Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1884-02-27
MAKING JOURNALISTS.
The Proposed School for Editors-.-A
Novel Educational Departure.
some OF the Earlier Demands of the
institution How to Interview
Man, Management of
q Scandal.
kansas City Star.l

kansas City Start
1t IS only of comparatively recent date tina
schools of Journalism have been seriousl.
mooted, but they are fixed fact now, ant
not only have several leading eastern educa
tonal institutions taken steps to Introduce
them as special departments, but quite {
number of prominent newspaper men hav,
of late Endorsed the idea.
Folks used to think that the instinct Of (
good reporter was born in him, like desire
to torture cats and other depravity, in chill
dren, and could not be grated on by artificial
process. The old-fashioned way of getting
into the guild was to hang around the by
ways of the professor, with large rope and
a small appetite, until what is popularity
known as nose for news was sufficiently de
veloped to slide into Irregular sit" Many
believe that this nose was developed by con-
tinually surrounding it with a large, thick
beer glass, and in this way that fell destroyer
jimjams has laid its icy hand on many q
bright, ambitious young man, who might
otherwise be reporting base ball matches at
as much as SIS week. Starvation Snatches
out most of the rest, and what remain are at
present ornamenting the profession.
There used to be no royal road to news
paperdom 1t was kind of survival of the
fittest The successful man had to have nat
ural talents to start with, but they were
nodded into shape by hard knocks, and before
he was full-fedged the chances were he had
been ''fired' more times than locomotive
engine going from Kansas City to San Fran
cisco.
The new system of dollhouse journalism
will produce reporters without all these in
termediary hardships, just as medical colleges
k,,r,,~ fhnsv,
experimenting on saving off legs and devas-
tating peoples inside arrangements before
hand.
This is first-rate scheme if it can be done
But in order to give the boys practical knowl-
edge, they will have to be familiarized with
all those episodes that usually come under a
reporters observation. 1t goes without say
ing that to do this there must be occasional
dog fights on the college campus, conducted
by the professor in ine-masticatus and a
boulevard provided, on which there can be a
thrilling runaway at least twice a week. It
will also be necessary to have slugging
matches, an imitation police court, while to
martriculate student in St. Louis journal
ism, the president of the university must &C.
casionally elope with the wives of the fac
ulty, or spirit their old daughters away from
One of the earliest. demands of this institu-
ton will naturally be a text book; something
new and novel in the history of educational
literature. To supply this want work has
been prepared at enormous expense, which is
designed to give the ambitious beginner q
general idea of how the usual run of news is
worked up and an insight into some office
technicalities. 1t was the purpose of this
article to give brief review of the advance
sheets of the book, but the subject is fascinat-
ing and it is easy to stray off of the main
drift. The following cuttings, however, will
give pretty good idea of the design:
In an inter view, start off with something
about sending up your card You may not
have had a deck with you, but it's all right
anyhow. Then blaze away with your ques-
tions taking care to keep the party inter-
viewed as much in the background as posi-
BILE, and bringing the reporter out strong.
Let the reporter do most of the talking and
express all the opinions, and the other man
occasionally agree with him, so as to make
paragraphs and have the article appear "gos-
sipy." Ring in a puff for the paper, and
intimate that the other reporters were laying
all around the transoms and key-holes club
bling themselves. Wind up with, "the re-
porter bowed himself out" Never say, ''the
reporter kicked himself OUT
A special article is pleasant essay in
which some one in possession of interesting
facts makes confdant of reporter and de-
iberately tells him everything he doesn't
wantto see in print. The man who gives the
thing away, is vaguely alluded to as "de-
tective," 'a well-known citizen" "a promi-
nent physician etc. He turns his heart of
hearts inside out and lets the reporter scrape
it. If the facts are decidedly improper, so
much the better. Specials are considered
good Sunday reading The opium habit is
recognized subject, and should be written up
once a:month. The article generally begins
about a reporter loafing in drug store, and
the main pill butcher remarking how the
opium habit has increased of late. Ring in
something about victim coming in all broke
up and buying dimes worth of morphine.
It's a great starter. Then fire in your Stats
tics. Work up story about some away
up society ladies using the drug, and
wind up by jumping the Chin
csc dens ~au abusing the po-
lice for 1IcG pulling them. To write good
special on any subject you should be unbe-
wildered by any real information or expe
rience in it. In writing up a big fire, de-
vote your opening stanza to generalities, and
ring in something about the most disastrous
confagration in the history of the city.
Next round, get down to business, and say the
department was promptly on hand. Then slap
in glowing description of how the flames
burst through the roof and licked up the
mansard. Work in fire fiend, doomed build
ing, destroying element, and heroic efforts of
the fremen, as often as possible. Write in
'sred tongues of flame" and "crash of falling
walls wherever you see any blank spots, and
wind up the whole business with an account
of how prominent citizen called the fremen
in and filed them up with taffy and tangle-
foot-that will make you solid with the de-
partment, and the next time they have an en-
tertainment they will let you advertise it for
nothing for them.
A typographical error is the excuse given
to 250-pound man who calls to inquire why
his name appeared in the police court report.
As to a scandal, get on the verge of de-
cency, sit on it, and let your feet hang over
the edge. Whenever you come to a rather
tame stretch, cut it off short, and say: '"The
details are unfit for publication" New re-
porters generally select the heaviest adver-
tiser to write up in this shape, for such an ef-
fort is always sure to attract the attention of
the business Office and the proprietor of the
paper. In fact proprietors rarely, if ever,
fail, after this sort of thing, to send immedi-
ately for the new man and raise his salary;
OF, if they can't raise it right away, they give
him an order good on Saturday. Then they
carefully erase his name from that list of cell
ebrities known as the payroll.
A wood cut is a picture published in con-
temporary. In a friendly critique upon it, it
should always be alluded to as patent medi-
cine ad., worked over into an etching of
Carey, the Irish informer, and afterward used
as q ward map the day before election. If
it is picture Of a local celebrity, ask vaguely
what he has ever done to that paper
Never use the word reporter. It is too
common, and may give folks the impression
that you don't own the Office. Always say
'pencil-pusher, ""scribe, "or '.news-gatherer."
On the suburban press it is considered very
recherche to say 'sye reporter"
Spanish Mendicants.
[Cor. San Francisco Chronicle.1
With regard to mendicants, they swarm.