New Britain herald., 1925-09-26

Stating that the Chamber of Commerce and the local newspapers, both alike under the public eye and 10th subject to criticism at all times, every man believes he can run cith- CT better than it Is being done" he explained that the Chamber of Com mcrcc needs the newspaper 10 get It's activities before the public.
 Lack of teamwork between the Chamber ot Commerce and the To- cal newspaper causes a great loss Of opportunity, but fortunate Is the secretary who hns experience and ability enough 10 see news from newspaper point of view and to be disposed 10 play fairly.
 "lt were better for the secretary l it he had a millstone tied about his neck and be thrown Into the midst of the sea, If he were so unfortunate as 10 get in bad with his local news papers"
 He stated that there have been cc-
 casions when differences arose be- 1 tween Chamber Of Commerce. secrc- 1 iarioS and reporters that certain un-
 scrupulous reporters would manage deliberately 10 get around at the chamber Headquarters at the wrong
 time, when secretaries did not have
 a chance to talk to them, or to so
 bsrrass the secretary. He also said
 important stories sometimes have
 been minimized and placed In. ob'
 scure positions in papers. "while tAt
 thumbs down method is too well
 known to be worthy of comment
 Cordial Relations Exist.
 "A largo portion of newspaperman
 look upon the Chamber Of Commerc,
 as something of community value,
 he stated, adding that he had re.
 ceived his information from tht duestionnaire which he had sent tC S6 secretaries and 1S2 newspapers , In practically every case he said h' found cordial relations between th' , Chamber of Commerce and the news ? papers.
 l People can get away with hcarsa, l statements, but newspaper state 9 ments must be authentic he dc I clared. "The burden of rcsponsibilit ( for getting together the news rest s with the secretary. One wants th = news and the other wants the pub
 licity."
 He said his letters indicated tha - about so per cent of the newspaper '' desired the Chamber of Commerc = to write its own stories, while tn a others preferred to write their owl y Classifying what is most aCceptabl q from the Chamber of Commerce, h a mentioned news, free from propa e ganda, news which is not eXploitiu = the organization"
 '- One of the questions he asked WE Il how the Chamber of Commerce new a- could get onto the front page. Il 'i learned that story finds it's ow h place according 70 It's news value. H l. was told that the average Chambt es of Commerce copy is apt 10 be tc 's stereotyped and contain too muc :! propaganda.
 Some surprise was manifest vhe
 Mr. Xix stated that the result of h = questionnaire showed d practical a> unanimous feeling among neWsps q pers that Chambers of Commerce q 5. not take full advantage of their ol oi poriunities for constructive publicit r. Regular locations and stock heat lo for Chamber Of Commerce new y" were universally disapproyed. Fo n low-up stories are looked upon H. many newspapers as advertising ar IL" should be paid for, he said. % Most papers believe that a certa
 amount of latitude in propaganC m should be allowed the Chamber 'S' Commerce. all replies indicated h. favorable sentiment in newspaper o 'h hccs towards Chambers of Commtr re and all indicated that trained pub
 city men in Chamber offices a ot Imost successful in handling news CT He said that because of pressu re for space, secretaries must not Q n- pect newspapers to accept stories n- written. always, that space requil
 ments always governed the situatio
 Few stories from Chambers of Col nd merce are entitled to front pa F. space, he added. No papers perm of outsiders to write news heads is vcry few accept edit writ as- outside their own offices.
 of That MT RiX and his Questtonna on nad thoroughly covered the entl ms situation was the statement made
 John R. Reitcmeycr of Hartlo