News Writing Part 2

=46. Helplessness.=--Opposed to stories depicting struggle for supremacy are those portraying the joys or the sufferings of the very old or very young, or of those who are physically or mentally unable to struggle.

The joy of an aged mother because her boy remembered her birthday, the undeserved sufferings of an old man, the cry of a child in pain, the distress of a helpless animal, all are full of interest to the average reader. Helplessness, particularly in its hours of suffering or its moments of unaccustomed pleasure, compels the sympathy of everyone, and every reporter is delighted with the opportunity to write a "sob story"

picturing the friendlessness and the want of such unprivileged ones.

These stories not only are read with interest, but often prove a practical means of helping those in distress.

=47. Prominent Persons.=--Directly opposed to stories about helpless persons or animals are those of prominent men and women. For some reason news about the great, no matter how trivial, is always of interest, and varies in direct proportion to the prominence of the person. If the President of the United States drives a golf ball into a robin's nest, if the oil king in the Middle West prefers a wig to baldness, if the millionaire automobile manufacturer never pays more than five cents for his cigars, the reading public is greatly interested in learning the fact. Nor is it essential that the reader shall have heard of the prominent man. It is sufficient that his position socially or professionally is high.

=48. Well-known Places.=--The same interest attaches to noted or notorious places. A news item about Reno, Nevada, is worth more than one about Rome, Georgia, though the cities are of about the same size. A street traffic regulation in New York City is copied all over the United States, notwithstanding the fact that the same law may have been pa.s.sed by the city council in Winchester, Kentucky, years before and gone unnoticed. And so with Coney Island or Niagara Falls or Death Valley, or any one of a hundred other places that might be named. The fas.h.i.+ons they originate, the ideas for which they stand sponsors, the accidents that happen in their vicinity, all have specific interest by virtue of their previous note or notoriety. And if the reporter can fix the setting of his story in such a place, he may be a.s.sured of interested readers.

=49. Personal and Financial Interests.=--Finally, if a news story can be found that will bear directly on the personal or financial interests of the patrons of the paper, one may be sure of its cordial reception. If turkeys take the roup six weeks before Thanksgiving, or taxes promise a drop with the new year, or pork volplanes two or three cents, or an ice famine is threatened, or styles promise coats a few inches shorter or socks a few shades greener, the readers are eager to know and will applaud the vigilance of the editors. For this reason, a reporter can often pick up an extra story--and reporters are judged by the extra stories they place on the city editor's desk--by occasionally dropping in at markets, grocery stores, and similar business houses and inquiring casually for possible drops or rises in price. For the same reason, too, new styles as seen in the shop windows are always good for a half-column. And one cannot think of covering a dressmakers' convention, an automobile show, a jewelers' exhibition, or a similar gathering without playing up prominently the new styles. A clever San Francisco reporter covering a convention of insurance agents once produced a brilliant story on new styles in life insurance policies.

=50. Summary.=--By way of summary, then, it may be said that the only requirements of an event or an idea to make it good story material are that it be presented accurately and that it possess interest for a goodly number of readers; and any fact or idea which presents a situation or poses a problem differing, even slightly, from preceding situations or problems encountered by the readers of a paper is sure to possess interest. Timeliness is of vital worth, but is not a necessity.

The geographical nearness of an event adds to its value, as does the fact that the event or the product or the result is a record breaker or is unique in its cla.s.s. Contests of all sorts invariably possess interest, and stories of the helplessness of old persons, children, or animals never fail to have an emotional appeal. Any news item concerning a well-known person or place is likely to attract attention, and any story that touches the home or business interests of the public is sure to command interested readers. All these features are valuable, and any one will contribute much to the worth of a story, but none is essential.

The prerequisite is that the news shall be true and shall present a new situation or problem, or a new phase of an old situation or problem.

VI. NEWS SOURCES

=51. Second Essential of News Writing.=--As explained in the preceding chapter, the first essential in news writing is a proper appreciation of news and news values. The second essential is the possession of a story to write. This chapter will discuss news sources, leaving for Chapter III an explanation of the methods of getting stories.

=52. Gathering News.=--The prospective reporter who supposes that newspaper men wander aimlessly up and down the streets of a city, watching and hoping for automobiles to collide and for men to shoot their enemies, will have his eyes opened soon after entering a news office. He will learn that a reporter never leaves the city room without a definite idea of where he is going. If newspapers had to police the streets with watchers for news as the city government a.s.signs officers of the law, the cost of gathering news would be prohibitive.

=53. Police as News Gatherers.=--As a matter of fact, a paper has comparatively few paid men on its staff, though it has hundreds of non-paid watchers who are just as faithful. The police are the chief of these. As every reporter knows, a policeman is compelled to make to his captain a full and prompt report of every fire, robbery, murder, accident, or mishap involving loss of, or danger to, life or property occurring on his beat. This report is made to the local precinct or station, whence it is telephoned to police headquarters. At the central station the report is recorded in the daily record book of crime, known familiarly to the public as the "blotter." Not all of the reports recorded on the police blotter are made public, because hasty announcement of information received by the police oftentimes would forestall expected arrests; but such information as the desk sergeant is willing to utter is given out in brief bulletins, sometimes posted behind locked gla.s.s doors, sometimes simply written in a large ledger open to public inspection. Whether written in the ledger or displayed on a bulletin board, these bulletins are known always as slips, of which the following are typical examples:

Oct. 4 Suicide Attempt

Theodore Pavolovich, 24 yrs., arrested Oct. 1, 1915, fugitive, abandonment, Chicago, attempted suicide by stabbing with a fork while eating dinner. Sent to Emergency Hospital, ambulance 4.

12:50 P. M. Conway

Oct. 4 Clothing Found

Woman's coat, hat, and purse found on bank of Lake Michigan, foot of Pine St., 4:10 P. M. Skirt taken from water, same place, 4:30 P. M., by patrolman Heath. Clothing identified as Mrs. George Riley's, 18 Veazy St., missing since noon.

4:40 P. M. Nock

Oct. 18 Leg Broken

Mary Molinski, 40 yrs., single, 492 Grove St., fell down stairs, 7:05 P. M. Leg broken. Conveyed to St.

Elizabeth Hospital by patrol 3.

7:30 P. M. Pct. 3.

Oct. 19 Calf Carca.s.s Found

Calf carca.s.s, black and white hide, weight about 85 pounds, found at 11th and Henry Ave.

6:30 A. M. Oper

These slips need little explanation. The name signed to each is that of the police officer reporting. The _Pct. 3_ signed after the third indicates merely the local precinct from which the report was made. The time at the end of each slip signifies the exact time at which the report was received at police headquarters.

=54. Arrest Sheets.=--In addition to the slips there are the "arrest sheets," on which all arrests are recorded. These sheets are open always to public inspection, as the public has a right to know of every arrest, lest a man be imprisoned unjustly. On page 37 is given a verbatim reproduction of the arrests recorded in a city in the Middle West. The _M_ or _S_ at the top of the fifth column stands for _married or single_, and _R_ and _W_ at the top of the eighth, for _read and write_.

The _D and D_ charge against the second offender is _drunk and disorderly_. It will be noted that the cases entered after ten o'clock had not been disposed of when this sheet was copied. From these arrest sheets and the slips, as the reader may readily see, the reporter is able to get a brief but prompt and accurate account of most of the accidents and crimes within the city. And with these advance notices in his possession he can follow up the event and get all available facts.

=55. Other News Gatherers.=--But there are numerous other non-paid news gatherers. Doctors are required to report to the health department every birth, death, and contagious disease to which they have been called in a professional capacity. To the coroner is reported every fatal accident, suicide, murder, or suspicious death. The county clerk keeps a record of every marriage license. The recorder of deeds has a register of all sales and transfers of property. The building inspector has a full account of buildings condemned, permits granted for new buildings, and fire devices required. The leading hotels have the names of important guests visiting or pa.s.sing through the city. Thus by regular visitation of certain persons and places in the city, a newspaper through its representatives, the reporters, is able to get most of the news of its neighborhood.

AN ARREST SHEET

=======+=======+========+====+====+=======+===+=====+============= Name Ad- Occu- A M Where C R Charge dress pation g or born o and e S l W o r -------+-------+--------+----+----+-------+---+-----+------------- John 16 Cook 32 S U.S. W Yes Vagrancy Gla.s.s Lake St. Chas. 124 Tailor 28 M " " " D and D King John St. Ben 50 Ped- 41 M " " " Violating Loti Third dler Health St. Laws Nell 38 House- 19 S " " " Drunk Smith West work Ave. Nick 1630 Barber 24 M " " " Abandonment White D St. Edw. 6 Broker 47 M " " " Violating Meyer Palm Speed Laws St. Jane 2935 House- 44 M " " " Keeping Gray Elm wife Disorderly St. House Peter 66 Line- 23 S Ger. " " Seduction Amt State man St. Alex St. But- 24 M U.S. " " Fugitive Ba.s.s Louis cher Geo. 1916 Watch- 31 M " " " Murder Holt 4th man St. -------+-------+--------+----+----+-------+---+-----+-------------

=======+=========+=========+=======+=======+======+============= Name Comp- Officer Date Time Cell Disposition lainant & Pre- & cinct Ward -------+---------+---------+-------+-------+------+------------- John Jacobs Jacobs Oct. 8:00 6 3 10 Gla.s.s 3 15 AM days Chas. Hays Hays " " 8:30 7 3 Bound King 6 AM over Ben Jones Oper " " 10:40 8 3 Loti AM Nell Hays Hays " " 10:50 2 2 Smith 7 AM Nick Chief Olson " " 11:10 3 2 White Police, 3 AM Atlanta Edw. Thiel Thiel " " 3:25 4 2 Meyer 8 PM Jane J. B. Walker " " 11:10 7 1 Gray Katz 1 PM Peter Vera Towne " " 11:30 6 1 Amt Mann 4 PM Alex Chief Bower " " 11:45 5 1 Ba.s.s Police, 2 PM St. Louis Geo. Mrs. Owens " " 11:50 2 1 Holt Holt 3 PM -------+---------+---------+-------+-------+------+-------------

=56. Regular News Sources.=--Places that serve as news sources are known as "beats" or "runs." The chief ones and the kinds of news found at each are:

a.s.sociated Charities Headquarters: dest.i.tution, poverty, relief work.

Boards of Trade, Brokers, Commission Men: market quotations; sales of grain, stocks, and bonds; financial outlook.

Boxing Commission: boxing permissions and regulations.

Building Department, Real Estate Dealers, Architects: new buildings, unsafe buildings.

Caterers: banquets, society dinners.

Civic Organizations: reform movements, speakers, etc.

Civil Courts: complaints, trials, decisions.

Commercial Club: business news.

Coroner's Office: fatal accidents, murders, suicides, suspicious deaths.

County Clerk: marriage licenses, county statistics.

County Jail: arrests, crimes, executions.

Criminal Courts: arraignments, trials, verdicts.

Delicatessen Stores: banquets, society dinners.

Fire Department Headquarters: fires, fire losses, fire regulations, condemned buildings.

Florists: banquets, dinners, receptions, social functions.

Health Department: births, deaths, contagious diseases, reports on sanitation.

Hospitals: accidents, illnesses, deaths.

Hotels: important guests, banquets, dinners, social functions.

Labor Union Headquarters: labor news.

Morgue: unidentified corpses.