News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1900-07-11
NEWSPAPER SCOOPS.
The BANE AND THE NIGHTMARE OF
A JOURNALISTS LIFE.

What "Beat" Means to the Man
With n 'NOse For News"-The Pc
cuIiarities of Securing Inside News
by Washington Correspondents.
They were all newspaper men, and
they were all so united on the PROPOSE
ton under consideration that they did
not interrupt the man who was doing
the talking.
Scoops" said the sharp nosed re-
porter to the others, ARE the bane and
the nightmare of a newspaper mans
life, from the proprietor and managing
editor down to the Maltese office cat.
Many a man occupies a desk today
because of a good beat and many an
other man is engaged in a more humble
occupation because he failed to see
one. Scoops constitute the seesaw Of
journalistic life.
"a newspaper man is as tOuchy on
this subject as a woman on her back
hair; justly So because a standard is
formed by which his journalistic tai
ents are largely rated and his salary
him too often why he didn't get it, he
finally gets it. where the fowl gets the
AK and a new man appears on his for
mer assignment.
editors, however, are usually con-
siderate with a good man, for the lat
ter will scoop his rival as often as he
himself is scooped-perhaps oftener-
| and it thus evens itself up. Sometimes,
! however, the wielder of the blue pen
| Gil has an attack of acute Indigestion,
| like the rest of us, and things are apt
to be unpleasant.
"a good, big beat fills the entire Of
fee with hilarious joy, and particular
! ly the lucky reporter rejoices. 1t oft
times means an increase in salary. The
office of the chief rival contemporary Is
thrown into corresponding gloom.
"The city editor is the adiutant gen.
eral of the force. Usually he is as
considerate as his duty to the proprie-
tor permits. Nearly all are graduates
from the ranks. Where the magazine
newspaper story writer finds the city
editor he usually portrays has always
been a deep, dull mystery to me. He
may treat outsiders Ito be kind to the
magazine story writer as their stories
sometimes relate, but to his force he
! does not carry a drawn sword in his
left hand and a pen dipped in redhOt
caustic in his right. He knows that
of the men under him many are his
peers, capable of taking his desk at a
moments notice and running it as well
as he
"The now you have it and now you
haven't it in cur profession is we'll il
Illustrated by a little occurrence that
happened in Washington a few years
ago, and it proves the element of luck
in the matter of securing news.
''It was undecided whether congress
would pass as read a certain very i'm
portant national measure. The New
York papers were especially anxious
about it. The drift of opinion among
the correspondents was that it would
not so pass. On Monday night say
the correspondent of one of the metro
poltan morning dailies wired his paper
that it positively would not go through
This paper had been talking that end
of the bill all along.
"Ihe correspondent of rival morn
, ing paper had drawn the same conclu
! sions from his days Investigations al
the capitol. He was on his way dOwr
, the west marble steps when he met &
member to whose opinion on the prob
able fate of the bill he attached great
weight. The member declared that the
> bill would positively be passed, I'M
> amended and unchanged, at the open
ing of the session the following day.
q The correspondent cast his own con
trary opinions and those Of the mem
bers he had interviewed to the winds
q He wired that night that the bill would
. certainly pass the following day. l
J did. It's passage was a surprise to thu
. country.
! Before night the other correspond
ent was relieved of his position b!
, telegraph. One made a bold haZarC
against his own judgment, took tina
, of another and won. The other con
=, scientiously obeyed the dictates of hi
+ conclusions, based largely upon tn
!, opinions of men who were in a position
~ to advise him correctly, and lost.
- This case also illustrates the pecul
q iarity of securing news by Washing
. ton correspondents. 1t is sui generis
a Rules which obtain in other cities ar
. impracticable here. Most of the CORE
y spondents are picked men, who ear
- and command good salaries. But on
Of their most important functions is t
make acquaintance with men in OF
l. fetal and congressional life. 1t is a
4 important element in his profession t
S know who to see about a piece o
s, news, and the little interview in ques
1t ton between the correspondent and tn
IS congressman on the west steps is bu
4 an example of everyday episodes i
r the life of a Washington correspond
g ent." -Washington Star.