The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1889-11-07
NEWSPAPER REPORTERS.
THEY ARE AS NEARLY UBIQUITOUS
AS MORTALS CAN BE.

Gained in Their Tield-Most Important
Part of Journalism-Always ON Guard
with Pencil and Paper.
There are few persons that realize the
Importance of newspaper reporter to a
community He is pictured in the i'm
agination of many as a happy-go-lucky
sort of a fellow, whose life is free from
care, and who never exerts himself until
some piece of news fairly envelops him
and he is compelled to take cognizance
of it Others view him as q mysterious
parsonage who thrives like the flowers
of the field and tie birds of the air, With
out any exertion on his part. But it is
a great error to suppose that, Like the
flowers of the field and the birds of the
air, he is nourished and protected with
out earnest labor
There is not buster man living than
the reporter. He is as nearly ubiquitous
as amortal being can be, He goes every
where and delves into everything. The
day of the popular type of the newspaper
reporter is past Years ago, before
Journalism was brought to science, the
local representative of the paper might
have been a very Indifferent and lazy
sort of a fellow Those were the times
before the public was educated to appre.
ciate the value and the interest of news
But whatever he might have been then
he is not so now He is one of the most
systematic, the most industrious the
brightest of workers If he is not sys-
tematic, not INDUSTRIOUS not bright, he
is soon forced out of the ranks and his
place taken by some one better fitted to
honor it than the ider
The newspaper has evolved Just az
man has evolved and as society is evolv
ing every decade What would the
people of today do with the primitive
journal issued by Benjamin Franklin
from his Philadelphia office? They would
throw it aside with impatience and dis.
gust as unworthy of a moments con
sideration. Today the people must have
not only the news of the community in
which they live, not only the news OF
their country, but the news of the entire
world.
Who is it that does all the work for the
y,
The word reporter" is wider term than
people conceive. 1t embraces every one
that contributes in any way to the news
columns of paper, A letter writer is
reporter, provided he deals in his CORE.
spondence with current events. The dar-
ing Journalist who accompanies an army
on its campaign and sends either wildly
rob &,
. reporter. The best work in a paper ia
done by the reporter, because by it there
are the greater number of people enter
tanned
The reporter is contemporaneous
historian. 1t is in this capacity that he
appears in his best light. Tacitus, Thucy-
dides, Livy, Herodotus and Xenophon
were nothing more nor less than report
ers. Caesar combined the reporter with
the military chieftain
The value of the reporter to his en-
ployer is baseG not more on his ability
than on his proper conduct People like
to meet gentleman; they do not like to
associate with boor True it is that a
polished manner without brains will not
make good reporter True it is, also
that a man with brains and rough in his
manner may make splendid reporter
But we meet the ideal reporter when a
fine sense of the proprieties and culture
are combined.
Reporters do much good for the morale
Of a community. If there were no re.
porters to ferret out offenses against
public virtue and the written law, there
might be more who would offend. The
presence of that vigilant, unwearying
fellow who is always armed cap-a-pied
with pencil and paper is a wholesome
check upon those who would like to get
their hands into the public crib and
those who might be engaged in corrup-
ton of various kinds if this sentinel
were not ever on duty to watch their
ingoings and outcomings. The man who
is bent upon wrong doing is ever the
first to decry the reporter.
But without hope of great rewards, OF
fear of individual contumely, the reporter
tolls on, satisfied with the consciousness
of work well done and we'll pleased if he
pleases the patrons Of his paper. Think
how much great newspaper is indebted
to the toiling reporter! He gets little
glory himself. All his labor all his genius
all his courage is absorbed into that great
impersonality-the daily paper-which
cannot hear praise, or feel the glow that
follows well merited compliment Once
in awhile reporter by some stroke of
enterprise, or by some line of work for
which he is peculiarly fitted, makes a
mark and name for himself But the
others, and they are largely in the ma
jority, work on and do just as good work
as the moro lucky one and are little
known outside of their circle.
But, mark you! While the reporter OF
today is a great improvement over the
reporter Of quarter of century ago, he
is destined to progress yet farther in the
scale of perfection. The time is coming
when he will be of more Importance,
even, than he is today This is a blase
and an eccentric age The public de.
mands more news and less opinions. II
wants that DpUS Drnpa rod IL, a cDio,, ,,.,,-