The Greeley tribune., 1910-01-20

envelopes loT Nue WcV" P"es' ~,
And the police reporters AZ Wv
furuishers OF the live" news u II.
day. the murders, the suicide nv
scandals in public and prtvat ne
the heart throb" stories lhc
country girl under arrest ir t"e
Srst time" and whose porttAil As
matter of fact, probably 0pcules
nlaee in the Bertillion roomD o mos'
Of the police stations OF eicdntrs
or course. we are well ava tha'
I, is lust and proper to dect5 ne aa,
yoncement OF the sensational 90 All
that. but the metropolitan ne'spap'
ers meet popular demand iAr theS
cater to public taste the saloe S Tue
cIothier. the shoe man and III mtr-
chant OF any description. ~ VIII
readily admit that a scientioc isco',
ery is OF much greater real Jews
ynne than any sensation. b. the
bic newspaper knows bettettAn lts
censors which pays best, letrr cuI'
tured and the conservatives r'e As
they will.
But this is all by the waS II is
after the case has come to tAe 1ollce
reporter that ii goes to tAe court
house. The copy which bl 1Hs OUT
the sensational headlines. Neeks'
fires and everything with ~ Keep
tion of the political stun. Is fO the
police reporter or his assis0rs
And 20 get back to orig u sub
iect Ask him how many reputlons
he has ruined III you get 4tneath
his shell and inspire enou ,onii'
dence to force him to tell " truth
which is rather difficult ak on
short acquaintance and unQ he Is
sure that you are telling I'd ruth,
he will inform YOU perhap& the
Young women j. have
come to the station for the g h time
and who have been given kitlous
names in the papers. 1t Ia nj II all
for the police r1Irters
from all the papers of a city % get
together II they are convince that
either the man or the womat - the
case is innocent, and while kh city
editors are keeping the telephbr. line
hot for copy: to agree on n false
name and use il. to save the ffe7uta-
lion OF the person in Questi OF
,ourse, il would mean the b. OF
Jobs OF all of them IL the iAf-ma-
ion got to the editors. b1t such
hings occur daily in every CT
SO when YOU read about thu pung
,irl "of tender years. Bpaline
iockayne, tthe euphonious I ta-e is
lways preferred by the frateuityl
nd see her picture in the5 PIPER,
ont be too sure but that het 1ame
: Susan Smith and that the ipHture
on waste your sighs over Is not
usan at all but some actteS of
rance or Germany which H. re-
orters have dug up and Of which
ach has taken a copy at THO -ear-
81 photographer shop.
In cases where they can. pdli5e re-
orters often get together to s,ia'd
he name of the person underfaTest.
he STORY" is what they are alter
nd Smith is as good as Jenss II
hey are sure that the case vi not
o beyond the police station at that
here is no chance of ''comef fhlck"
But it is in cases of polio that
he newspapers do the harm. a. This
5 very seldom the fault of D. re-
'orters. You may be able to huy up
he owner OF some one or ~ Aer
" the metropolitan dailies bnt you
will not find one reporter in fivc
hundred who will accept your bribe
to keep quiet. The excitement at
ached to running story 10 earth
means more to him than money. The
verage newspaper man or woman
5 not in the game for III money
here is in IL. II they were. they
night devote half the energy and
heir, at least. ordinary intallects to
allings where the pecuniary gain ID
greater 1t is simply the deli isht OF
he chase. which cannot BE- under
tood or explained to one outside the
game. A killing pace you will say
)f course. but few years OF II
shows up life as 1t can be learned in
10 other manner.
To return to policy Il is the
policy of. for instance. a conseryA-
ion and respected paper OF this state
o shield the street car company OF
hat city.
Here Is concrete case. One niRht
about 8 O'Clock an expressman waa
run down by car whereon the mot
orman was drunk. knocked rom his
seat and killed. The car yaa run.
ming wild without passengers and
no warning gong had been sounded
These facts were learned by the re-
porter OF the conservative paper who
was on the case. He found witnesses
who had seen the expressman run
down. The other reporters did not
The police did not. because they
didn't try.
The reporter went back to the no
lice station and telephoned the cit :
editor the facts.
Say the. he was drunk anl drove
In front Of the car
But ! have witnesses who saw
him run down" -.
You know our policy" md III
went the receiver and tho renorteI
had his choice either of writiny N,
story as the policy dictated and hold
ms JOB or else tell the truth l,~e hi,
job and then have the story vritter
over again when 1t went Ia ,he of
fee '"'
l.