The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-11-15

HOW A NEWSPAPER
GETS ITS NEWS
BY c. n. Dennis, Editorial Staff,
Chicago Daily News"

the editors point of view about the
business of making newspaper is the
steady growth of the volume of news.
Year by year there is a marked in
crease in the daily number of stories
of interesting happenings which insist
upon getting themselves published. The
art of selection continually advances
as the freshet of current news rises
and widens before the eyes of the ex-
perienced men upon whose Judgment
depends the arrangement of the news
papers contents. The daily or nightly
struggle to find room for everything
which must be printed and the sicken-
ing sacrifice of long columns of matter
which the available space will not ac-
commodate because other matter
deemed of more value is given the
preference are familiar to the working
force of every large newspaper. The
frequent query by members of the
reading public as to how a newspaper
"gets enough news to fill up is always
regarded as huge joke by those who
have experienced the bitterness of re-
jecting good copy merely to reduce the
supply to the point where the space
allotted to presentation of the worlds
doings will contain it.
The volume of news grows larger all
the time. because more things happen
that merit the attention of intelligent
readers as the nation advances in popu-
1ation, its culture broadens, it's indus
tries increase and it's foreign interests
grow. Thus it is that intelligent selec-
ton and skilful condensation now play
a larger part in the creation of the
daily newspaper than at any previous
time.
But where does the news come from?
Local happenings are chronicled by
j a force of reporters under the direction
of the city editor, who assigns each
man of his staff to special duties. In
telligence from public offices and other
places which regularly supply news of
minor interest is usually collected by
a central press association, its reports
being sent in duplicate to all the city
newspapers, thus simplifying the work
of recording the activities of ga COM
munity and cutting down it's cost. Then
there is the news which comes by tele-
graph. Whether it originates in Cam
ton, Ohio, or Canton, China, the news
papers must have it if it is important
Here one meets with the work of the
Associated Press, an organization own
ed and controlled by leading news9a-
pers Of the various cities and main
tanned for the sole purpose Of collecting
and disseminating news.
Every newspaper having an Asso-
ciated Press franchise contributes it's
share toward the expense of employ
ing agents in the various cities, ieas-
ing telegraph wires and paying tele-
graph and cable tolls, fixed weekly
charge, being assessed against it. Ev-
cry such newspaper places its proofs
at the disposal of the local agent of the
Associated Press, who selects from
them what he thinks will be of interest
elsewhere and sends it by telegraph to
the nearest distributing center, usual
ly New York or Chicago. While it has
agents in smaller cities, it gets much
of it's news originating in those cities
from the special dispatches sent to the
newspapers in large centers of Dopula-
ton If for example, disastrous train
wreck occurs somewhere in the West
the Associated Press probably will re-
ceive an account of 1t from it's local
agent in that vicinity, but it also will
coming into the newspaper offices of
Chicago, St Louis and other cities.
From these various sources it will be
able to construct full and satisfac-
tory account to send out to it's clients
if by any chance it's own report shall
be meager or confused. Great care is
taken, of course, never to furnish to
any newspaper facts obtained from the
office of another newspaper in the same
city.
Many newspapers depend almost en-
tirely on the Associated Press for all
news except that which DEVELOPS in
the local field. Enterprfsing newspa-
pers. however, receive large quantities
of special Geographic matter. Some
have leased wires from Washington
and New York. Theoretically, the San
Francisco newspapers should be the
hest in the United States. since the diff
ference in time in their favor enables
them to know all that is published in
the newspapers of New York, Chicago
and other eastern cities in time to re-
produce as much of it as they desire in
their editions of the same day. The
best newspapers take great pains to
keep all important points near and far
guarded by efficient correspondents
who work under instructions sent them
by mail and wire.
Sometimes two or more newspapers
published in different parts of the coun-
try combine their efforts and trade
news on a systematic basis. A New
York newspaper, for example, will have
a correspondent in the office of Chica.
go newspaper, which in its turn vii
have a representative in the New
York newspaper office. They will divide
the United States between them ano
each will supply the other with news
originating in the territory allotted tc
it. The Atlantic States. including
Pennsylvania, and the southern states
as far west as the Mississippi. may De
the territory covered by the New 1orb
newspaper, its Chicago associate taking
all the rest of the country as its share
The news editor of each newspaper
daily combs the entire continent for
suggestions, keeping a careful RECORD
of all conventions, important court
trials and other gatherings which re-