the newspaper is to make enough money to maintain the paper and to pay dividends to the stockholders. The object of the business department is to sell as much advertising space and as many copies of each issue as it possibly can; and, on the other hand, to pay out for wages and expenses only so much as is necessary to keep the paper up to a standard that will insure a good circulation and enough advertising. In short, a newspaper company, regarded purely in the light of a business enterprise, is not essentially different from any manufacturing company that produces and sells a commodity.

The business department is organized with a business manager at its head, who has complete control of the finances of the paper, subject, of course, to the owner or board of directors of the company. Under him are: (1) the circulation manager, (2) the advertising manager, (3) the cashier. The circulation manager directs the work of subscription canvassers, the drivers and the assistants on the paper’s distributing wagons, the mailing clerks and helpers, and a force of office clerks and bookkeepers. In the advertising department are the advertising solicitors and the office clerks and bookkeepers. The cashier has assistants and a bookkeeper to aid him. The business office of the newspaper is frequently referred to as the “counting room.”

The Mechanical Force. The mechanical side of newspaper making is divided into three relatively distinct departments: (1) the composing room, where, under the direction of a foreman and a copy-cutter, the type is set up by compositors or is cast in linotype or monotype machines by operators, and where the type is arranged by make-up men in pages as it is to appear in print; (2) the stereotyping room, where these pages of type are used to make molds into which lead plates are cast by stereotypers under the direction of the foreman of the room; (3) the press-room, where the papers are printed, in charge of a superintendent with pressmen and machinists as his assistants. Attached to the composing room is the proof-reading department with a head proof-reader, several assistant readers, and as many copy-holders who read aloud the copy for the proof which is to be corrected.

The Editorial Staff. The writing and editing of a newspaper, with which this book is particularly concerned, is divided into two distinct parts: (1) the gathering, the writing, and the editing of the news; and (2) the interpreting of the news. The two branches are different in the kind of work involved, and are relatively independent in the organization of the office. To present clear, concise, accurate, timely, and interesting reports, or “stories” as they are called, of everything that is going on in the world of sufficient importance to be of interest to any considerable number of readers, is the aim of the news department. The more quickly, the more attractively, the more completely the news can be presented, the greater is considered the success of the newspaper from the point of view of the news staff. The editorials of a newspaper attempt to interpret and to explain the news, or to make the news the basis of argument upon issues growing out of questions of the day. The attitude taken by a newspaper on the questions at issue is determined by what is known as its “editorial policy.”

The editor-in-chief, under whom are one or more editorial writers, has charge of the editorial columns and determines the editorial policy, subject to whatever control of this policy the owner or directors desire to exercise. The editorial writers and the editor-in-chief confer daily to consider the attitude that the paper shall take in its editorials and to divide the work of writing them. Some of the editorials are written by men in other professions who are not on the regular staff, and often by such members of the news staff as the financial editor or the dramatic critic. Most of the editorials, however, are the work of the editorial writers.

The news staff is in charge of the managing editor, who is usually responsible directly to the owner or the directors. As aids the managing editor has the assistant managing editor, and the news editor, or the night editor, to take charge of “making up” the newspaper The gathering and writing of local news is in charge of the city editor and the night city editor, with an assistant city editor. The news of the state, the nation, and the world, as it comes by mail, telegraph, and telephone, is under the control of the telegraph editor. The city editor directs the reporters; the telegraph editor the correspondents. Particular kinds of news are collected and edited by persons in especially designated positions, such as the sporting editor, the society editor, the financial and market editor, the dramatic and musical editor, the real estate editor, the railroad editor, the marine editor, the labor editor, all of whom usually work under the direction of the managing editor. The special magazine sections of the Saturday or the Sunday issues are in charge of the magazine, or Sunday, editor. An exchange editor goes over all the newspapers received in exchange to clip and edit material worth reprinting. Cartoonists, artists, and photographers supply the materials for newspaper illustrations, or “cuts,” as they are called. A librarian has charge of the reference books and newspaper files, as well as of the collection of biographical sketches and portraits of prominent people known as the “morgue.”

All of the manuscript, or “copy,” is edited and is supplied with headlines at the copy desk in charge of a head copy-reader with a number of copy-readers as assistants. “Rewrite men” are often employed to take the facts of a story from another newspaper and rewrite them, or to receive material over the telephone from reporters and correspondents and write it up for publication. Unsatisfactory work of a reporter may be turned over to a rewrite man to be put in the desired form, for rewrite men must be able to take the raw material of the news furnished by others and turn it into a well-written news story.

Getting News into Print. The relation of all these departments to one another is best shown by following through the process by which a piece of news gets into print. The telegraph editor on a newspaper in the capital city of the state, for example, gets from an office telegraph operator, a typewritten dispatch signed by the paper’s correspondent in a city of a neighboring state to the effect that the attorney-general has dropped dead in the lobby of a hotel. The telegraph editor at once notifies the city editor so that he may assign reporters to get the local phases of the piece of news, or “to cover the local end of the story,” as the newspaper workers say. One reporter is sent to interview the members of the late attorney-general’s family; another is dispatched to the governor’s office for an interview with the governor on the deceased official; a third is asked to look up the statute concerning such an unexpected vacancy in the office; a fourth is assigned to find out the probable successor to the position.

After informing the city editor and the managing editor, the telegraph editor at once turns over the dispatch to the head copy-reader to have it edited and to have a headline written. Meanwhile one of the rewrite men is delegated to get a biographical sketch of the attorney-general from the office “morgue” and to write an obituary. The artist looks up the half-tone engraving, or “cut,” of the official in the “morgue” and selects an appropriate border or “frame” in which to put it. The editor-in-chief is informed of the attorney-general’s death so that he may make appropriate editorial comment. Meanwhile the telegraph editor has sent a telegram to the correspondent who furnished the first news of the event instructing him to “wire” five hundred words more giving all the particulars.

When the dispatch has been edited and a headline written by one of the copy-readers, the latter returns it to the head copy-reader, who glances over it and sends it in a pneumatic tube to the composing room. The tube delivers it at the copy-cutter’s desk. The copy-cutter glances at the sheet with the headline for the story, and then at the two pages of copy. The headline he sends by the copy distributor to the headline machine to be set up. The two pages of copy he cuts into three pieces or “takes” so that the story may be set up on three different linotype machines. If the copy of the whole story were given to one machine operator, it would take three times as long to get it into type.

Meanwhile some of the reporters have returned from their assignments. Each one reports what he has found to the city editor, and is told how long a story to write, and possibly what to emphasize in the beginning, or “lead.” As each story is finished it is turned over to the city editor, who glances over it and passes it on to the head copy-reader. Thence it goes through the same course as the first dispatch.

After the copy of the dispatch has been set up in type, it is taken to a small hand press, and several impressions called “galley proofs,” or “proofs,” are printed, or “pulled,” from the type. One of the proofs, with the original copy, goes to the proof-room to be compared with the copy and carefully corrected by the proof-readers. Another proof-sheet is sent to the managing editor, who is responsible for everything that goes into the paper; a third proof is delivered to the news editor who arranges, or “makes up,” the news stories on each page of the paper before it is printed. After the proof-readers have corrected the proof, and the editors have made any necessary changes in it, the proof-sheets are returned to the operators so that they may make the necessary alterations by resetting whatever is changed. From the type thus corrected a second set of proofs, called the “revise,” is printed and these are distributed to the editors as the first were. The type is then ready to be used in the process of printing the paper.

