The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-05-16

journals with details of the most trivial
events In the earlier decades a horrible
murder WAS dished up I'm the space OF a
column, and an awful confagratiOD was
described i'm five or six sticks. Now, such
events are made to spread over whole
pages, minutest particulars being given,
and the reporter pads with lengthy mar
ratiyes of his own adventures. prefaced by
hal: column of moral comment, by way
OF preparing the mind of the reader Tor the
thrilling history Of the depiorable event.
This style of reporting is getting 1" he
in,ipid The public taste prefers some
thing more condensed.
boil 1T DOWN
is an order often issued by the city editof
to the disgust of the gushing reporter, Is he
sits down To write sensational account ~
an affair tina, can be fully described in
| fifty lines
The local work oi every city daily i di-
vided into departments, each IN charge oil
| a separate reporter. One man gets up the
court reports, another the railroad news,
another the sporting events, and so OH
through the series, requiring from ten To
twenty reporters i'm the aggregate. Besides
these there are a score or more for special
work-a reserve CORPS f"r extraordinary
occasions. Frequently the regular force
: has more work in hand than can be- we'll
attended To, and the reserves are called
/ into the field.
Assignments are made bv the city editor,
! who is supposed TO know the capacity Oi
every reporter bv Intuition. He coca
sionally makes mistake, however. puts
! the wrong man i'm the wrong place, and
things become mixed. For instance, the
| river reporter sent Ia interview AN agent of
the Missionary Bible society is apt to ques-
| ton him about the stage OF the water in
the Sahara desert, the high pressure boats
Of Iceland, or the rainfall of Peru while
THE SPORTING REPORTER.
then writing up the proceedings OF the
|, Young Mems Christian association, would
inadvertently say that "Rev. Dr. Smith,
q light weight, came mp smiling. SHE'D his
castor into the arena, and let fly his left
duke, hitting satan sockdologer in the
mug, and sending him TO grass"
The position Of "funny man" is the most
coveted by the local reporters: not because
the salary is larger, or the work lighter
for the funny man is often sent 10 funerals,
!
but because he receives more invitations to
smile" than any Of the others, and Is al
lowed more latitude for the play Of his
fancy. There are very few successful
funny men on the press at this time. Ar
temus Ward was one of the few funny
men have met who was funnier with his
tongue than this pen. In conversation
his wit was spontaneous and natural, while
i'm his writings ii is often strained. John
Phoenix was the prime of American ha-
morists, but he was only an amateur re-
porter an army officer, he never had his
nose to the grindstone of u city daily, like
poor Hans Patrick lie CoRnor; if he had
he would, like Hans, have gone to the
grave before his powers were matured.
THE RELIGIOUS REPORTER
is almost always the most proiane man
about the establishment He is generally
the discarded son of clergyman, and de.
rives his qualifications from his early
training. 1t requires immense brain
power to make competent religious re-
porter. There are so many sects, creeds
dogmas and discussions in the religious
world that none but giant intellect can
stand the pressure of attempting TO keep
posted.
The shorthand reporter, once a mighty
power On an enterPrising daily, has FOL
several years past been losing his grip
People are getting tired OF long-winded
discourses and dry discussions, and prefer
brief abstracts and chronicles Of the times
not too brief, but something between
Moses report of the creation OF light and
the speech of Judge Porter in the Guiteau
trial. Nearly all of the reporters have
picked up enough shorthand for ordinary
purposes, and any number of expert pho
nographers can be secured whenever yer
batim report is required.
But, NV friends. il would absorb too
much of our valuable time TO go through
, the entire list of newspaper reporters, viii
, even a brief mention of their several du
, ties and
THEIR WONDERFUL WAYS.
/ will therefore summarize and simme
down BY stating that in the local staff o
first-class daily is found an aggregation
of all the knowledge of the civilized world
not to mention the large amount Of saw
{ agery. An order or assignment to write
5 up four or Eve columns on any given sub
ject will be obeyed with alacrity and abili
: ty-especially if the matter can be fount
. in book In one of the public libraries, o
can he pumped out of an individual Twin,
within reasonable distance Of the office.
, 1t is notorious fact that reporters as
class are shiftless and impecunious. Thei
t salaries are ridiculously small, and thei
habits expensive. Yet there is not the re
hottest prospect that they will eve
: receive better pay or become more thrifty
D The reasons for this may be briefly stated
q A large number OF young men fresh iron
: college imagine themselves cut out 10
journalists and obtain employment as re
i pOrters ON trial. A large majority Of then
y play out in week or two, and fresh candi
:. dates take their places; others struggl
i against manifest destiny for few month
$ or years and then retire as dead failures
4 while few, by
HARD LABOR AND PERSEVERANCE,,
y qualify themselves as competent reporter