Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-10-01
NEWSPAPER REPORTERS.

FROM IohB uTlicle IN DdUOu
Monthly for September, written by IN.
Quad of the Detroit Free Press, we
extract the following:
"Years ago, when we had no tele-
graph or railroad, news was news any
time within q week or month after
its foundation occurred. Everything
is exactly opposite now, and every
body cries out for the latest news
The people must have it, and as they
can only get it from tho daily journ-
ais, the daily journal must furnish it
or 60 down. Energy is the watch
word of every good reporter He
must travel bis own round, take off a
brother reporter on the same paper, il
necessary, and yet hold himself ready
for dash into the suburbs if a big
thing occurs. Take two reporters
lust alike in everything else, and the
moro energetic one will secure She
most ncws. He will take less sleep,
spend less time on the corners, and
will have more time left after mid
night to look for 'the very latest /
said that every reporter must be some
what of lawyer. So he should, and
for more reasons than one. He will
secure many an item which must be
delicately handled or left out altogeth-
or, because it would hurt national
pride, some sect's religious views, or
conflict with one policy Of the pa
per. Nine times out of ten he must
use his own judgement in such cases,
and he will neod layers reasoning
powers. Then again he is often made
the victim Of SELLS 1t is easy enough
for some jealous minded reporter on
a contemporary journal to put up a
Job on him, and reason, experience
and guess work are called out in de-
fence. 1t is not sufficient TO take
their word for it, one must know
from actual observation, or get bis in
formation from sources which expe.
rience has proven trustworthy. Il
wonder how they pick up so many
things;' is an expression often used
by the readers of daily paper. There
are times when the so much is $50
little with the reporter, even if the
constant reader does not detect the fai
ling off; there are times in his expe-
rience when murders, burglares, ,clop-
ments, fires and railroad accidents will
all come with a rush, and then there
will bo dead calm for days or weeks.
In such emergencies the energetic son
of the pencil will devote his time to
city improvements, made or contem-
plated, or startle his readers with an
account of some new invention, or
something new in the method of pro
pelling steamboats, or horse-cars. As
to how they get their news Acct
dents and incidents fall in their way
naturally, and little goes on but what
they catch in some form or other.
The station house and police courts
are included in tho round which the
general news reporter makes, or are
divided up among two. If q report
or works in with the police he has a
fund of information almost inexausti'
bic. The officers will take pains to jei
down names, dates, etc, and will even
identify themselves so closely with
the paper that they will aid the repor
ter in keeping sensation items from
the knowledge Of his rivals. Then
one should make the acquaintance Of
the fremen, city and county officials
hotel keepers, railroad and steamboat
men, and can, if born for the business
secure the aid Of hundred men tc
help him in gathering news.
@Tbere is 70 labor more laboriou'
than tho task Of the reporter on I
morning paper. 1Io may be said tc
never sleep. Starting out nm hour be
fore noon, he may finish at midnight
but ls lucky to get off before three
o'clock; and ,he chances are that h
is routed out after n nap Of three o.
four hours. II called upon TO make
trip into the interior, report q con
vention or a calamity, he may be tbir
ty or forty hours without sleep. Their
! is a constant wear and tear of tn
nerve. and muscles, and, after time
nervous feeling accompanies th
man day and night. There is no tim
to doctor or TO be sick, but 1t is on
push and rush year in and year Out
until everything gives way at once
and the man drops into tho grave
The rivalry which nearly always ea
lists between reporters on contempt
rary sheets is wear and tear whic
of itself will take off n pound OF hcs
per month. The reporter who is d'
relict in securing hll the facts in cor
nection with a'big thing secured an
published in an opposite journa
would feel a self-disgrace which b
could not shake off for a week. IN
rivalry leads often TO the expcnditul
J of large sums Of money by all daili'
of a city TO secure certain information
: have In mind case of steamboat e'
plosion about twenty miles IRON OF
of our lake ports. Tho rumor ere