Half an hour or more before an edition is to be printed, the news editor gathers the proofs of the news stories that are to be put into that edition, and goes to the composing room to arrange this news on the several pages. The importance of the news of the attorney-general’s death would warrant its being given a prominent place on the first page. The most prominent position is the right-hand outside column. If there is no news of greater importance, the news editor directs the “make-up” men in the composing room to put the type of this story in the outside column of the first page “form.” The “form” consists of a “chase,” or steel frame, somewhat larger in inside dimensions than the page as it appears when printed. Into this “chase,” which rests upon a smooth iron-top table, the type is arranged between the brass or lead column rules which make the lines between the columns of type. The advertisements are placed in the forms under the direction of the advertising department just as the news matter is put in under the direction of the news editor, the page and position on the page usually having been stipulated by the advertiser in making a contract for a certain “position” for his “ad.” When each page is filled with type, the whole page is “locked” in the “form” by a series of screws or wedges (called “quoins”), so that the form may be handled without letting the type drop out. If the type falls out and gets mixed up, it is said to be “pied,” and the mixture is called “pi.”

The forms, after being locked, are taken to the stereotyping room where a paper mold, or matrix, commonly called a “mat,” is made of each page. These matrices, bent in semicircular form, are placed in a casting box into which molten lead is poured to make the semicircular lead plates to be used in printing. In large offices the casting of these plates is done by placing the matrix in an automatic stereotyping machine, known as the autoplate, which turns out completed plates in less than a minute. After the plates have been trimmed and planed on the back to make them exactly the right thickness, they are ready to be put on the press.

These semicircular lead plates, which are thus cast in exact reproduction of the page forms of type, are fastened on the cylinders of the press. As the cylinders revolve, ink rollers touch the surface of the plates and ink the projecting letters. The paper from a large roll, as it passes between the cylinders and the blanket rolls which press the paper against the inked plates on the cylinders, takes up the ink and thus has printed on it the impression of the page of type. Besides printing the pages, the press cuts, folds, and counts the papers so that the complete newspaper comes from the press ready for sale or delivery.

As soon as the newspapers are printed, they are turned over to the circulation department for distribution. Some copies go to the mailing room to be labeled with little orange-colored address slips and to be put into the mail sacks, in which they are taken to the post office or mail trains. Other copies are sold to waiting newsboys, and still others are taken in the company’s wagon to news stands and carriers all over the city.

Despite the number and variety of these details in the process of newspaper making, the news of the death of the attorney-general would reach the readers in a comparatively short time after the event occurred. In half an hour from the time the last piece of copy is written, a complete newspaper containing it is printed and ready for distribution.

Speed of Production. The invention and the perfection of various mechanical devices used in newspaper making have made possible this great speed. In the front rank of ingenious pieces of machinery that have added greatly to rapidity in newspaper publishing stands the linotype. This machine, which casts solid lines of type, or “slugs” as they are called, has increased four-fold the speed of production and has made possible much larger editions. The monotype, which casts each type separately, has also proved a valuable addition to the means of turning “copy” into type quickly. For the casting of semicircular stereotype plates the autoplate machine is an important time-saving device. The time required for “running off” an edition is now reduced from two- to five-fold by making duplicate sets of these stereotype plates and by putting them on from two to five large presses so that these presses print the same edition simultaneously.

Improvements in newspaper-printing machinery have resulted in huge presses that take paper from large rolls and turn out completed newspapers printed in one or two colors, cut, folded, and counted, ready for distribution. They can be adjusted to print papers from four to forty-eight pages in size, and can produce twelve-page papers at the rate of 144,000 copies an hour. Magazine sections and “comics” are printed in four colors, usually yellow, red, blue, and black, on large presses under conditions practically the same as those just described.

In order to insert the latest news without taking the time necessary to make up new forms, prepare new matrices, and cast new stereotype plates, a device called the “fudge” is employed. After the first page form of a late edition has been used to make a matrix, about six inches of type is taken out from two columns in the lower left hand corner or the upper right hand corner of the page, and a new matrix and a stereotype plate are made in which this corner is a blank. This new plate with the blank space is then put on the press in place of the regular first page plate. As fast as late news is received, it is set up on linotype lines, or “slugs,” and these lines are clamped on a small cylinder in the press. When the paper runs through the press, these linotype lines on the cylinder are printed, often in red ink, in the space on the front page left unprinted by the blank in the plate. To save more time with this device, a telegraph wire is run to the press room and a linotype machine is installed beside it, so that the latest news can be cast on linotype “slugs” and put on the “fudge” cylinder as fast as the reports are received by telegraph. Results of baseball games, races, and other sporting events can be printed to advantage by means of the “fudge.”

Recently a mailing machine has been introduced that folds, wraps, and addresses each copy separately as fast as papers are fed into it.

In no other process of manufacture that is as complicated as newspaper making, it is safe to say, has equal speed of production been attained.

Handling a Big Story. The scene in a metropolitan newspaper office following the receipt of the first news of the “Titanic” disaster, as graphically portrayed by an editor of a New York morning paper, illustrates the conditions under which important news, received late, is hurried into print.[1] The account in part is as follows:

At 1:20 a.m. Monday, April 15, [1912], the cable editor opened an envelope of the Associated Press that had stamped on its face “Bulletin.” This is what he read:

Cape Race, N. F., Sunday night, April 14.—At 10:25 o’clock tonight the White Star Line steamship “Titanic” called “C. Q. D.” to the Marconi station here, and reported having struck an iceberg. The steamer said that immediate assistance was required.

The cable editor looked at his watch. It was 1:20 and lacked just five minutes of the hour when the mail edition goes to press.

“Boy!” he called sharply.

An office boy was at his side in a moment.

“Send this upstairs; tell them the head is to come; double column, and tell the night editor to rip open two columns on the first page for a one-stick dispatch of the ‘Titanic’ striking an iceberg and sinking.”

Every one in the office was astir in a moment and came over to see the cable editor write on a sheet of copy paper the following head [which he indicated was to be set up in this form]:

TITANIC SINKING

IN MID-OCEAN; HIT

GREAT ICEBERG

“Boy!” he called again; but it was not necessary—a boy in a newspaper office knows news the first time he sees it.

“Tell them that’s the head for the ‘Titanic.’”

Then he wrote briefly this telegraphic dispatch, and as he did so he said to another office boy at his side: “Tell the operator to[Pg 13] shut off that story he is taking and get me a clear wire to Montreal.”

This is what he wrote to the Montreal correspondent, probably at work at his desk in a Montreal newspaper office at that hour:

Cape Race says White Star Liner “Titanic” struck iceberg, is sinking and wants immediate assistance. Rush every line you can get. We will hold open for you until 3:30.

“Give that to the operator and find out if we caught the mail on that ‘Titanic’ dispatch,” he said quickly to the boy.

In a moment the boy returned.

“O.K. on both,” he said.

The city editor, who had just put on his coat previous to going away for the night, took it off. The night city editor, at the head of the copy-desk, where all the local copy (as a reporter’s story is called) is read, and the telegraph editor stood together, joined later by the night editor, for the mail edition had left the composing room for the stereotypers and then to the pressroom and from thence to be scattered wherever on the globe newspapers find readers.

The “Titanic” staff was immediately organized, for at that hour most of the staff were still at work. The city editor took the helm.

“Get the papers for April 11—all of them,” he said to the head office boy, “and then send word to the art department to quit everything to make three cuts, which I shall send right down.”

Then to the night city editor: “Get up a story of the vessel itself; some of the stuff they sent us the other day that we did not use, and I ordered it put in the envelope. Play up the mishap at the start. Get up a passenger list story and an obituary of Smith, her commander.”

