Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1929-10-03
NEWS WRITING
Papers Read Before ASkOv American
Correspondents at Their
Dinner. fe31


my speeches are very much like my
yaccinations-they don't seem to take
so we'll. In addition, l am working
under the handicap of being teacher
and you know how they are received
above. st. Peter was standing at the
gate one day when someone knocked
who's there?" asked st. Peter.
Its me-" answered the voice out
side.
Come in," called st. Peter.
Another one knocked and again St
Peter called, who's there?"
Its me-"
open the gates and let him in"
A third one knocked, who's there?
called ST. Peter
1T is L." answered the voice.
ST. Peter threw up his hands In
horror. "Oh, it's another one of those
school-teachers, tell him to CO.
well you know where school teachers
go. Such is their reception above
I'm told, and from personal expert
ence, l have found that it is very
much the same on earth. If, how
ever, you will put aside your personal
predjudices for a moment, l want to
talk just briefly on little more news
paper work and the news. In this
connection, l always like to bring ur
Pulitzer's definition of news. He said
eff dog bites man, that isn't news
but if man bites a dog, that's news. y
| begin with a definition because
have a-decided tendency to deal in
generalizations that mean absolutely
nothing unless they are very care
fully defined, and l feel certain that
our whole social system would be on
a sounder foundation if we had twice
as many definitions and half as many
orationS.
There are three cardinal virtues
that every newspaper man knows as
a second nature and l think it might
be well to repeat them here. speed
accuracy and brevity. The necessity
for speed in the handling of news is
Self-evident. The necessity for &C.
curacy should be, but at times we
get careless. In such case it is
always well to recall the story OF
the nurse who was taking her final
examination. She had just finished
writing her examination and went UP
to the examiner, handed in her paper
and turned to leave when she suddenly
realized she had made a mistake
Turning to the examiner she said
Doctor, may l have my paper back
for moment, find that l made an
error which | should like to correct
Whats wrong?" growled the doctor
Ct hope the doctor at this banquet
will not check too closely on my
knowledge of weights).
why" the nurse said, lone ques-
ton asked, how much anesthetic
should be given a patient about to
be operated?' and | wrote eight ounces
but | meant to write eight grams
TOO late now" the doctor said
1.-The patient is dead"
So it is with news stories, it is
too late to correct errors after the
story has reached the press, once
printed, the patient is dead. Omar's
little Rubayat, seems appropriate:
THE moving finger writes; and
having writ,
Moves on; nor all thy pity nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half 6
line,
Nor all thy tears shall wash out 3
word of it,"
If | were to find fault in any way
with modern news writing, it would
be this, not that we do not give enough
space to great events and great
men, but that we give entirely toe
much space to mediocre events and
mediocre men, that we use the same
language to describe the great and
the pseudo-great and the reader is
left unable to distinguish between the
two. A close adherence to the standard
of brevity should eliminate this, if We
make it a point to leave out of news
is essential. Doing that, the great
man will get what is coming, ant
most of the words and adjectives useC
in describing the pseudo-great, will be
eliminated. Give unto Caesar, thai
which is Caesars"
In my own writing, | have a habit
when | find myself getting long-wind
ed, of picking up the odd family Bible
and glancing at the front page story
the story of the Creation of the World
That was a really important news
event but you will notice that the re
porter managed to put the story into
800 words. So l tell myself, go thou
and do likewise" according to the i'm.
portance of the story.
good reporter should have many
special talents that can be developed
but to try to analyze them separately
would be too tedious. The story oil
the first American newspaper woman
illustrates my point. Her name was
Ann Royale and she lived during the
period following the Revolutionary
war, the time when a woman reporter
was about as popular as a case o.
smallpox. On many occasions SHE
tried to interview President Adams
only to be turned away. But she
watched her chance. One day wher