The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1922-12-01
NEWS
YyHAT IS NEWS

" This question, says tho Ash.
land Tidinrs. often perpleIes the
newspaper in seokias TO segregatc
propaganda. legitimate ne~s. public
ity and free advertising. The exist
snce Of the newspaper man Is one
continual conflict between two op.
posing forccs--those who are seek.
Ing BY any means TO get their names
into the paper. and these who bring
pressure to hear In an attempt to
keep their nan es out Of the paper
II q certain nan sees his name IN
print. he will vislt the newspaper Of
flee the followtRS nlprnlng armed
with a shotgun; ~ threaten To
withdraw his Cd Ssr tion and his
advertising. And Vnan will come
to the office wNky wrath in his eye
and demand WY In tho why his
name was not /identified with a GER
tain happening or movement.
Taking IT, ny and far, the old edi'
tor had things sised up correctly
whea he Nd in his editorial eot
umn. tn se who get mad at the
editor ID saying certain thinss
about thdfn. ought to get down on
their. knees and thank the good Lort
the editor did not say all that be
knew"
In his search for news. the report
er meets many strange encounters.
Some will bristie and declare It IS
none OF his business whs, Is goins
to be done: others will say. ''of
course. viii tell you. but please
don't mention my name" and the
chances are ten to one this same por-
son wiz never gives the reporter an.
other news item because the inform
ants name did not appear.
After much inquiry and discus
sion. the conclusion has finally been
reached that news Is any human ae-
tivity or event that 10 of interest 10
any other human. aad that the best
news Is that which interests the
greatest number OF people.
News values are determined by
the field In which n newspaper clrcu-
istes. IL the field is large. with
thousands and thousands OF readers,
the chances arc that nearly every ar
ticle. printed will be OF interest TO
some portion OF the readers, no mat.
ter. how many Of them scan the head
line and pass on TO some article that
possesses interest fer the individual.
In a smaller city. there is more
nroportionate interest over local af.
fairs than there Is about world
events. The fact that John Smith is
planning or painting his barn will
arouse more comment than will the !
dlseovery that the high price OF pea
nuts In Brazil has been caused by |
the policies adopted by the admins
tration in charge of the nations af-
fairs.
Women. children and animals are !
conceded among newspapermen as !
being the best news, and as subjects I
In which the grea,est number OF .
readers are interested. A woman do
Ing any unusual thing. especially for
a woman. as the taking up OF new
activity or line OF work, performing
q daring act or doing a heroic deed,
10 news that viii interest a great
many readers. So will the activities
Of children. while animal stories cen
tered about peculiar acts are also
avdly read by the subscriber
Freaks. human and natural, are also {
TENS that cause the reader to pause
md peruse. !
New facts about old objects are
Ilso excellent material for the man
Who seeks to interest his. readers. A
person may be aware OF the exist
nee OF landmark in the commun-
~ and nay no particular attention y,
0 It for Years. Yet let some new, In
ident pertaining to the landmark be
rought to his attention, and his In
crest In, the object is Immediately
eld. and he sees the landmark in
ew light. il
An event that has been circulated
y word Of mouth during the day, ,
nd which has become public prop
rty. has az much interest for the
verage reader as has some totally
nknown fact that has been brought
llSht. The fact that the entire