There was no mention of Smith in the dispatch, but city editors retain such things in their heads for immediate use, and this probably explains in a measure why they hold down their job; also having, it might be added, executive judgment, which is sometimes right.

“Assign somebody to the White Star Line and see what they’ve got.”

The night city editor went back to the circular table where the seven or eight men who read reporters’ copy were gathered.

“Get up as much as you can of the passenger list of the ‘Titanic.’ She is sinking off Newfoundland,” he said briefly to one.

And to another: “Write me a story of the ‘Titanic,’ the new White Star liner, on her maiden trip, telling of her mishap with the ‘New York’ at the start.”

And to another: “Write me a story of Captain E. J. Smith.”

[Pg 14]

Then to a reporter sitting idly about: “Get your hat and coat quick; go down to the White Star Line office and telephone all you can about the ‘Titanic’ sinking off Newfoundland.”

Then to another reporter: “Get the White Star Line on the phone and find out what they’ve got of the sinking of the ‘Titanic.’ Find out who is the executive head in New York; his address and telephone number.”

And in another part of the room the city editor was saying to the office boy: “Get me all the ‘Titanic’ pictures you have and a photo or cut of Captain E. J. Smith.”

Two boys instantly went to work, for the photos of men are kept separate from the photographs of inanimate things. The city editor selected three:

“Tell the art department to make a three-column cut of the ‘Titanic,’ a two-column of the interior, and a two-column of Smith.”

In the mean time the Associated Press bulletins came in briefly.

Paragraph by paragraph the cable editor was sending the story to the composing room. What was going on upstairs every one knew. They were sidetracking everything else, and the copy-cutter in the composing room was sending out the story in “takes,” as they are called, of a single paragraph to each compositor. His blue pencil marked each individual piece of copy with a letter and number, so that when the dozen or so men setting up the story had their work finished, the story might be put together consecutively.

“Tell the operator,” said the cable editor again to the office boy, “to duplicate that dispatch I gave him to our Halifax man. Get his name out of the correspondents’ book.”

“Who wrote that story of the ‘“Carmania” in the Icefield’?” said the night city editor to the copy-reader who “handled” the homecoming of the “Carmania,” which arrived Sunday night and the story of which was already in the mail edition of the paper before him. The copy-reader told him. He called the reporter to his desk.

“Take that story,” said the night city editor, “and give us a column on it. Don’t rewrite the story; add paragraphs here and there to show the vast extent of the icefield. Make it straight copy, so that nothing in that story will have to be reset. You have just thirty minutes to catch the edition. Write it in twenty.”

“Get the passenger lists of the ‘Olympic’ and the ‘Baltic,’” was the assignment given to another reporter, all alert waiting for their names to be called, every man awake at the switch.

In the mean time, the story from the Montreal man was being ticked off; on another wire Halifax was coming to life.

“Men,” said the city editor, “we have just five minutes left to make the city [edition]. Jam it down tight.”

Already the three cuts had been made, the telegraph editor was handling the Montreal story, his assistant the Halifax end, and[Pg 15] the cable editor was still editing the Associated Press bulletins and writing a new head to tell the rest of the story that the additional details brought. The White Star Line man had a list of names of passengers of the “Titanic” and found that they numbered 1300, and that she carried a crew of 860.

In the mean time proofs of all the “Titanic” matter that had been set were coming to the desk of the managing editor, in charge over all, but giving special attention to the editorial matter. All his suggestions went through the city editor, and on down the line, but he himself went from desk to desk overlooking the work.

“Time’s up,” said the city editor; but before he finished, the cable editor cried to the boy: “Let the two-column head stand and tell them to add this head:”

At 12:27 this Morning Blurred Signals by Wireless Told of Women Being Put off in Lifeboats—Three Lines Rushing to Aid of 1300 Imperiled Passengers and Crew of 860 Men.

“Did we catch it?” asked the cable editor of the boy standing at the composing-room tube.

“We did,” he said triumphantly.

“One big pull for the last [edition], men,” said the city editor. “We are going in at 3:20. Let’s beat the town with a complete paper.”

The enthusiasm was catching fire. Throughout the office it was a bedlam of noise—clicking typewriters, clicking telegraph instruments, and telephone bells ringing added to the whistle of the tubes that lead from the city room to the composing room, the pressroom, the stereotype room and the business office, the latter, happily, not in use, but throughout the office men worked; nobody shouted, no one lost his head; men were flushed, but the cool, calm, deliberate way in which the managing editor smoked his cigar helped much to relieve the tension.

“Three-fifteen, men,” said the city editor, admonishingly; “every line must be up by 3:20. Five minutes more.”

The city editor walked rapidly from desk to desk.

“All up,” said the night city editor, “and three minutes to the good.”

At the big table stood the city editor, cable editor, night city editor, and managing editor. They were looking over the completed headline that should tell the story to the world.

“That will hold ’em, I guess,” said the city editor, and the head went upstairs.

The men waited about and talked and smoked. Bulletins came in, but with no important details. Going to press at 3:20 meant a wide circulation. At 4:30 the Associated Press sent “Good-night,” but at that hour the presses had been running uninterruptedly for almost an hour.

SUGGESTIONS

1. Find out all that you can about the organization of the paper on which you are employed.
2. Know the names, at least, of the heads of all the departments.
3. Learn as much as possible about advertising and subscription rates and methods.
4. Familiarize yourself with the details of all the mechanical processes connected with newspaper making.
5. Interest yourself in the welfare of the paper as if it were your own property.

CHAPTER II

NEWS AND NEWS VALUES

Problems of the News. As news is the sine qua non of the newspaper, the problem of newspaper making resolves itself into the three questions: What is news? Where and how is news to be obtained? and, How is news to be presented to the reader? The first question involves the definition of news and the determination of its value, the second concerns the gathering of news, and the third has to do with structure and style in the writing of news.

What is News? Although every good newspaper worker recognizes news at once, and almost instinctively decides upon its value, most of them find it difficult to express in brief form what news is and what determines its value. In a symposium recently conducted by an American magazine,[2] a number of editors throughout the country undertook to define news, giving the following definitions:—

News is whatever your readers want to know about.

Anything that enough people want to read is news, provided it does not violate the canons of good taste and the laws of libel.

News is anything that happens in which people are interested.

News is anything that people will talk about; the more it will excite comment, the greater its value.

News is accurate and timely intelligence of happenings, discoveries, opinions, and matters of any sort which affect or interest the readers.

Whatever concerns public welfare, whatever interests or instructs the individual in any of his relations, activities, opinions, properties, or personal conduct, is news.

News is everything that happens, the inspiration of happenings, and the result of such happenings.

News is the essential facts concerning any happening, event, or idea that possesses human interest; that affects or has an influence on human life or happiness.

News is based on people, and is to be gauged entirely on how it interests other people.

News comprises all current activities which are of general human interest, and the best news is that which interests the most readers.

The essentials of news, as brought out by these definitions are: (1) that it must be of interest to the readers; (2) that it includes anything and everything that has any such interest; and, (3) that it must be new, current, timely. Furthermore, these definitions emphasize the fact that the value of news is determined (1) by the number of people that it interests, and (2) by the extent to which it interests them. The composite of these definitions, therefore, would be: News is anything timely that interests a number of people; and the best news is that which has the greatest interest for the greatest number.

By the application of these tests to each event, idea, or activity, the reporter can determine for himself what is news and what is not, as well as what value a piece of news possesses. He must ask himself concerning each piece of news that he gets: “Is it new and timely?” “How many readers will it interest?” “Has it great interest for a large number?”

