The Washington times., 1916-01-27

dinner the other night.
& II wondered if 1t wasn't,
9said the woman across the table, ana
sthey both laughed, and dismissed inc
ssubject.
g Just a newspaper story "ohuei
IF either of them had the faintest ioea
tof what Just a newspaper s'oiy
,-means to the newspaper that sets 'he
N / Wonder If any one who has never
Jbeen in the newspaper business In any
capacity ever really even half Guesses,,
y didn't. l didn't even suspect tlii l
q had a chance to learn. ! thought news
aaper editors sat in q nice comfy ONCE
sand listened to stories. all klnds OF
stories, good and bad and interesting
tand unintercsting, and when the time
frame that they wanted to go home and
have dinner they just picked out rev
stories and marked them some wa! SO
Jhe printers would understand. and that
Syas all there was to it.
i Hard work. anxiety enterprise, good
Judgment, policy, public spirit, real
honest effort to get the real honest
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 it at all, half as we'll as they do.
And I'm wondering yet!
Did you ever see a newspaper get out
after story? l have. and it's an in
1ereStlng tnlnS TO witness.
Getting a Story.
The hint that there is a story-a biz
story, something really important
comes into the office, say. at O'Clock
at night. The city editor gets hold of it.
and picks out his three best men. one
TO get the local end of the story, one to
get interviews on it 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
spondent in the small town where the
you never know what his personal rela-
tions may be in an affair like this.
What if the absconding cashier has
married his sisters sistcr-in-law? what
If he belongs to the same iodgc? 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 il. the case lives in town.
or did week ago. She must be found
and made to tell what the man did with
the money and why shes T%s wiling VIII IN! 8
mother lives in another direction,
an hour and half out of town the
shortest way. He may be hiding at
home. Somebody must go and find out:
The telephone won't do. Nothing Will
do but a good. sharp-eyed quick-earea'
resolute. quick-witted reporter.
How long would it take you to get
at the truth CT that story, the real
truth, with everybody concerned in 1t
doing their very best to deceive you
and the whole public?
Eight o'clock you're at a livery stable
trying to find out where the man in the
Gaze went every Sunday when he hired
horse and buggy and disappeared for
two or three hours. At clock you re
at the garage s,questioning a
ESumpy chauffeur and doing your best
30 get him to feel that he ought to tell
what he knows about the trip the ma n
took when he escaped. Ten o'clock.
Nou've Weakened the president of tho
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 man s greatest
chl.m. his greatest enemy, his rival IN
the bank, the man who got him the JOB
Ia the bank, and you've got your emu
OF the story.
Now. to write it, What shall you put
in? What shall you leave out?
Was the fellow a Good-natured dupe
and tool or was he a crafty schemer
Haf the people oIG you vo saw ano,he aSn you
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?
Tho mans mother wouldn't talk. poor
sOnl
Now comes the question Of policy.
Who are the stockholders in the bank
How many depositoTs were there? What
effect will that story and the publishing
OF it have on business?
Ought it to be played up on the first
page, or played down on the third:
who's writing the headlines! Hurry, not
minute to spare. How many letters III
that top-head? No. they can't get one
TOO many or one too few. Even the
spaces must be counted-Onc. two. three
four-they're waiting. there at the copy
desk. Don't waste another minute
Somebody'll find fault with the hend In
the morning. I'd like to sec one of the
faultfnders write anywhere near al
good a one in twice the time.
It's gone-the story's downstairs. pas
the copy desk, past the city editor
past the news editor, past the night ed
Tor, past the managing editor. You can't
let an important story like this slip into
the paper just by accident. Every one
of these people have to see 1t and pass
ON If Ira Pnnn nnD.r's out. nd