Evening journal., 1914-04-22
THE UNITED PRESS
BY Will IRWIN IN HARPERs WEEKLY

H' NAHohntu lht OilkHldA lulills
The Scripps papers are all evening
publications, and the new United
Press strictly an evening bureau,
( with a revise for the Sunday morn
ing edition of afternoon newspapers
] must state this more than casually
If the reader would understand the
larger aspects of the situation.
scripps grew great in journalism at
time when department store adver-
tising had become supremely i'm
portant to the budget of a newspa-
per- For reasons too complex to
enumerate here, the evening news
paper appears to be a better adver-
tlsing medium with women than the
morning newspaper. AT least the
department stores say that they find
it so. The immediate profit of jour
nalism lay In the evening field. The
consequence was that not only
Scripps, but those young men who
had started newspapers in spite OF
the Associated Press, and who must
now depend upon the new United
Press for their very existence, we're
all evening men," The United Press
decided not to wander from this field.
ing service.
Howard and his associates, know
ing the special needs of their clients,
discovered at once a flaw in the rival
bureau. The Associated Press had
been founded mainly by morning
newspapers. The most powerful
members of the organization we're
jealous of their rights; they had in
sisted that the evening wire," should
close at four o'clock-that any news
which broke" after that time OF day
should belong to the morning news
papers. This precluded those sport
ing extras" which have become of
late years such a prominent feature
OF journalism, for almost all sporting
events, notably baseball games, are
finished after o'clock in the after
noon. Certain Associated Press news
papers were getting out sporting ex-
tras, but they had to employ for that
purpose a special service of their
own. The United Press, with no
morning clients to hinder their activ-
tiles, installed a sporting service
running from 4 to Z o'clock. As time
went on, they established the GUS
tom of including in this sporting SER
vice any important news which
broke" late in the afternoon. The
effect of this policy is obvious Even
ing newspapers served by the Asso-
ciated Press could not publish extras
on important late afternoon news.
Evening newspapers served by the
United Press could. The United
Press In time forced the Associated
Press to establish a sporting wire"
in order to meet the competition.
But before this happened, the United
Press newspapers had broken into
the clientele of the Associated Press.
Hampered by no tradition of "col-
orless" news, the managers Of the
United Press proceeded to cover the
world after their own fashion. They
could not yet employ those expert
and extremely able correspondents
who had done so much for the Asso-
ciated Press. They had not the
means; they had not yet developed
the men. And it used to be said in
the beginning that the United Press,
as compared with the Associated
Press, was technically crude. ! am
not so sure Of that These young
men might not have so much under
standing of rhetoric or SO much ap-
probation Of a balanced sentence;
but they were able, by the character
of their instructions, to put some
thing of their own feelings into their
news reports. They expressed char
acteristically the popular point OF
view. In reporting the affairs of
Europe, for example, the world re-
nOwned correspondents of the Asso-
ciated Press had given the traditional
old accounts Of debates in Parlia-
ment and Of war rumors on the Con-
tinent. The United Press tried to
I Iind and print news concerning the
common people Of Europe-what they
were thinking and doing. what part
they had in great events. This in
stance has often been cited as illus
trating the difference between the
two bureaus; and II IS worth citing
again; When King George was
crowned at Westminster, the Asso-
ciated Press reported the pomp and
parade Of the event, told of the mass
ed regiments, the cheering crowds.
the splendid medieval ceremony in
the Abbey. The United Press did that
+ and more; IL tried to find just how
much Of the cheering in the crowds
was real enthusiasm, and how much
false; it pictured the hungry mob of
Whitechapel pouring out to see their
King pass; IL showed the outcasts
struggling for the food dropped from
the picnic-baskets of more fortunate
spectators. Here was the point of
view in action, If ] may be allow to
mix metaphors. The unbiased" As
I sociated Press men did not know-that
they they we're biased when they fail
ed to see the significance of this fight
for broken vituals
The new bureau has worked on the
same principles at home. If you
wanted to understand the workers
side of the strike at Lawrence, you
had to read. the United Press The
Associated Press was apparently
making brave struggle to give this
side-they were quoting the labor
leaders as we'll as the employers. But
the spirit Of labor was not there, be-
cause the Associated Press cores
). pondents did not see with the labor
er's eyes, while the United Press cor
respondents did
BY such methods the United Ppess
began to absorb the new evening pa.
pers as they sprang up through the
cOuntry-nOw that the existence oi
an "open" press bureau make It DOS.
: sible to start newspapers Il has
| grown from the original 300 subscrib.
, ers in 1907 to 515 in 1914. The Asso.
. ciated Press has, I believe, about 5OC