The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-05
News, ana How It is Handled
 by Editors of .New.cpapers.
BY HARRY J. BURNEY.
 ssS<ss%eAs@eses&

An able corps of correspondents is a necessity to a paper which would suc- ceed. The Associated Press covers the large cities in a manner that cannot be approached by any other news-gathering organization, but its scope is so wide and it's clientele so large, that 1t would be impossible for 1t to supply to each paper happenings which would be of interest only to the readers of the paper in ques- ton.
 To illustrate the truth of this paradoxi- cal statement, it might be said that the marriage of two popular young persons" of Wetumpka, while of interest to many readers of The Advertiser. would be of no moment to the perusers of nearly every other of the 700 papers served by the As sociated Press. Again, if a Montgome- rian of prominence should be even slight ly hurt while on a visit to New York, 1t would be of sufficient interest to the read CTS of The Advertiser to justify the ex- pense of a telegram from New York, whereas the other clients of the Asso- ciated Press would not desire the story.
 The communications from the special correspondents come by both nal and telegraph. In every county seat in the State and in many other towns of Ala bama The Advertiser has correspondents
 
 burden of the local work. He directs the efforts of his corps of reporters, and cor rects and headlines their copy. He keeps a Hog book" wherein are recorded the dates of every convention to be held in the city, the time for the courts to con- vene, and in fact, a schedule of fore casts for everything that may contain news His hand is on the pulse of Mont gomery every minute of his working hours He knows the character and standing of akll public men and men of influence, many of whom perhaps do not know he is in existence. Through his reporters he watches their daily move ments.
 The reporters patrol city for matters of interest to the public. They usually go to work about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, after a conference with the city editor, when they are given their assignments for the day. Each reporter has a special district to cover, such as the court house, city hall, police station, union sta tion, federal building, hotels, capitol. etc.
 News is only obtained by hard, persis- tent and systematic work. The reporter who hangs about the streets waiting for something of interest to occur usually makes a very poor showing in the next mornings paper. A trained man knows that if a riot or a murder occurs, the fact will be soon known at police head quarters; if a man dies some undertaken will have to bury him: therefore, instead of walking the streets with the expecta- tion of seeing a shooting or gazing at door knobs in an effort to discover crepe, he goes to the police sergeant or under taker to learn if 'there is anything do- ing"
 The city editor requires his reporters to keen in touch with the office. It is sometimes necessary for a man to be recalled from a comparatively unimport- ant meeting to be sent to report fire or murder, and the city editor knows the exact location of the man of the minute. The disgrace of being "scooped' (allow- ing a contemporary to obtain and publish a story not obtained and printed by his own paper) Is indeed bitter to every I newspaper man, and especially Is it so to the reporter who is at fault. Atonement can only come from turning the trick against his adversary, and to this end every energy is bent
 The society or woman's department Is an important feature of the daily news paper. Therein is contained news which is of interest to wife, daughter and sister and who is so bold as to say that what claims their attention is unimportant? It is the duty of the Society Editor to gather the news of society, such as mar riages, entertainments. club meetings, personals and similar items.
 The Sporting Editor has charge of the baseball, races-horse, bicycle. yacht. etc. tennis, football, and in fact, all news appertaining to sports. If local, he writes the stories and if foreign, he corrects the telegraphic copy and properly head lines the article.