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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:—

Police Headquarters		—crimes, arrests, accidents, suicides, fires, disappearances, sudden deaths, and news of the police department organization.
Fire Headquarters		—fires, fire losses, and news of the fire department organization.
Coroner’s Office		—fatal accidents, sudden deaths, suicides, and murders.
Health Department		—deaths, contagious diseases, sanitary reports, and condition of city water.
Recorder or Register of Deeds		—sales and transfers of property and mortgages.
City Clerk		—marriage licenses.
County Jail		—crimes, arrests, and executions.
Mayor’s Office		—appointments and removals, municipal policies.
Criminal Courts		—arraignments, hearings, and trials.
Civil Courts		—complaints, answers, trials, verdicts, and decisions in civil suits.
Probate Office		—estates, wills.
Referee in Bankruptcy		—assignments, failures, appointment of receivers, meetings of creditors, settlements of bankrupts.
Building Inspector		—permits for new buildings and alterations, condemnations of unsafe buildings, regulation of fire escapes, and fire prevention devices.
Public Utilities Commission		—hearings and decisions of rates and regulations.
Board of Public Works		—municipal improvements.
Shipping Offices		—arrival and sailing of ships, cargoes, rates, marine news.
Associated Charities		—poverty, destitution, and relief.
Board of Trade, Stock Exchange, Mining Exchange, and Chamber of Commerce		—quotations, sales, and news of stock, produce, grain, metals, live stock, etc.
Hotels		—arrival and departure of guests, banquets, dinner parties, and other social functions.

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.

Advance Copies. It is always a great advantage to a newspaper to secure in advance a copy of a speech, a report, a decision, or any document, so that it may be put in form for publication and may be set up in type ready to print as soon as possible after it is given to the public. Such advance news is marked to be “released” for publication when it becomes public. For example, when a copy of the speech to be delivered by the governor of the state at the laying of a corner-stone at eleven o’clock in the morning on Washington’s Birthday, is obtained a day or two in advance, it is marked “Release 12 M., Feb. 22.” The result will be that in the first edition of the afternoon paper published after 12 o’clock noon on February 22 as much of the speech as is desired can be printed, perhaps a few minutes after the governor has concluded his address. Newspapers always regard most scrupulously the release date which the reporter or correspondent puts at the top of his advance story. To violate the confidence of men who furnish news in advance by publishing it before it should be released, is considered by newspaper men a serious breach of trust. Reporters and correspondents should, therefore, mark plainly at the top of the first sheet of copy the word “release” followed by the hour and date when it can be printed. If the date and hour at which the news will become public cannot be fixed in advance, the copy is marked, “Hold for Release, which will probably be at 12 M., Feb. 22”; and the reporter or correspondent notifies his paper of the exact time of release as soon as it is fixed.

Getting News by Telephone. The telephone, both in local and in long distance service, is extensively used in getting news and in communicating it to the newspaper office. Editors often telephone their instructions to reporters and correspondents. Newspapermen use the telephone to “run down” rumors and “tips,” to verify news reports, to get “interviews,” and, in short, to obtain all kinds of information. Although some men refuse to be “interviewed” over the telephone, it is often possible to get “interviews” more easily by this means than by any other. Reporters, or “watchers,” at police headquarters and at other news sources telephone important information to the city editor so that he may assign men to get the news involved. When lack of time prevents the reporter from returning to the office to write his story, he telephones the facts to a “rewrite man,” who puts them in news-story form. Or the reporter may dictate his story over the telephone to a man in the newspaper office, who, using an overhead receiver like that worn by telephone operators, takes it down rapidly on a typewriter. Experienced reporters can dictate their stories in this way with only their notes before them. The long distance service is used in the same manner by correspondents when it can be more advantageously employed than the telegraph.

Photographs. Illustrations, or “cuts,” have come to be an important part of almost all newspapers. Although most of the photographs used for illustrations are made by the staff photographer or are secured from companies that make a specialty of taking pictures of current events, reporters and correspondents are often able to supply their papers with pictures of persons, places, or events that are a part of the day’s news. Good photographs may sometimes be secured from amateurs who happen to get snapshots of some interesting occurrence. Every reporter and every correspondent should have a camera and should learn how to take pictures to illustrate the stories that he writes, even though he may not have occasion to take such photographs frequently. Unmounted photographic prints with a glossy surface and with strong contrasts are the most satisfactory ones from which to make newspaper halftones. A brief description of the picture should be written on the back of every photograph. Unmounted photographs should always be mailed flat. Correspondents are paid for photographs that are used by newspapers.

Special Kinds of News. Special kinds of reporting, such as is done by sporting, market, financial, railroad, labor, marine, society, dramatic, and musical editors, naturally requires special training and experience in the subject matter of these fields. The methods of gathering these special kinds of news are not particularly different from those of collecting general news. The sporting editor and his assistants often have to write a “running” account of a baseball game or football game as it progresses. The musical and dramatic critics, of course, express their opinions on productions, instead of simply reporting what took place at the theatre or concert. The railroad, labor, market, or marine editors report the news in their particular fields, sometimes in special forms, such as market reports or quotations, but their work of news gathering is like that of the general reporter.

Qualifications of the Reporter. Rapidity, perseverance, accuracy, intelligence, and tact, as well as the “news sense,” or “nose for news,” are the essential qualifications for successful reporting.