Many times an incident seems, at first glance, to possess little that will interest, but, on closer examination, reveals some phase that is of considerable news value. Keen observation and insight to see the significant aspect of a person, an event, an idea, often leads to the discovery of news that may escape the notice of less acute observers. The reporter must find for himself those aspects of the day’s events which are of the greatest interest to the greatest number.

Timeliness in News. Freshness, timeliness, newness is one vital qualification for all news. “Yesterday” has almost ceased to exist for the newspaper man. Even “to-day” has become “this morning,” “this noon,” “this afternoon.” “Up to date” has given way to “up to the minute.” Improved mechanical equipment, which makes possible lightning speed in turning news stories into a complete newspaper in less than half an hour, has made possible a degree of freshness in the news that would seem marvelous were it not a daily, in fact, almost an hourly phenomenon. Competition among newspapers, and the publication of frequent editions, increase the necessity for the latest news. The reporter must catch this spirit of getting the news while it is news, and of getting it into print before it loses its freshness.

What Interests Readers. How general will be the interest in any activity, idea, or event is determined by what the average person likes to hear, read, or see. Whatever gives him pleasure or satisfaction, interests him. Consideration of the fundamental bases of news values, therefore, involves a determination of the general classes of things that give pleasure and satisfaction to the average individual.

The Extraordinary. The unusual, the extraordinary, the curious, wherever found, attracts attention and is interesting because it is a departure from the normal order of life. Humdrum routine whets the appetite for every break in the monotony of regularity. So long as the daily life of the average man conforms to the generally accepted business and social standards and is not affected by any unusual circumstances, it has little interest for his fellow men. As soon as he violates the usual order, or is the victim of such violation, his departure from the level of conformity becomes a matter of greater or less interest according to the extent of the departure. Because hundreds of thousands of bank employees are honest, the dishonesty of one of them is news. So all crime, as a violation of established law and order, is news, unless, as unfortunately is sometimes the case, it becomes common enough to cease to be unusual. Every notable achievement in any field of activity, because it rises above the level, is news. A record aeroplane flight, an heroic action, the discovery of a new serum, the invention of a labor-saving device, the finding of remains of a buried city, the completion of a great bridge,—all are sufficiently out of the ordinary to attract attention. Accidents and unexpected occurrences, because they break in upon the usual course of events, are matters of news. The thousands of trains that reach their destination safely are as nothing compared to one that jumps the track. Millions of dollars’ worth of property that remains unharmed from day to day does not interest the average man, but the loss of some of it by fire, wind, or flood immediately lifts the part affected out of the mass and gives it interest to hundreds of persons in no way concerned in the loss. It is not the crimes and misfortunes of others that give the reader pleasure; it is the fact that these are departures from the normal course that makes them satisfy his desire for something different from the usual round of life.

In almost every event the good newspaper man can find something that is out of the ordinary, and by giving due emphasis to this unusual phase can give interest to what might otherwise seem commonplace. What that something will be is determined by the reporter’s or the editor’s appreciation of what will appeal to the average reader as the most marked departure from the customary and the expected. If, as in a recent accident, the front trucks of a trolley car jump the track and upset a baby carriage, throwing out the baby; and if the baby alights unharmed on a pillow that was tossed out of the carriage by the collision, such peculiar circumstances the reporter knows will appeal to most readers as the interesting feature of the accident. That a sneak thief should be caught as he was escaping from a house with a few dollars’ worth of plunder, will attract the average reader much less than the fact that he jumped through a plate-glass window in his effort to escape, or that he gained access to the house by wearing a Salvation Army uniform, or that he carried away a pie as part of his booty. How a man lost a purse containing $50 is scarcely worthy of notice, but how, while looking for his purse, he found a diamond ring, is strange enough to make good reading. A lecture at an agricultural society meeting on the advantages to the farmers of the state of raising barley would not ordinarily be considered of much interest to city readers, but an interruption of the lecture by an advocate of prohibition with the charge that to urge barley growing is to aid the brewing interests, might make a good news story. The character and the extent of the departure from the usual, considered from the point of view of most of the readers, measure the news value of any phase of an event that is out of the ordinary.

Struggles for Supremacy. Struggles for supremacy, also, have an almost universal appeal. Competition in business, contest in sport, rivalry in politics, are based on the love of fighting to win. Strikes and lockouts, as part of the contest between labor and capital, appeal to this interest. So does the fight to secure control or monopoly in any part of the commercial field. The enthusiasm manifested over baseball, football, boxing, racing, and other sports grows out of the love of contest for supremacy. In political warfare the interest of many is largely in the struggle for victory, with the power that victory brings, rather than any results that will affect the individual directly. Accounts of all these forms of fighting to win make good news stories.

“Human Interest.” The fellow feeling that makes all the world akin, the sympathy that binds together men who have little in common, is the basis of interest which we have in the actions, thoughts, and feelings of others. The “human interest” which newspaper and magazine editors demand, involves emphasis on the personal element in the affairs of life. The characters that appear in news stories, fiction, or special articles must be made to appeal to the readers as real flesh and blood men and women. The human side of events is what the average reader wants. How one man is saved by a new serum is read with more attention than is a discussion of the therapeutic value of the serum. The privations of an arctic explorer in reaching the pole have almost as much interest for most readers as the discovery of the pole itself. The experiences of strikers and their families are read by many who know little and care less about the economic conditions that produce the strike. So vitally do we feel ourselves concerned with the fate of our fellow men, even when we do not know them personally, that accounts of human life lost or endangered are read with great eagerness. “Many lives lost!” is the cry that the newsboy knows will sell the most papers. From the point of view of the newspaper the greater the number of lives thus involved in the event, the better is the news.

The Appeal of Children. The unusual appeal that children make gives news of their activities especial value. Whenever a little child plays a part in an event, it is pretty sure to be the best feature of the story. The letter which a small girl writes to the mayor asking that her pet dog be restored to her from the dog pound, will take a place in the day’s news beside the interview with the mayor outlining his policies of city government for the following two years. A child witness holds the attention of the entire court room and is “featured” in the story of a trial, partly, no doubt, because the appearance of a child in these circumstances is unusual, but largely because of our interest in children. Just as a child’s plea to a judge saves its worthless father or drunken mother from a prison sentence, so the story of that plea will move every reader. Anecdotes and sayings of children readily find a place in newspapers and magazines.

Interest in Animals. The popular interest in animals, wild or tame, in captivity or at large, makes news stories about them good reading. Whether we are attracted by the almost human intelligence that animals often display, or by their distinctly animal traits, we read of their doings with keen interest. Anecdotes of animal pets if well told are always readable. The fascination which the “zoo” or the circus menagerie has for most people is akin to the pleasure given by anecdotes of animals in captivity. Every city editor knows the value of the zoölogical garden as a source of effective stories when other fields fail. Wild animals at large, particularly when they come into any relation with men, afford good material for the reporter or correspondent.

Amusements and Hobbies. The favorite pleasures and amusements of readers form another large group of activities that must be considered in measuring the value of news. Besides the contest element in sports that interests the spectator, there is the attraction of athletics for the players. Golf, tennis, automobiling, and similar activities furnish news that is read by those who engage in these diversions. Accounts of the theatre, of concerts, and of all forms of amusements are read by the thousands who patronize these entertainments. Pastimes and hobbies, such as amateur photography, book-collecting, fishing and hunting, canoeing and sailing, whist and chess, have enough devotees to give value to news of such avocations. Here again the number of readers to whom such news appeals determines the space and the prominence that it is worth.

