The Washington times., 1916-01-27

ES' story" said the man at the
1T wondered if 1t wasn't
4taid the woman across the taple, anu
sthey both laughed, and dismissed the
Subject
n Just a newspaper story" l WONDER
sif either of them had the faintest ioeS
fDf what Just a newspaper stOIy
.lneans to the newspaper that sets IhS
STORY, and prints II. - L,,or
III l wonder II any one VINO mas heNSi
ybeen in the newspaper business IN any
teapacity ever really even half guesses,
n l didn't. / didn't even suspect, VII l
had a chance to learn. ! thought news
ypaper editors sat In nice comfy ohlce
fand listened to stories. all KINDS OF
stories good and bad and Interesting
and uninteresting, and when the time
frame that they wanted to go nome ana
have dinner they just picked out rev
etories and marked them some way 50
1he printers would understand. and that
sHRs all there was to it,
Z Hard work, anxiety, enterprise, good
Judgment. policy, public spirit, real
truth out Of the happenings of the
whole world in one day into one single
paper? I'd never even heard OF such
thing, and when l did hear Of 1t be-
gan to wonder how on earth they ever
did 1t at all, half as well as they do.
And I'm wondering yet!
Did you ever see q newspaper get out
after a story? l have, and it's an in
teresting thing to witness.
Getting a Story.
The hint that there is story-a big
story, something really important
comes into the office, say. at Z O'Clock
at night. The city editor gets hold of 1t,
and picks out his three best men, one
TO get the local end of the story, one to
get interviews on 1t and the other to
go on the quickest train to the scene
of the story and get at the real facts
Those facts must be in the office by
midnight. The people concerned live
eighty miles away. The local CORE
sDondent in the small town where the
Sou never know what his personal rela-
lions may be in an affair like this.
What II the absconding cashier has
married his sisters sister-in-law? What
. If they both went to school together and
married sisters a city man that the
city editor knows must do the work.
The woman IN the case lives in town.
and made to tell what the man did with
the money, and why she's willing
to tell about IT, The mans
mother lives In another direction,
shortest way, He may be hiding at
home. Somebody must go and find out.
The telephone won't do. Nothing will
do but q good sharp-eyed, quick-eared,
resolute. quick-witted reporter.
How long would, it take you to get
at the truth Of that story the real
truth, with everybody concerned In II
doing their very best to deceive you
and the whole public?
trying to find out where the man In the
cage went every Sunday when he hired
horse and buggy and disappeared for
two or three hours. At o'clock you re
at the garage cross-questioning a
GSumpy chauffeur and doing your best
80 get him to feel that he ought to tell
what he knows about the trip the mar
took when he escaped. Ten O'Clock,
you've Weakened the president OF the
bank out OF his first sleep and made him
come down stairs in his bathrobe and
admit what he's been denying since
o'clock In the afternoon. Eleven
o'clock, you've seen the mans greatest
chum. his greatest enemy, his rival in
the bank, the man who got him the JOB
In the bank, and you've got your eno
of the story.
in? What shall you leave out?
Was the fellow a goOd-natured dupe
and tool or was he a CRAFTY schemer
Half the people you saw told you one
thing and half told you another,
No, they weren't all lying. Some OF
them believed what they said. But II
won't do for you to believe it, entirely.
ErrOrful Or CriticprOOf.
Half-past eleven. your story is on the
wire. Every name and every initial and
every address in 1t is as near right as
you can possibly get it.
At the office the man has come in
with the woman's story. 1t controdicts
itself in three important details. Which
is the right version?
The mans mother wouldn't talk. poor
soul.
Now comes the question OF policy,
Who are the stockholders in the bank
How many depostoTs were there? What
effect will that story and the publishing
OF it have on business?
Ought II to be played up OF the first
page, or played down on the third
Who's writing the headlines! Hurry, not
a minute to spare. How many letters In
that top-head? No, they can't get one
too many or one too few. Even the
spaces must be counted-one. two. three
four-they're waiting, there at the copy
desk Don't waste another minute
Somebody'il find fault with the head II
the morning. I'd like to see one of thS
faultfnders write anywhere near al
good one in twice the time.
It's gone-the stoTy's downstairs. pas
the copy desk, past the city editor
past the news editor, past the night ed.
tor. past the managing editor. You cam
let an important story like this slip into
the paper just by accident. Every one
of these people have to see It and pSsi
on 1t. It's gone, the papers out. anc