The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-27
PRESS AND PHONE Some of the Ways This Means of Communication Helps
 Journalism.
MUCH TRAFFIC BY IT
Important Service In Locating Men, Securing News md Economizlng
 Time of Paper Workers.

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 of distinct value In every profession that Is known to-day there Is no ono line of work in which the telephone can be considered of greater practical value to the existence of the object than In the life of the modern daily newspaper The telegraph still plays part of the most vital importance press associations eliminated would mean taking half the life out of a publlcation-the men still go the rounds collecting the news, as they did In the days before telephone ser vice was practical enough to be of any values but 1t must be remembers ed that in the execution of the func- tons of all branches, the telephone Is constantly called upon to perform it's part in order that the system may work perfectly.
 The proof of the value of tele- phone lies in the fact that there Is not newspaper in the state of Con- necticut to-day, for instance. no mat ter how small its territory may be, that does not have n telephone; while the dailles in the larger cities have. may of them. several instruments in- stalled, or, as is the case In several of our first class offices, private branch exchanges The telephone has come Co be an absolute necessity to the newspaper, q part of the system that handles the task of collecting and getting to press the news of the day
 Possibly there is no one thing that tho telephone does for the newspaper man that is of greater value than It's reduction of the time consumed on a single assignment or story. It re- duces this to minimum; lt brings the distant points where the news gathcrer must go to collect his infor- nation in close proximity to the desk
 where 1t must be whipped into shape
 for It's readers. Locally, 1t makes the problem of Hate news much simpler one to handle.
 Every man who has worked on a newspaper knows just how and where
 the true worth of tho telephone comes
 into existence. Perhaps as compre- hensiye way to picture this as Is pos sihe is to take q single day in the gathering and compiling of news on q
 paper in one of the cities of the state : and show just the part that the in- strument on the desk plays.
 As soon as the wheels of the or ganizaton have begun to move tho man who Is known to his fellows as the police man" steps to the tcle- , phone and proceeds to go 'tht rounds" In other words he give, central the various numbers that will
 connect him with the different police stations in the city and the various
 hospitals If, during the hours aftei l the morning papers have gone to pres 2 anything shall have happened tha . necessltntcs attention from any o 7 these sources, the paper by this mean, is at once put in touch with the news l side of the case before the work o l gleaning the news of the day has beer
 started upon. lt will be readily seer 3 that without the aid of the telephone , this would be Impossible, as mar , would be unable to make a trip to al these stations at such n time.
 [ Several times during the day tn, police man makes the rounds ol , the telephone and by this means | e kept in touch with this side of tn, f news source at all times.
 e The city editor has before him cor respondence sent in by one of hi Q staff from a nearby city. He note f the fact that there is q good story . that his correspondent hae neglected { to appreciate and obtain. It take ,. ,time tG send a man to the town l perhaps the distance makes this pro 7 hibitive, but he must have the stor! , for fear that one of his competitor l shall beat him out on it Onc B more the telephone comes into play . He aeks for toll line and in a shor e time is in communication with hi I man, giving him minute instruction . as to how to handle the story am . just what feature of 1t the paper | . anxious to show up, Later on in tn
 morning this same man will send il r the facts over the telephone, and tn Q paper Is in possession of stor, B that it might have been impossible { c obtain except through this means. n Meanwhile the men on tho street
 have gone out on their various n "beats" Some friend of the pape
 calls up on the telephone and say s that he has a story for Jones. He | a friend of Jones and will give hi - story to no one else. Jones is cover :. ing the court beat" Tho city edito O takes down the telephone, calls ul { and finally locates Jones, who pro . cceds to obtain the story In ques r tion It may prove to be a "bi d "header," so he in turn calls up hi
 office to let them know and to recelv e instructions. He is told to go out O r 1t. Meanwhile another one of the re @ porters Is reached on the telephone an 0 told to cover the other mans beat e Your man on the story finds that h IT will not be able to gather all tn 3, stray ends of the story and get bac
 to his office in time to get the copy
 shape, so he calls up on the telephon
 and gives the facts to one of tn
 men in the office, who proceeds { s write 1t, leaving the original ma
 free to continue his search for otht
 phases of the case Once again tf