Nowhere is it truer that “time is money” than in newspaper making. The reporter, as the news collector and news writer, must save as much time as possible by working fast. To know just where to get the news and how to get it quickly, always means great economy of time and effort. Rapid, accurate judgment of news values, likewise, is an important qualification for a good newspaper man. “Get all the news and get it quick,” was the command that a certain city editor of the old school used to thunder at his cub reporters.

Perseverance. To get all the news, or sometimes to get any news, demands perseverance. The reporter must follow one clue after another until he finds what he is looking for, or is convinced that there is nothing to find. By stopping in his pursuit before he has all there is to get, he may miss the biggest “feature” of the story. Every neglected clue may mean a “scoop” by a rival. To return empty-handed is to admit defeat. News hunting is often discouraging business, but the reporter must always keep up his determination by a firm belief that what is eluding him may be a big story, probably the biggest story of his career.

Accuracy. Accuracy must extend to every detail of reporting. As the reporter is seldom on the spot when an unexpected event happens, he must rely upon the accounts of it given by eye witnesses. These accounts often differ materially because of the common inaccuracy of observation and judgment. The reporter must weigh the testimony of each witness, much as a juryman does in a trial, and must decide which version is the most probable one. When time permits, he can verify doubtful details by questioning other witnesses on the particular parts in which the versions differ. He should always make every reasonable effort to get all particulars as accurately as possible.

Great care should invariably be taken to have names and addresses correct. The reporter will do well to ask his informants to spell unfamiliar names for him. City, telephone, and society directories, the various kinds of “Who’s Who” volumes, and similar lists, are convenient sources for getting names, initials, and addresses. Even the necessity for speed in newspaper work is not a valid excuse for carelessness and inaccuracy in news gathering. The minutes required to verify names, addresses, and other details, are always well spent. Rumors and unconfirmed statements generally should be carefully investigated before they are given much credence, especially when they reflect upon the reputation of persons, organizations, or business enterprises. A false rumor given wide currency through a newspaper may ruin a man or a woman, or seriously injure a bank or business firm. No correction or retraction that a newspaper can make ever counteracts completely the effects of the original story. A rumor is often valuable as a news “tip,” but like all news tips it needs to be traced to its source and confirmed by evidence before it is really news. Often it is mere gossip or the product of a fertile imagination, with little or no basis in fact. False and inaccurate statements are not what newspapers or their readers want.

Tact and Courtesy. On the stage the reporter runs about with note-book and pencil in hand; in real life, he carries some folded sheets of copy paper on which to take notes when necessary, in a way to attract the least possible attention. He neither conceals nor displays his profession. An impersonal, anonymous observer of persons and events, he does not obtrude his personality upon those with whom his work brings him in contact. Tactful, courteous, friendly, he elicits his information as quickly as possible. When a more aggressive attitude is necessary to secure what he wants and has a right to have, he is equal to the occasion. But whatever may be the circumstances, the reporter never forgets that he is a gentleman, and that the newspaper which he represents never expects him to do anything to get the news that he or it need be ashamed to acknowledge to the world. Some papers may not hold up this ideal to their reporters and editors, but every self-respecting newspaper must.

To cultivate personal acquaintance with those with whom news gathering brings the reporter in contact, is the best means of increasing his ability to get the news. When men come to have a friendly interest in the reporter and his work, and find that they can trust him to report accurately the news that they give him, they often go out of their way to help him. Many a “scoop” has been the result of the friendly aid of some one who had news to give and who saved it for the reporter in whom he had become personally interested. In other instances, where official news must be given to all alike, the favored reporter may be given a “tip” in advance as to some important phase of this official news which he can use to advantage in his paper, or he may be able to get an advance copy of a report or of a public document so that his paper will have a good story on it ready to print as soon as it is given to the public.

Through his personal relations with men, however, the reporter is sometimes put in a difficult position. In conversation with friends, for example, he may learn of important news that would make a good story and perhaps give him credit for a “scoop.” But he must remember that when he obtains news in the confidence of private conversation, he has no right to use it without the consent of those from whom he gets it in this way. At other times he may be given news with the request that it be not published, and again he must beware of violating confidence. No self-respecting reporter will fail to regard the trust placed in him by those with whom he comes in contact either in social or professional relations. Another problem confronts the reporter when friends or acquaintances request him to suppress the whole or a part of a news story that it is his duty to write. Since a reporter is supposed to give all the important facts in a fair and impartial manner, he has no right to omit any of them without the knowledge of his superiors. The best way out of the difficulty, therefore, is to tell those who desire the suppression of any news that the decision in such matters rests with the editor and not with the reporter.

How the Correspondent Works. The work of the correspondent is very much the same as that of the reporter. Like the reporter, he gets assignments or instructions from time to time; he asks his superiors how much of a story they want on a particular event; he watches the news sources in the city or town for which he is responsible. As he is frequently on the staff of a local paper as well, he has the advantage of whatever news is collected for this paper. Whenever an important event is to take place in the district which he covers, he receives instructions a day or two in advance from the telegraph editor telling him what the paper wants and how much he is to send. If the telegraph editor desires some phase of an unexpected happening looked up by the correspondent, he telegraphs to him the necessary directions. The correspondent, likewise, telegraphs to the editor whenever he has a story on which he wants instructions. When a correspondent telegraphs for instructions, he is said to send a “query” or “to query” his paper. A query usually consists of a brief statement of the news in a sentence or two followed by the number of words in which the correspondent thinks he can write the story adequately. The typical form of a query would be: