Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1904-02-16
PAPERS AIM
TO TELL TRUTH
Some Inside Information About
Work in Newspaper
Office.
THE PAPERS NEVER DO
GET ANYTHING STRAIGHT"
Is Often Criticism Heard=-A Few
of the Many Joys and
TribulatiOnS.

Does a newspaper man have
troubles? Every body does ito a GER
tain extent and the reporter and
solicitor are most decidedly no excel
tiOns to the rule Sometimes We
wonder how many of the WOOI
COUNTY REPORTERS readers, after
pouring over their paper. ever stop
to thirk just how the news in it was
obtained
| Chasing items or subscr bers is no
snap. To say that the reporter must
bttdiligent is putting it mild. He
must be prepared to Go anything that
turns up from prize fight to SER
mon, from wedding tn funeral, or
| from political meeting to a suicide.
murder or train wreck. In other
words, he must be at once a sport
ing, church, society and dramatic
writer, while at the same time he
must always have an ear for ordinary
| news.
But it is not always the big stories
that count. He must be vigilant for
| the small things as we'll. It's the
short items that make the paper look
newSy. 1t has been said that variety
is the spice of life and brevity the
soul Of wit. These are especially true
of newspaper work.
What is news? Anything that is
unusual or out of the ordinary is news
| There are several qualities which a
reporter or solicitor should possess.
In the first place, he needs persever-
ance. He must nave the right amount
| but not too much or he becomes
Stunned as pest. He must be quick
and ever on the alert. Tie reporter
should be a judge of people. He must
associate with all classes. He must
know how to make friends He
should possess the power of drawing
people out by interviews and inducing
them to tell when thev are determined
10 reveal no secrets. He must be
| instructive. He must be theoretical.
He must be practical, if all that is
possible. He should know how to
| pick up the thread of case, weave
them together and draw conclusions.
In some cases he must listen to a
dozen or more conflicting accounts of
the same thing and then choose the
most plausible. He must know how
to bluff. Sometimes the reporter gets
his story by making people think he
knows more than he really does. The
reporter should never become dscour-
aged, never under any circumstances.
| Knocks and turn-downs are aS sure aS
the grave itself, only more frequent.
1t is not seldom that he is Snubbed
tor inquiSitiveness.
| Some people have polite way of
saying, None of your business. .
OTHERS are not SO afraid of wounding
the reporters feelings. Pride must
often be kept in the background
The item chaser cannot always be as
consistent as he would like. If he has
opinions he will be wise to keep them
To himself He must be able to clothe
his reports of unfortunate affairs in
such language as not 10 offend
| The newSwriter must know how tC
! quickly and concisely put his story or
! paper in an interesting manner. The
writer of d sensational art icle in which
there is a possibility of tie reportel
going off wrong requires both skill .anC
i Judgment The experienced reporter
never makes positive assertion i
there is danger of a pinch. 1t is ther
that such expressions as. lit is said.
sit is alleged, !" sit is rumored.'' or
''report is going around" and othe
equally worn expressions are employed
Enemies are as natural tn a paper a
Link. Too often .do we hear .peopl,
exclaim, 1.-The papers never do ge
anything straight. = In Justice to tn.
newspaper man. The seldom gets hi.
i dne) let il be said that he general,
aims to tell the truth. He dies no,
as some would have you believe deli
herately falSify.
For instance. when the REPORTEF
hears story and representative We
goes straight to headquarters to get
the correct side of it too often he is
turned down by the person that car
give correct information, but will
not. In such case the reporter must
i write his story as he has heard it. II
he is in possession Of the main facts
1 and can't use his imagination to fl
in the minor but necessary details
then he will never make a practical
newspaperman.
i MIR. Sawyer, of Lndington, once
said. s'You will probably never write
a single article that will please every.
BODY" Ten years has taught that he
was about right.
Il But for all that newspaper work has
a bright side. There is a peculiar
fascination about it. A reporter sci
4 dom does the same thing twice
: When the paper goes to press he feels