The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-12
IMPORTANCE OF THE REPORTER
Impromptu Address to Students at
Washburn Boswell Hall.

The WaShburn Press club, including
the newspaper class of Washburn COL
flege, last evening listened to an in
formal address in Boswell hall by
Frank P. MacLernan of the State
Journal. who had been invited for the
occa sion. The talk covered thirty
minutes and dealt mainly with the i'm,
portance of THE Reporter" to a news
paper or periodical.
The reporter" Mr.. MacLennan
said. lis the most important man on a
newspa per, for he gets the material
absolutely necessary to the paper with
which he is connected. What a re-
porter gets is just as important to his
paper as essential material as the
flour the sugar, the eggs. the meat
and other raw foods are to the house
| hold. The editor of paper may be
llikened unto a cook or a chef. No
matter how good the material the
cook may spoil the BROTH, burn the
| fowl or make heavy the cake SO the
editor may present the reporters copy
with a poor head or may bury it I'M
den an insignificant heading and in
Jure the worth or value of the report
er'S work.
ION rhe other hand. the editor may
present the story the reporter has pre-
pared with suitable headings on
proper page of the paper and other
wise put well written material in an
attractive, enlig htening and entertain
I
chef may deliver a meal into the din
| ing room in an inviting form, maxi
| ing the food he has cooked delectable,
appetiZing, pala BILE and heaIthful-
TT is absolutely essential that a re-
| porter educate his nose to scent news.
If he cannot do this he should abandon
| the calling. 1t is also most necessary
that the reporter secure the facts,
| for accuracy is one of the first quail
| fications that are insisted upon in a
| hn
| truth the EDITORS comments are
| Worthless, as they are based on state
ments that are not true.
First he must be accurate; second,
| he must be quick; third, he must pre-
sent his story in entertaining and at
tractive form so the reader may swal-
I low facts as if they were sugar coated,
and with a pleasing face, not with
| panied one.
Il was introduced" continued he,
this evening by your president as the
editor of the State Journal. Well, it is
| true I am the editor. but 1 am also one
of the reporters, and many days L
write more reports of happenings than
write editorials, and prefer this re-
| porting part of the business.
| To-day [ came pretty nearly being
| like the man who was given the
privilege of reporting his own funeral.
While you laugh at this statement,
such thing is sometimes done, by the
deceased before he takes his final
| breath.
To-day has been busy one with
me reporting For instance, one of
two libel suits set for this week
| brought against my paper was called
| in the Shawnee county district court
this morning. These suits involve
$4,000 and were based upon the
stories of reporters and whether or
not the stories were warranted, in one
case by the. alleged condition at the
time, three years ago, of the Grand
i Opera House in this city, and the other
by the requests of the workers in the
Fourth Liberty Loan drive last fall
in their anxiety to put Shawnee county
up to its quota.
while waiting for the lawyers to
question and secure a jury covered
or wrote the report for our noon edi-
ton, edited it myself and wrote the
headings. If the plaintiff secures the
$4,000 he asks this may be the case
neral, because $4,000 is a big sum
of money to get together in these times
and perhaps, if 1 am obliged to pay
it, might as well be dead anyway.
"Other items 1 reported for the
State Journal yesterday were one in
the night before; a story in the paper
about the work to be vigorously pros
ecuted on the new North American
Hotel for Topeka; another story near
! ~ rcOlunln III length covering the
opening for business of the new Kan
sas Reserve Building and Loan asso-
citation.
1.-The best writers are good report
ers. The wonderful success of the
books of E. w. Howe is due to his eX-
perience, skill and training as a re-
porter. He is a reporter de luxe. He
tells what his readers want to know
in plain, simple language, the best
kind.
&c
the other great war correspondents.
| Moses. who lived 5000 years age
and reached the mature age of 100
was not only one of the best reporters
of his time, but as a reporter he has
proba bly, never Yet been excelled. Let
me suggest to you, young ladies es-
pecially, for there are more of you
here than of the other sex: that when
you read your daily chapter in the
Bible tonight before retiring that you
turn to the first chapter of Genesis
and read the story of the creation
See if you do not then agree with me
that the 500 words. or scarcely more
than half column, form the work OF
a great reporter. This story, you will
recall. commences with In the begin
ming God created the heaven and the
4 earth and ends the seven hundred
odd words of the story with ON the
seventh day God ended all his work
which he had made; and he rested u
The speaker said that in newspaper
offices conciseness, simplicity in Ian
guage and brevity are all importa Mt
He referred to the exercises fifty-five
years ago at the dedication of the ma
tional cemetery at Gettysburg: "On
that occasion the orator of the day
=. who was scheduled for the great
speech of the occasion, was the elo-
quent and noted Edward Everett
whose GRAFTON occupied more than ar
hour in delivery, yet today scarcely
word of it is recalled, nor is the
name of the speaker as speaker or
that particular day readily remem-
bered
Following Everett came Abra ham
Lincoln, the president, who made what
has proven to be an immortal address
of less than three hundred words and