Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-10

| able is not mere verbal accuracy. A
report may be strictly correct in that
regard and yet be misleading. 1t may
| fall to show the real intent and senti-
| ment of the speaker. The words ut
| tered and reported with too literal eX-
| ironical or testing sense and accom-
| panied by smile or gesture which
reversed their meaning.
So the good interviewer aims to
grasp and hold the meaning and spirit
of what Is said, rather than merely to
remember and report the precise words
used In this way he Is much more
likely TO do justice to the Interview
than by mere verbal repetition, which
tests only the memory and not the
understanding.
Newspaper restrictions of space
rarely permit a full verbal report OF
interviews, speeches. debates or pro-
ceedings of public character. Nor Is
such a report desirable. There is no
room for mere verbiago. The notion
that newspapers print anything to "fill
up" Is absurd in these days. when
waste baskets are daily filled with re-
jected press dispatches and other copy
by the bushel and the work of news
editors consists mainly of selection,
boiling down or elimination. Even de-
sirable matter must often perforce be
"killcd," because there IS no place for
1t.
AMERICANS AND BRITONS.
Hence arises the need of both con-
densation and good judgment by re-
porters. Their best success comes from
the exercise of n discriminating intelli-
Scnce, not mere memorizlnS. The chle1
reason why British newspapers are dull
by comparison with the press of this
country Is that British reporters are
trained to verbal accuracy rather than
to Interpretation, selection, the cultiva-
ton of terse and vivid style, develop
ment of humor and the application OF
the human interest" test in news
gathering and writing.
When Lord Harmsworth, the very
successful London publisher, was in
San Francisco recently he said he
would not employ on any of his papers
q reporter who did not use stenography
on the other hand. 1t is more than
probable that many English reporters,
writing shorthand well. could not
obtain employment on the best Ameri-
can newspapers, because of their lack
of ability to mako interesting copy"
It Is probably true that British jour
nails. as a rule, arc more accurate than
their American contemporaries. at
least in a verbal way; but it would be
a mistake to assume that substantial
correctness is not the rule in the press
OF the United States.
CARE INSISTED UPON.
The fact is that all good newspapers
in this country insist upon painstaking
care and fidelity to truth In the gath
ering and writing news. Careless or
slovenly reporting is not tolerated. But
errors in print are more or less inevlt-
able. although they commonly arise
from the mistakes OF informants and
not of the newsgatherers. No two
witnesses of any event. even one OF
great interest or Importance, will give
the same account of 1t, and often their
variations Will widely differ. even In
essentials. And reporters are thus led
into mistakes through no fault of their
own.
Nevertheless. the labor and pains
commonly bestowed by reporters on
mere details. in the effort to be entire
ly correct in a news STORY" would
surprise the critics who assume them
to be habltually Indifferent TO such
niceties. Only those who have done
such work can appreciate fully the in
dustry and conscientious devotion to
duty which characterize reporting for
the press. and which are essential
qualifications for success in that oc-
cupdtlOns tkepOTleTS are flCL SalntS, OUT
neither are they shirks or slovens in
their bread-winning.
THE TRUTH SOUGHT.
The surprising thing In the publica-
ton of news is that 1t is so generally
correct Editors and publishers we'll
understand the value and importance to
q newspaper Of a reputation for reli-
ability In statements of fact Hence
the strenuous effort not only to print
the news as soon as possible but also
to get II straight, First class news
papers. no matter what their policy.
even in rational campaigns publish po-
litical news with fairness and impair
tiality. however partZan may be their
editorial comments.
All we learn of current history is
what we find In the newspapers The
daily Journal spreads before its readers
the events of the world, gathered and
transmitted at enormous cost, from
many countries and by thousands of
skilled men. In all this mass of intclli-
gence there is seldom an error suf-
ficiently material to call for later cor
rectlon. And it is to be remembered
,hat in printing all that on a given day
can be learned of any great cataStro-
phe the press cannot justly be charged
with mistakes. even If later infornla-
tiori varies greatly from first reports,
with relation to loss OF life or property.
William A Lawson