The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1922-06-14
THE PASSING OF THE:
NEWSPAPER "SCOOP"
The Old Days of The Exclusive Story
Slowly But Surely Going.
(By Charles II. Zubcr)

While the quest for news on the
part of the daily press is as keen
and probably more so-in the present
da yas it was at any time in the past,
there is no longer the frequent pro-
duction or creation of the newspaper
"scoop"-as it was called in the West
or "beat," which was its eastern de-
signation-that marked the progress
i've and insistent journalism of that
period preceding the beginning Of the
present century. OF course, there
arise occasions when one newspaper
in a city will publish good "story"
that it's rivals fail to obtain except as
a "rewrite,"; but on the whole, the
newspaper field today, like all other
industries and crafts, is SO well stand
ardized that the opportunities for put
ting a scoop" over on the other fell
low are decidedly remote.
Police cases, court proceedings,
hotel news, financial atfairs--in fact
all the big sources of daily news
now are handled in such a way at
their respective places of origin that
there is little or no prospect of one
newspaper getting an advantage over
another, But it was not always so.
In the old days there were advantages
VI '"i iotto Nitito CIlJSyCd w llNiNluutl
newspapers or reporters that proved
psolitic fields for Scoops" In those
days the newspaper or newspapers
which had political af1iliation with a
city, county or state administration
were always favored when big story
"broke," this preference extending to
police departments county court af-
fairs and state news developments.
Trickery Ofttimes ResOrted to
Nor was trickery excluded from the
category of the news gathercrs of
those days. One Of the common
methods of getting Il scoop" was to
secure petitions field in suits which
promised something sensational and
then concealing the papers from the
other reporters until the "story" was
on the streets exclusively in one pap
er. Another common method of "put-
ting one over" was to secure a live
item from some individual, who de-
sired to reach all the newspapers with
his story, on the promise that the re-
porter receiving the statement give it
to the reporters. The promise always
was made, but sometimes "forgotten,"
with the result that the reporters to
whom the item was originally told
scored a Scoop" while the man with
whom the story originated was "n
bad with the other reporters, who
would not believe that he had re-
quested it's general dissemination. Of
ticials, police characters, business men
lawyers and others toadicd to news
papers either as a matter Of pr0tec-
tlon or to curry favor for future con-
Sideratlon, and in this way many a
scoop was registered
RAT ,,nlnr nx.;cT,,,,,
the thirst for nublicity and the fear
of journalistic cnmity is in the heart
OF every man who may become the
guardian or source of real news
item, and with the various public
agencies where news originates max
ing known all their operations the ad-
vents Of scoops" are few and far
between. To what an extent this dis
seminatlon Of big news" has become
general instead Of exclusive, is illus
trated in an incident in Middle West
city, where two newsboys were sell
ing rival evening papers. One of the
neWsIes was shouting aloud the "scn-
satlon' which his paper carried. The
other vendor, standing close to the
boy who was conducting the journa-
listlc ballyhoo, waited until prospcc-
tive buyers came within few feet
of him and his rival, when he would
remark, in an ordinary tone of voice,
"l'vc got it in the Times" meaning
that he had the same item in the pa
per he was selling, with the result
that, as his paper was the more pop
ular of the two, he sold more than
the chap who was drumming up the
trade by his noisy shouting.
And the Rival Gets the Story
A unique "scoop" is that of which
old newspaper men Of certain city