News Writing Part 11

"The devil has gone out of fas.h.i.+on. After a long and honorable career as truant officer, he has finally been buried with his fathers. That is why twentieth century men and women don't attend church." Such was Dr. Amos Buckwin's explanation yesterday of the church-going problem.

=193. Random Statements.=--Emphasis should be laid on the value of playing up in the lead even a random statement if it chances to agree with a specific policy or campaign to which the paper has committed itself. In a non-political address or sermon an unwary statement touching national, state, or city politics makes an excellent feature if it favors the policies of the paper. Its worth lies in the fact that it is manifestly unprejudiced and advanced by the speaker with no ulterior motive. On the other hand, such a statement may well be ignored if opposed to the paper's political or civic views. For example, note in the following lead a feature played up solely because the paper was Democratic in its politics:

"I was a student in one of the cla.s.ses taught by Woodrow Wilson. Anyone who has ever seen the lower part of his facial anatomy knows that when he says 'no' he does not mean 'yes,'" said Bishop Theodore Henderson at the Methodist Church yesterday morning. It was not a political sermon. Aside from what political significance the above quotation might have, there was nothing political about his discourse. He brought it out in referring to the President doing away with the inaugural ball in 1915, which he nearly cla.s.sed as a drunken orgy run by politicians. He was emphasizing the President's "no," that his family would not be present even if he himself had to attend.

As in this story, however, the writer must be careful always to make clear the precise relation of the featured quotation to the speech as a whole.

=194. Indirect Quotation.=--The chief reason for quoting indirectly in the lead a single statement of a speaker is the need of s.h.i.+fting an important point to the very first.

That an inordinate indulgence in mere amus.e.m.e.nt is softening the fiber of the American nation and sapping its vitality, was the statement of Allen A. Pendel, president of the Southwest Press Company, at the monthly meeting of the Crust Breakers, Sat.u.r.day.

=195. t.i.tle Featured.=--The use of the subject of the speech as a feature is advisable when it is particularly happy or when it expresses the theme of the address.

"The National Importance of Woman's Health" was the subject of Dr. A. T. Schofield's lecture at the Inst.i.tute of Hygiene, Wednesday.

Taking as his subject, "The Tragedy of the Unprepared," the Rev. Otis Colleman delivered a powerful attack in Grace Church Sunday against unpreparedness in one's personal life and in the home, the state, and the nation.

=196. Theme Featured.=--The theme may be featured when a single-sentence quotation cannot readily be found and the subject does not indicate the nature of the address.

Condemnation of the twentieth-century woman's dress was voiced at the Ninth International Purity Congress by Rev. Albion Smith, Madison, Wis., who spoke on "Spirit Rule vs. Animal Rule for Men and Women."

=197. Summary Lead.=--Oftentimes the theme lead shades into a summarizing lead and the two become one of indirect quotation. Long summarizing leads of speeches are to be avoided as a rule, since they are liable to become overloaded and c.u.mbersome. When using this lead, the writer must be particularly careful to see that the individual clauses are relatively short and simple in structure and that the relation of each to the other and to the sentence as a whole is absolutely clear.

Stating that the public schools are the greatest instrument for the development of socialism in this country, that the socialists must get control of the courts, that the party is not developing as rapidly at present as it did a few years ago, and that the opportunity that exists in this country for the individual has been largely to blame for the slow development of the Socialist party in America, John C. Kennedy, Socialist speaker and member of the Chicago common council, spoke on "The Outlook for Socialism in America" at the Social Democratic picnic held in Pabst Park on Sunday.

=198. Speaker's Name Featured.=--The speaker's name comes first, of course, only when he is sufficiently prominent locally or nationally to justify featuring him.

Billy Sunday made the devil tuck his tail between his legs and skedaddle Friday night.

Justice Charles E. Hughes, of the Supreme Court of the United States, came to New York yesterday as the guest of the New York State Bar a.s.sociation, which is holding its thirty-ninth annual meeting in this city. In the evening at the Astor Hotel he delivered a scholarly address before that body on the topic, "Some Aspects of the Development of American Law." Then he shook hands with several hundreds of the members of the a.s.sociation and their friends, turned around and went right back again to the seclusion of the Supreme Court Chamber in Was.h.i.+ngton.

=199. Featuring the Occasion.=--Featuring the occasion of a speech or the auspices under which it was given is justifiable only when the speech and the speaker are of minor importance.

Before the first hobo congress ever held in the world William Eads Howe, millionaire president of the convention, spoke Monday on the need of closer union among pa.s.sengers on the T. P. and W.

=200. Featuring Time and Place.=--Only rarely is the time or the place featured. But either may be played up when sufficiently important.

Speaking from the door of Col. Henry Cook's chicken house on Ansley Road to an audience of 250 colored brethren in a neighboring barn, the Rev. Ezekiel Butler, colored, began in a pouring rain Sunday night the first service of the annual Holly Springs open-air meetings.

=201. Featuring Several Details.=--When the speaker, the subject, the occasion, and the place are all important, it may be needful to make a long summarizing lead of several paragraphs, explaining all these features in detail. In such a case a quarter- or a half-column may be required before one can get to the address itself. The following story of President Wilson's first campaign speech for reelection, delivered at Pittsburgh on January 29, 1916, is an ill.u.s.tration:

=WILSON BEGINS CAMPAIGN= _Name first_

President Wilson as "trustee of the ideals of America," to employ his own phrase, has taken his case to the people.

_Occasion_

He opened here to-day the most momentous speech-making tour perhaps made by a President within a generation with an appeal to keep national preparedness out of partisan politics and to give it no place as a possible campaign issue.

_Effect on Audience_

The nonpartisans.h.i.+p urged by the President was reflected in Pittsburg's greeting to the executive.

_Circ.u.mstances and Place_

A Republican ex-Congressman, James Francis Burke, presided at the meeting under the auspices of the chamber of commerce in Soldiers' Memorial Hall. "Preparedness is a matter of patriotism, not of party," he said.

_Story backtracks here_

_Audience_

Pittsburg's welcome to the President and Mrs. Wilson was warm, but not demonstrative. When the speechmaking began, Memorial Hall was packed with an audience of 4,500, while on the steps and plaza outside some 8,000 or 10,000 men and women surged, unable to get admission, but eager to get a glimpse of the executive and his bride.

_Reception by Audience_

When the presidential party, Mrs. Wilson in front, filed on the platform there was a demonstration, brief but spontaneous, the first lady of the land drawing as prolonged applause as her husband on his appearance.

_Att.i.tude of Audience_

The audience was an intent one. Its pose was one of keen attention to the President's utterances.

_Applause_

Occasionally a particularly facile phrase, such as when the President spoke of the need of "spiritual efficiency" as a basis for military efficiency, started the hand-clapping and gusts of applause swept through the hall.

_General Effect of the Visit_

For Pennsylvania, Republican stronghold, which gave Roosevelt a plurality of 51,000 over Wilson in 1912, the reception accorded the President is regarded as quite satisfactory. Downtown in the business district there was hardly a ripple.

_Inquisitive Crowds_

But in the neighborhood of the Hotel Schenley, out by the Carnegie Inst.i.tute, a large crowd turned out a few hours after the President's arrival and kept their glances on the seventh floor, which was banked in roses and orchids.

_Beginning of the Speech_

"As your servant and representative, I should come and report to you on our public affairs," the President began. "It is the duty of every public man to hold frank counsel with the people he represents."[20] ...

[20] Arthur M. Evans in _The Chicago Herald_, January 30, 1916.

=202. Body of the Story.=--In writing the body of the story, the first thing to strive for is proper coherence with the lead. This caution is worth particular heed when the lead contains a single-sentence quotation, an indirect question, or a paragraph of direct statement from somewhere in the body of the speech. Few things are more incongruous in a story than a clever epigrammatic lead and a succession of quoted statements following, none of which exhibits a definite bearing on the lead. Oftentimes this incongruity is produced by the reporter's attempt to follow the precise order adopted by the speaker. Such an order, however, should be manifestly impossible in a news report when the writer has dug out for use in the lead a lone sentence or paragraph from the middle of the speech. Rather, one should continue such a lead with a paragraph or so of development, then follow with paragraphs of direct quotation which originally may or may not have preceded the idea featured in the lead.

=203. Accuracy.=--The second consideration must be the same accuracy and fairness that was emphasized in the discussion of the interview.

Some reporters, for instance, take the liberty of putting within quotation marks, as though quoted directly, whole paragraphs that they know are not given verbatim, their grounds for the liberty being that they know they are reporting the speaker with entire accuracy, and the use of "quotes" gives the story greater emphasis and intimacy of appeal.

This liberty is to be condemned. When a reporter puts quotation marks about a phrase or clause, he declares to his readers that the other man, not he, is responsible for the statement exactly as printed. And even though a man may think he is reporting a speaker with absolute precision, there is always the possibility that he may have misunderstood. Indeed, it is just these chance misunderstandings that trip reporters and frequently necessitate speakers' denying published accounts of their lectures. Only what one has taken down verbatim should be put within quotation marks. All else should be reported indirectly with an unwavering determination to convey the real spirit of the lecture or sermon, not to play up an isolated or random subtopic that has little bearing on the speech as a whole. Any reporter can find in any lecture statements which, taken without the accompanying qualifications, may be adroitly warped to make the story good and the speaker ridiculous in the eyes of the reading public.

=204. Speech Story as a Whole.=--The story as a whole should be a little speech in itself. Whole topics may be omitted. Others that possibly occupied pages of ma.n.u.script and took several minutes to present may be cut down to a single sentence. Still others may be presented in full.

But the quotation marks and the cohering phrases, such as "said he,"

"continued the speaker," "Mr. Wilson said in part," etc., should be carefully inserted so as to make it entirely clear to the reader when the statements are a condensation of the speaker's remarks and when they are direct quotations. Such connecting phrases, however, should be placed in unemphatic positions within the paragraph and should have their form so varied as not to attract undue attention. And as in the interview, the report as a whole should be livened up at intervals with phrases and paragraphs calling attention to characteristic gestures, facial expressions, and individual eccentricities of the speaker's person, manner, or dress.