Degree of Readers’ Interest. Persons, places, or things that go to make up news excite a degree of interest proportional to (1) the reader’s familiarity with them, (2) their own importance and prominence, (3) the closeness of their relation to the reader’s personal affairs.

Local Interest. Local events interest readers because they know the places and often the persons concerned. Local news, accordingly, takes precedence over news from elsewhere of equal or greater importance as measured by the general standards of news value. Interest in most news stories may be said to vary inversely in proportion to the distance between the place of the event described and the place where the paper is published. Just as the splash is greatest where a stone strikes the water, the ripples growing less and less marked as the force of the shock spreads out over the pond, so the impression made by an occurrence grows less and less the farther one goes from the scene of action. We read more eagerly the account of a small fire in a building that we pass every day than the dispatch telling of a fire that wiped out a whole town two thousand miles away. The arrest of a man for speeding his automobile will cause more comment among his friends than the capture of a gang of automobile bandits that has terrorized another city. Local phases, or “local ends,” as they are called, of events that take place some distance away quite overshadow in interest more important phases of the event itself. Every effort is made in the newspaper to bring events, ideas, and activities elsewhere into some local relation.

Interest in the Prominent. The interest which all readers have in what is familiar to them extends to persons, places, and things that they may not know personally but that they recognize as important or prominent. They like to read about men and women who are leaders in social, business, or political activities in the city, the state, the nation, or anywhere in the world, even though these persons exist for them only in name. A high position itself gives added importance to news concerning the person who occupies it, although many readers may not have heard of him before. Thus, in order to appeal to this general interest in the doings of persons of position, some less scrupulous reporters and editors describe the characters in their news stories as “prominent,” “well-known,” “a college graduate,” “a beautiful young society girl,” when the facts do not warrant it. Personages who are well known do not need such introduction; their names alone serve to identify them. The value of news concerning a person may be said to vary in direct proportion to his prominence. A slight accident to a candidate for the presidency of the United States attracts much more attention than a serious one to a candidate for Congress. A story of the wedding of the daughter of a multi-millionaire has thousands of readers because of the prominence of her father, whereas the account of the wedding of the corner grocer’s daughter attracts only a small number who know the families. The daily life of the great affords daily pleasure to the humble.

Places that readers have often heard of, but in many cases have never seen, such as New York, Paris, Washington, Coney Island, Niagara Falls, possess an attraction that makes news from them the more interesting even though it may consist of no more than gossip and trivial happenings. Well-known places as the setting for events give added importance, therefore, to the news value of these events. Institutions, such as universities of national reputation, the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Institute, the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Salvation Army, because they are generally known, likewise attract attention to news involving them. Familiar names of great ocean steamships, of large commercial companies, and of important railroad systems, increase the news value of stories in which they appear. Size and prominence, then, of places and things, like importance and prominence of persons, determine news values.

Home and Business Interests. The most vital concerns of both men and women, however, are their business and their home, their prosperity and their happiness. Whatever in the daily round of events affects these interests most directly will get their closest attention. Upon this principle depends the news value of many newspaper stories. Stock brokers and investors read the stock market reports; buyers and farmers, the produce and live stock quotations; owners and agents of real estate, the records of transfers and mortgages; business men generally, commercial and industrial news, because of the relation of such news to their own business affairs. A marked rise or fall in the price of butter, eggs, meat, or other staple articles of food concerns not only the dealers but housewives and other purchasers of such commodities. Announcement of the proposed construction of a new trolley line appeals to readers whose transportation facilities or property are affected. Income tax legislation, parcel post, adjustments of railroad rates, state or federal supreme court decisions, the tariff, and other political and economic problems, usually interest the average reader in proportion as he thinks that they will affect him and his business. For most women readers home-making and fashions are of vital concern. Besides matters pertaining to the cost of living, which affect men and women alike, pure food laws and their enforcement, schools, the health and welfare of children, the servant problem, the milk and the water supplies, as well as the latest styles of dress,—all come very close to the everyday lives of women, who constitute no small part of the number of newspaper readers. Incidental concerns of both men and women readers, such as organizations to which they belong, general movements with which they are connected, or the social life of which they are a part, give interest for them to news concerning these activities. News values, therefore, are measured by the extent to which news affects directly the lives of readers; the greater the effect and the larger the number of readers affected, the better the news.

Combination of Interests. If one event possesses several of these different kinds of interest it is very good news, because of the greater number of readers to whom it appeals and because of the stronger appeal that it makes. Thus, for example, the “Titanic” disaster was extremely unusual in that the largest ocean liner on its first trip was sunk by an iceberg while proceeding at a high rate of speed on a clear night. Greater still was its interest because of the very large number of human lives involved. Added to this was the fact that many of the passengers were prominent. The result was that news of the disaster was read with the greatest eagerness by all classes everywhere in this country as well as abroad. The combination of sources of interest and the greater degree of interest that results must be taken into consideration in measuring the final value of news.

SUGGESTIONS

1. Ask yourself concerning every piece of information, How many readers will it interest? How much will it interest the average reader? Is it really new and timely?
2. Examine every phase of an event or idea for what will be of greatest interest to the greatest number.
3. Look always for what will appeal to the average reader as most unusual, curious, remarkable.
4. Consider the things that give most persons great pleasure and satisfaction.
5. Don’t overlook the “human interest” element in the day’s events.
6. Remember that a good fight interests many, whether it is in politics, business, or sport.
7. Don’t neglect children in the news; though small they make a big appeal.
8. Keep on the look-out for good stories of animals.
9. Provide reading for men and women with hobbies.
10. Measure the value of your news on the basis of its local interest.
11. Remember that readers are most interested in persons and places that they know.
12. Consider the news value given by the importance and prominence of persons and things.
13. Bring your news as close as possible to the reader’s home and business.
14. Sharpen your “nose for news” on the grindstone of experience.

CHAPTER III

GETTING THE NEWS

The Problem of News Gathering. The mystery of newspaper making, to the uninitiated, is how editors and reporters find out everything that happens and how they get it into print in a very short time. It seems strange to the average person that when an accident occurs in the block in which he lives, the first news of it often reaches him through the newspaper. The apparent omnipresence, not to say omniscience, of the reporter leads to the not unnatural assumption that the news gatherer walks about the city waiting Micawber-like for “something to turn up.” The size of the staff of reporters that would be required to maintain a patrol of the streets would approximate that of the police force, and would bankrupt the most prosperous newspaper. Such a system is not only impossible but quite unnecessary. News gathering is really no mystery at all, but merely a good example of efficient organization.

In organizing its news collecting, the newspaper only takes advantage of information filed for various official purposes by many different persons in no way connected with the newspaper. Policemen, firemen, sheriffs, coroners, and practically all officials of local, state, and national governments, as well as doctors, lawyers, and merchants are all unintentionally serving as reporters of news. The public records in all public or private offices are the reports which these men, many times quite unconsciously, furnish for the newspapers. What the news editors do is to see that a careful watch is maintained by their reporters at all places where news is thus recorded so that they may select whatever part of it is of interest to their readers.

News Sources. The places where news is recorded, not primarily for the newspapers but really to their great advantage, and the kinds of news to be found at each place are indicated by the following list of news sources:—

News “Runs.” To get all the news that develops at each of these and many other similar places, the city editor divides the news sources into “runs” or “beats,” and details a reporter to each “run.” The reporter assigned to get or “cover” the news of police headquarters is said to have the “police run”; another assigned to the city hall has the “city hall run,” or is “city hall reporter”; one who gets the news of the child welfare movement, of social centers, benevolent organizations, etc., is said to have the “uplift run”; another is on the “hotel run.” To cover adequately these news sources, the reporter visits each office on his run from one to six times a day, examining records, interviewing officials, and chatting with secretaries and clerks. The number of times that he visits an office and the length of time that he stays are determined approximately by the amount and value of the news likely to be obtained.

As the reporter is held responsible for all the news of the places on his “run,” he must not let anything escape his notice, because a keener, quicker-witted man on the same “run” for a rival paper may get what he misses. When a reporter obtains a piece of news that reporters on other papers do not get, he is said to have a “scoop” or “beat,” and the unsuccessful paper and its reporters are said to have been “scooped.”

City News Associations. In large cities, like New York and Chicago, the gathering of all the official or routine news is done by a central news association which furnishes each paper that belongs to the association or which pays for its services, with a mimeographed copy of every news story that its reporters secure in covering all the usual runs. By this method each paper is saved the expense of providing for the scores of runs necessary in a large city in order to cover adequately all the news sources each day. When the city editor gets a news bulletin or a complete story from the news association, he can have it rewritten or can send out one of his reporters if he desires to have the event more fully covered. Such a system of local news gathering makes possible a staff of reporters relatively small as compared with the size of the city. Reporters employed by the city news association work under conditions practically the same as those in a newspaper office. Inasmuch as the stories that a news association reporter writes are edited in at least half a dozen newspaper offices by different editors and copy-readers, the reporter has the advantage of seeing how various papers treat the same news story.

Assignments. In organizing news gathering, the city editor and his assistants keep a “future” book or file with a page or compartment for each day in the year. Into this are placed, under the appropriate day, all notes, clippings, and suggestions regarding future news possibilities. If, for example, on December 10, the state legislature passes a law in regard to the size of berry boxes, to take effect on March 1 of the following year, the city editor puts a clipping of the dispatch from the state capital telling of this action, or a note recording the fact, into the compartment or page labeled February 25, so that a week before March 1, he may assign one of his reporters to find out from wholesale commission dealers, berry-crate manufacturers, and the inspector of weights and measures, what steps are to be taken to carry out the provisions of the law. A similar news record is kept by the telegraph and state editors covering future events in their fields, so that correspondents may be given instructions and advice.

The city editor also has an assignment book or sheet on which is entered every important news possibility for the day, with the name of the reporter assigned to cover it, and with any information or suggestions that the editor wants to give the reporter. When the reporter arrives at the office to begin his day’s work, or when he reports to the office by telephone, he gets his assignments for the day. These assignments are usually connected with his run, so that while he is on his daily round of news gathering he may get in addition the special news assigned to him.

“Covering” Important Events. To secure an adequate report of an important event, such as a state political convention, a visit of the President of the United States, a serious crime, or a wide-spread flood, the city editor arranges the work of the various members of his staff so that every important phase of the event will be “covered.” On the occasion of a day’s visit of the president, for example, one reporter is assigned to follow the chief executive about all day from the time he arrives until he leaves, and to write the general story of his visit. Another is detailed to report his arrival, the ovation given him, and possibly the short speech that he makes in response. A third is told to “cover” the reception tendered by the Merchants and Manufacturers Club; a fourth to report the luncheon given for him at the City Club; and a fifth who can write shorthand to get a verbatim report of his speech at the Coliseum in the afternoon. Practically every event that can be anticipated is provided for in advance by the city editor, and to that extent is easier to handle than the unexpected ones.

When Big News “Breaks.” Important events that occur unexpectedly are the real test of the editor’s ability to organize his staff quickly and effectively. What is involved in arranging to get all phases of a big news story is shown by the manner in which such an event as the attempted assassination of Mayor Gaynor of New York on August 9, 1910, was handled by the New York papers. The following summary of an account given by one of the city editors illustrates the methods employed.[3]

The first news of the attempt to assassinate the mayor came at 9:30 A.M. in the form of a news association bulletin which read:

Mayor Gaynor was shot this morning while on the deck of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse in Hoboken. It is rumored he is dead.

The city editor on a morning paper at once got in touch with as many of his reporters as he could reach on the telephone. The first three reporters that he telephoned to were told the substance of the bulletin and were sent to Hoboken to get the details.

The second bulletin from the news association, received a few minutes after the first, was as follows:

The mayor was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, Hoboken.

As soon as another reporter was available, the city editor told him to go to St. Mary’s Hospital to see the doctors and to report the result at once. The fifth reporter was sent to find Mrs. Gaynor at her city home or at her country house, as the city editor knew that she was not accompanying the mayor on his trip abroad.

The third news association bulletin, or “flash,” gave these facts concerning the assassin:

The man who shot the mayor has been arrested. His name is James J. Gallagher. He lives at No. 440 Third Ave.

The city editor thereupon gave a reporter this assignment. “Go up there; get all you can about him. Get a picture. Find out to what political party he belongs. Run him to the ground and phone me later; I may be able to give you something additional.” To another reporter the city editor said: “Gallagher is to be arraigned in the police headquarters in Hoboken; go over there quickly.”

The next bulletin opened up a new phase of the subject, the motive for the crime:

Gallagher was a night watchman in the dock department until July 1, when he was discharged from the city employ.

After the reporter who had been sent out to get the history of Gallagher telephoned that Gallagher had been a disgruntled employee of the city who had been constantly writing letters of complaint to his superiors, the city editor assigned a reporter to get the facts, saying: “Gallagher was a chronic kicker. Go down to the Department of Docks and to the Civil Service Commission and get copies of all the correspondence.”

A reporter was sent to see John Purroy Mitchel, the acting mayor, another to find out the city charter provisions regarding a possible vacancy in the office of mayor under such circumstances. A rewrite man was told to get from the office collection of biographical sketches, or “morgue,” the material on file concerning the life of the mayor and to write an obituary. A tip by telephone from a man who had once employed Gallagher to the effect that he had often done strange, uncanny things, led to a reporter’s being sent to get further particulars from this informant.

The complete list of assignments as they appeared on the city editor’s sheet was as follows, each being preceded by the name of the reporter detailed to cover that particular phase of the event: (1) Main story of Gaynor shooting, (2) Interviews on board the Kaiser Wilhelm, (3) Gallagher on board the Kaiser Wilhelm, (4) Gallagher, the man, and his correspondence, (5) Gaynor at St. Mary’s Hospital, (6) The arraignment of Gallagher and his plans, (7) Mrs. Gaynor and family, (8) John Purroy Mitchel, the acting mayor, (9) City Hall, (10) What the charter says, with interviews, (11) Obituary of Gaynor, (12) The strange, uncanny things Gallagher did.

Getting the Facts. A large part of news gathering consists of getting information from persons by asking questions. To ask questions that will elicit the desired facts most effectively is not so easy as it seems. Most persons, although not unwilling to give information, are not particularly interested in doing so, and in replying do not discriminate between what is news and what is not. Tact and skill are necessary to get many persons to tell what they know. A stranger who insists on asking questions is very naturally regarded with suspicion. Even when it becomes known that the stranger is a newspaper reporter, he is not always cordially received. Often he finds that it is easier to get the facts when his identity as a reporter is revealed. Nevertheless, there are not infrequent occasions when all the skill of an astute lawyer examining a witness is required to get the desired information. Reporters should never hesitate to ask tactfully as many questions as are necessary, and to persist until they get what they want.

The way in which the reporter works in gathering together the various phases of an event before he is ready to write the story is best shown by an example. The city editor, let us say, receives a bulletin to the effect that an unknown, well-dressed man of about sixty years has been seriously injured by falling off the platform in the subway station at 65th Street and Western Avenue, and that he has been removed to St. Mary’s Hospital. The city editor sends out one of his reporters to find out what he can about the accident.

The reporter starts at once for the subway station. At the corner near the station he sees a policeman with whom he carries on the following conversation:

Reporter.—Did you send in a report on the old man who fell on the subway tracks an hour ago?

Policeman.—Yes.

R.—Do you know who he is?

P.—No, I couldn’t find out his name.

R.—Was he badly hurt?

P.—I guess he was. His head was cut behind, and he hadn’t come to when the ambulance took him to the hospital.

R.—How did it happen?

P.—I don’t know. The first I knew a kid came running up to me and told me a man was hurt in the subway. When I got down there, they had him on the platform, and a crowd was standing around him. I saw the old man was hurt pretty bad, so I telephoned for St. Mary’s ambulance. We put some water on his face, but he didn’t come to. When the ambulance doctor came he said he was alive all right.

R.—How did he fall off the platform?

P.—I don’t know; I guess he fainted.

R.—Thanks; I’ll go down and see the ticket chopper.

The reporter thereupon goes down into the subway station. The ticker chopper, he finds, has just come on duty and does not know anything about the accident. He therefore decides to inquire of the girl in charge of the news-stand. The conversation between her and the reporter is as follows:

Reporter.—I hear that an old man was hurt down here. How did it happen?

Girl.—He fell on the tracks and cut his head.

R.—What was the matter with him?

G.—I don’t know; I guess he got dizzy.

R.—Did you see him fall?

G.—No; I was busy selling a lady a magazine when I heard some one yell.

R.—How did they get him out?

G.—Two men jumped down to get him, but they couldn’t lift him up on the platform. Then they heard the train coming and jumped over to the side.

R.—Did the motorman stop the train when he saw them?

G.—No; I ran over to the ticket chopper’s box and grabbed his red lantern, and jumped down to the track and waved it.

R.—Good for you! Weren’t you afraid of being run over?

G.—I didn’t think of being scared. I just kept waving the lantern, and the motorman saw it and put on the brakes. My, but the sparks flew!

R.—How soon did he stop?

G.—Oh, the train was only about ten feet away when it stopped, and I kept stepping back all the time to keep out of the way.

R.—Well, you must have had a pretty close call. Who got the old man out?

G.—The motorman and one of the guards climbed down and lifted him up with the two other men.

R.—What did they say about your stopping the train that way?

G.—Oh, nothing. One man said, “Good for you, little girl,” and another man wanted to know my name, and said I ought to have a medal, but I told him I hadn’t done any thing and didn’t deserve a medal.

R.—Did you give him your name?

[Pg 39]

G.—Yes, because he kept asking me and telling me that he thought I ought to have a medal.

R.—Well, I want your name, too, for the News.

G.—No; I don’t want my name in the newspaper for I didn’t do anything.

R.—But I must tell how you stopped the train in writing about how the man was hurt.

G.—All right; my name is Annie Hagan.

R.—Where do you live?

G.—At 916 East Watson Avenue.

R.—Have you been working here long?

G.—No; I just started last week. I quit school and got this job here.

R.—You didn’t hear any one say who the old man was?

G.—No; I guess he was alone.

R.—Did the doctor say how badly he was hurt?

G.—No; he felt his pulse, and listened to his heart, and said he was alive all right.

R.—Thanks; I’ll go over to St. Mary’s and see how he is getting along.

On reaching the hospital, which is only two blocks from the subway station, the reporter asks for the superintendent, with whom he carries on the following conversation:

R.—I want to find out about the old man who fell off the platform in the 65th Street subway station an hour and a half ago. How badly was he hurt?

S.—What was his name?

R.—I don’t know.

S.—I’ll look up the record. Here it is. He died at 1:15. His skull was fractured, and he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

R.—Did they find out who he was?

S.—No; this card is the only clue we have.

R.—May I see it?

It is a business card of the Blair Photographic Studio, 712 Broadway, on the back of which is written in pencil the words, “Oliver, Ithaca.” To save time, the reporter telephones from the office of the hospital to the Blair Studio, and the conversation over the telephone between the reporter and the clerk is as follows:

Reporter.—An old man who was hurt in the subway this noon had in his pocket one of your cards with “Oliver” written on the back. Do you know who he is?

Clerk.—That must be the old man who came in this morning to see Mr. Williams, one of our retouchers, but Mr. Williams went to Ithaca last week.

R.—Was Mr. Williams’ first name Oliver?

C.—Yes; his initials were O. R., and the old man said he was his uncle.

R.—Where did Mr. Williams live here?

C.—I don’t know. But hold the line; I’ll ask Mr. Baxter.

C.—Mr. Baxter says that Mr. Williams’ address was 3116 Easton Street, near Brown.

R.—All right. Thank you. Good-bye.

From the hospital the reporter hurries to the place where Mr. Williams lived before he left for Ithaca. The conversation between the landlady of the rooming house at 3116 Easton Street and the reporter follows:

Reporter.—Did Oliver R. Williams live here?

Landlady.—He ain’t here now. He moved away last week.

R.—Did a well-dressed old man ever come to see him when he was here?

L.—What do you want to know for?

R.—Oh, the old man fell in the subway this noon and was badly hurt. He said Mr. Williams was his nephew.

L.—I always said something would happen to him. He fainted on the steps here one day just after he rung the bell, and when I got to the door he was all in a heap right here. I knew he wanted Mr. Williams, because he came to see him a week before, so I called him, and Mr. Williams came and got him some whiskey, and after a little he came to. Mr. Williams told me after he went away that his uncle had heart trouble. Did he get hurt bad?

R.—Yes, he died at the hospital an hour ago.

[Pg 41]

L.—Oh my, that’s too bad! He was a nice old fellow and Mr. Williams thought a lot of him.

R.—What was his name?

L.—Mr. Williams called him Uncle Frank, and when he introduced him to me after he came to, he called him Mr. Dutcher.

R.—Do you know where he lived?

L.—No. I don’t think he lived in the city because he didn’t come here often, and when he came to, Mr. Williams told him he oughtn’t to come all the way alone.

R.—Do you know what his business was?

L.—No. He looked like he had some money.

R.—When was it that he fainted here?

L.—Let’s see. It was about three weeks ago, I guess.

R.—Did Mr. Williams have any relatives in the city?

L.—I don’t know. I guess not. He came from up state somewhere. He only lived here since January. He didn’t like the city very well. He said he couldn’t sleep.

R.—Thank you.

The reporter then stops at the drug store on the next corner to find out whether or not the name of Frank Dutcher appears in the city directory. No such name is to be found in this directory or in the telephone directory. As no more information is apparently obtainable, he returns to the News office and reports to the city editor what he has found. The city editor tells him to write about 500 words playing up the girl’s part in stopping the train, and saying that the man is “supposed to be” Frank Dutcher.

Putting the Facts into the News Story. The story that the reporter writes is as follows:—

By jumping to the subway tracks and waving a red lantern before an oncoming train at the risk of her life, Miss Annie Hagan, in charge of the news-stand in the subway station at 65th St. and Western Avenue, saved a man, supposed to be Frank Dutcher, from being crushed to death as he lay unconscious across the tracks. The[Pg 42] man’s skull was fractured by the fall from the platform to the tracks, and he died soon after being removed to St. Mary’s Hospital.

