Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1877-10-02
NrwspAprR REPORTERS.
Seine OF Their Trials asa rsapss.
uIous "A Maeh Abussd Glass
more Good than had - Then.

A writer in the New York Ersming 7sie,,
,ru~ comes to the rescue Of the reporters.
Ho says: There Is = class Of malicious
people In the world who love TO scandalizc
reporters. Ono OF the reasons they allsge
for doing so is that II Is the aim OF the re-
porter to scandalize them II there occurs
to him an opportunity of doing 50. II
this we're true. then there 10 all the moro
reason for them so g. live that he shall mol
got the chance. hut anybody who says
this about reporters as a class either lies or
does not understand what be 10 talking
about. There arc t..ree kinds Of reporters.
to wit: Good reporters good reporters.
with bad qualities and bad report
ers. with good qualities. The hnt
class consists Of those who ferret on'
all the facts concerning . given subject.
and then dress up the facts readabiy.
They discover naked events n clothe
them with costumes Of bewitching rhet'
oric. The second class are those who.
without patience. or enthusiasm. or cheek.
or ambition TO root out al the facts. con.
tent themselves with . general view OF the
subject and 4 few main incidents TO sup
port the structure. "a.
Reporters Of this class are often deft
joiners Of epithets. They can hinge to-
gether the most graphic expressions. and
all that the reader fools he wants 10 . little
more substance amid 90 much arus'ic,iIy
constructed verbiage. The third class
comprises reporters who have . genius i0r
collecting all the facts. great U smal
but fail utterly In puttins them In pre-
sentable shape. IL they are preparing an
account VI . ship about to DO launched.
they will tell you how far the Jibboon OF
the mizzenmast 10 from tho bowsprit. o
give YOU all tho odd inches. But their
plural nouns will DO Joined TO verbs In the
singular. and rice rsr.". But you will hnd
few or no reporters who systematically 90
10 work 10 distort facts and 10 Islander
character. Tho public often wonders at
the things which get into q newspaper. but
how much more Il would wonder at the
things that are left out. II Ia not what
goes into q newspaper that deflee the
reader, but what would 80 Into 10 II re-
porters were not faithful aud managing
editors. not Argus.eyed. And you. 70 lg-
norant aud self.appointed censors. who
cannot live without your newspapers, who
riLdls with the shot Of your perilage the
hard working beings who run that yon
may read, do you ever stop to think OF the
pains. tho skill, the training necessary 10
the preparation Of tho column you glance
over so superciliously 2
You object Ia ths headlines. Bit down
aud try 10 write some yourself. Just once.
There are certain limits to Language. You
cannot have startling titles and yet adhere
to the strict language of the common.
place. We acknowledge. however. that
there il sometime. . tendency 10 speak OF
. plough " an agricultural Instrument,
and Of fro rs the drvourin; element. hut
after all u il better " have . few eccen-
tricities ~ language. with plenty Of inter
csting facts q, the bottom Of them. than 10
have srntences of immaculate rhetoric with
no facts NJ all, The watering place corrc-
~,ponJent ia tho individual who receives
the most whitening criticisms from the
newspaper despiser. lie Ia generally quito
harmless, giving us statistics Of arrivals
and DEPARTURES, telling us who's who. and
what's what, and allowing . vein Of gossip
10 run through hi. letters, Just a. the
curve OF the earth runs through tie noun
tains snd valleys thereon.