The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-02-01
What Women Should
Know About Newspapers
BY Miss Betty Adler

i more careful than the most careful
i business man A cable dispatch is
! not an affidavit but the best estimate
of facts that good newspaper work
can give
i Ninets-nine per cent of the errors
| attributed. TO newspapers are errors
of fact BY that mean they are the
fault of the people from whom the re.
porter obtains his news, and as he is
invariably sent to the person supposed
to be the best acquainted with the
facts, they are either willfully per
| verted to serve other ends or they fail
to give the facts because they are not
! trained observers. In excitement few
people remember details
A newspaper has been .ikened to
tremendous dragnet spread over the
/ whole world through its press
wires. over the counties sur
rounding 1t by country correspondents
and through the city itself by the re-
porters it EMPLOYS. A tremendous
amount OF money is expended daily to
bring within Its grasp great quanti-
| ties of news from far and near. This
daily mass of news matter, after it is
collected, goes through the process of
\ editing and men of experience weigh
and consider each item. giving to it
] the space to which it is entitled by
its news value.
And now have come to that mys-
! terious phrase news value" upon
which daily hangs so many reporters
| hopes and which often causes greater
| heartaches on the inside of the offices
than to Its readers. EVERYTHING is
measured In newspap per Office by its
news value, the greatest interest
to the greatest number. Accidents,
death. marriage. divorce. these are of
universal appeal because they are the
great events OF life. Society as al
whole Is necessarily interested in a
wedding if not 1t would not require
marriage licenses to he taken out as
matter OF vital statistics and record.
A wedding announcement is of inter
est to the whole community. Thus
preferred space IS given to the big
events of life, anything that arouses
either human sympathy or repulsion
and on these are built the human In
terest story. And what is the human
interest story The human interest
story is that which quickens the heart
strings and appeals directly to each
individual reader. The Cherry mine
disaster gave scope for human inter-
est stories galore. The drama is con-
structed on human interest-it is the
| touch that makes the whole world kin
and for that reason it takes a skilIful
reporter to portray it. The ideal story
Is that which interests everyone but
these are not to be had every day.
That answers the question why SO
much space is given to some items
while others pass with brief notice.
You often hear people who do not
miss reading line of some terrible
tragedy complain because the papers
publish narrowing details If the pub !
lie We're not eager to read them they
would not be given space. II you dis
approve of low neck gowns don't |
blame your merchants for selling
them They are only meeting the de-
mand
The late Charles A. Dana of the
New York Sun. one OF the greatest
newspaper men Of the age, in defend
ing this phase of newspaper work be-
fore a body CT college students once
said What God permits to occur am
rot ashamed to report The New
York Times, one of the great news
papers of the country. has as its motto
"All the news fit to print" 1t does
not follow that all news gathered is
printed but according to its value to
the people who are always the SUI
preme court TO whom editors and pub |!
fishers appeal. Your Sunday school
entertainment may be the biggest
thing On your horizon and on that Of
group OF one hundred OF your
friends but is It of sufficient interest
to warrant It's publication twice say
when In the rush of the last half hour
before press time the story OF fire
or suicide or accident calls for Just
that much space? And say 1t is all
UP in type for the first time and in
the last quarter of the ffty-ninth min
ute of the last hour before the paper
goes to press The space is needed to
give to the world news of the defalca-
ton of trusted oficial-which can
wait until another day for its appear
ance? How many people will miss the
entertainment program In comparison
to the number that would miss the
details OF the big story? Ask yourself
that-chances are the reporter and
the editor are as anxious as you to
get In that program but It is clear
case of the survival OF the fttest-
news value with the human interest
element Oh the other side of the
scales
Why do reporters ask so many ques-
tons They are always trying TO
trip yon up on your story" YOU say.
Not at all. A reporter often asks
and repeats a question because you !
have omitted to tell some essential
fact needed And here am at the I