The accident occurred shortly before noon when the station was crowded. The man, who was well dressed and appeared to be about 60 years old, was seen walking down the platform when he suddenly staggered and pitched forward. Before anyone could run to his assistance, he fell head foremost on the tracks.

Knowing that a train might come at any moment, two men jumped down to the roadbed and tried to lift the man, but found it impossible to get him up to the level of the platform. While they were striving to get him off the tracks, the rumble of the oncoming train warned them of their danger. After another vain attempt to lift the unconscious man up to the platform, they jumped to the side of the track to save themselves.

Miss Hagan, realizing the situation, ran to the ticket chopper’s box and seizing his red lantern jumped down to the tracks. Waving the lantern before her she ran along the track in the glare of the headlight of the train. When the motorman saw the red light, he applied the emergency brakes, and the locked wheels slid along the track sending out a shower of sparks.

The train came to a stop within ten feet of the plucky girl, who then called to the motorman and one of the guards to help lift up the injured man. When he had been placed on the platform, she climbed up and started back to the news-stand as if nothing had happened.

“You ought to get a Carnegie medal,” declared one of the bystanders, who asked the girl her name and address, evidently to present her claims for the life saving award. Miss Hagan modestly disclaimed any credit for her heroism, and at first[Pg 43] refused to give her name, but was finally prevailed upon to do so.

The unconscious man was taken in an ambulance to St. Mary’s Hospital, where it was found that he was suffering from a fractured skull. He was rushed to the operating room, but he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

The only means of identifying him was a business card of a Broadway photographer with the name, “Oliver, Ithaca,” written in pencil on the back. At this studio it was found that an elderly man had inquired this morning for Oliver Williams, a retoucher, who last week went to Ithaca, N. Y. At Williams’ former rooming place it was learned that his uncle, Frank Dutcher, who answered to the description of the victim of the accident, had suffered from an attack of heart failure while visiting his nephew recently and had fallen unconscious on the doorstep. As the name of Frank Dutcher does not appear in the city directory, it is believed that the dead man was not a resident of this city but had come to pay his nephew a visit.

An analysis of this story shows how the reporter wove together all the important pieces of information which he had gathered by interviewing the policeman, the news-stand girl, the hospital superintendent, the clerk in the studio, and the landlady, none of whom are specifically mentioned as the sources of his information. In accordance with the instructions of the city editor, he “played up” the “feature” of the story, the bravery of the girl, by putting it at the beginning and by describing the accident in detail to show her heroism.

Following up the News. Many news stories, like the one just considered, do not exhaust the news possibilities of the event, but may be followed up in later editions or in the next day’s issues by completing what was necessarily left incomplete for lack of time, or by giving new phases of the event that have developed since the first story was written. A reporter on a morning paper, for example, would be given a clipping of the above story taken from the afternoon edition, and would be told by the city editor to see the coroner to get the results of his telegram to Williams, the man’s nephew, at Ithaca, and any other information available regarding the identity of the old man. Often unexpected and important news develops, which makes the “follow-up,” or second story a bigger one than the first. Each reporter and correspondent should read carefully as many newspapers as possible before he begins his day’s work so that he may get suggestions for “follow-up” stories on his “run,” or for “local ends” of news stories sent in from outside the city. In large offices, one of the editors goes over all the local newspapers to clip out the stories to be “followed up,” or to be rewritten in the office.

Interviewing. In obtaining the information for the foregoing story by means of conversations with several persons, the reporter’s aim was to get what they said rather than how they said it; that is, he wanted primarily the facts that they had to give, not the way that they expressed these facts. In the news story it was not necessary to refer specifically to the persons who furnished the information or to quote what they said. In many instances, however, it is important to “interview” persons in order to obtain their opinions or their versions of current events and to give what they say just as they said it. The terms “interviewing” and “interview” in newspaper work are often limited to this method of reporting practically verbatim what is said by the persons “interviewed.” Interviewing of this type requires great skill and tact, and successful interviewers are highly valued on all newspapers.

The two problems that the reporter has to meet are how to gain access to the person to be interviewed and how to induce him to talk for publication. Busy men have not time or inclination to give interviews to every reporter who desires them. Many times such men do not wish to say anything for publication on the desired subject, and absolutely refuse to talk. The resourcefulness of the reporter is tested again and again in getting access to men who are surrounded in their offices by office boys, private secretaries, and clerks, and who on public occasions such as banquets and receptions are sometimes equally well guarded against newspaper men. When it is impossible to see the man personally, it may be possible to submit to him several written questions and thus lead him to issue a statement answering or evading the questions.

Even when an audience is secured with the person to be interviewed, his not infrequent unwillingness to talk for publication has to be overcome. On some occasions to ask immediately and directly for the desired information is the best way to secure results. At other times, to engage him in conversation on some subject in which he is interested and then to lead to the one on which the reporter wishes to interview him, proves successful. Young reporters often insist on giving their own views on the subject on which they are trying to interview a person. The reporter should remember that he is an impartial observer, not an advocate on one side or the other. If in an effort to get information from the person whom he is interviewing he suggests opposing opinions, these opinions should not be given as his own but as those of others. Tact and a knowledge of human nature are essential.

In interviewing, as in all reporting, the newspaper man should not take notes in the presence of the person with whom he is talking unless he feels sure it can be done without affecting the freedom and ease with which the man will talk. As soon as a reporter begins to take notes, the speaker at once realizes that his statements are to appear in black and white for the world to read. That realization leads to caution, and caution leads to silence, partial or complete. To get the person to talk as freely and naturally as possible is the object of all interviewing, for the best interviewers want more than words; they want the fullest expression of personality, an expression that is only possible when all feeling of restraint is absent. The good interviewer cultivates verbal memory so that he can reproduce verbatim all the significant statements which he has obtained as soon as he is out of the presence of the man that he has interviewed. At the first convenient place immediately after the interview is over, the reporter writes out as much as he desires to print, word for word as he remembers it.

Reporting Speeches. In reporting speeches, addresses, lectures, and sermons, the newspaper man either takes long-hand notes and writes out later what he wants to use, or writes a long-hand verbatim report of such parts as he desires. Few reporters can write short-hand, and the few who can generally do not use it extensively because of the length of time required to transcribe short-hand notes. It is much quicker, and therefore more important in newspaper work, to write a connected or “running” story, or verbatim report of a speech or lecture while it is being delivered, by selecting significant statements and by omitting the explanatory ones. With a little practice, the average person of intelligence can remember a statement, word for word, as the speaker makes it, long enough to put it in writing, and then by repeating this process for every important statement, can give an accurate verbatim, but necessarily condensed, report of any speech. As newspapers generally want only a small part of the average address, the reporter has little difficulty in writing a good account of it in long-hand. When a complete verbatim report is desired, a short-hand reporter is assigned to cover the address.

“Covering” Trials and Hearings. The same general principles governing the reporting of speeches apply to the reporting of trials where testimony is given in response to questioning by attorneys, or when witnesses appear before investigating committees of the state legislature, Congress, or other bodies. Questions and answers may be taken down, or if the substance of the testimony is desired in either verbatim or indirect form, the reporter can fit together the answers into a continuous account of what the witness testifies, neglecting partially or entirely the questions that elicit the testimony. A “running story” of the trial or investigation is generally written in the room where it is going on, so that the copy may be put into type as fast as possible. In reporting important trials the newspaper sometimes arranges to get a complete verbatim report from the official short-hand court reporter or occasionally from an expert stenographer employed for the purpose, and from this complete record those facts that are desired for publication are selected.