Evening star., 1937-11-28
By Mary.Carfer Roberts,


L weeks she had been able to as
sure herself that there would be no
more life histories Of individual news
paper men written, for the simple rea-
son that all the boys had already gone
on record She counted them over,
precious few were left Beginning with
Vincent Sheean, followed snapplly by
Negley Farson, they started giving the
world their little confessions about
three years ago. The ordinary sweet
reticence of the profession broke down
rapidly as it became evident that those
pioneers were gathering up magnifi-
cent royalties from their revelations,
and very shortly the rush to the
presses became stampede. Webb
Miller, John Whitaker, Wythe Will
lians, George Slocombe, Linton Wells,
Granville Fortescue, Burton Rascoe-
these are only few of the boys who
courageously stepped up and told what
1t is to be a newsman, withholding
nothing.
A hopeful sign seemed to be that a
recent book has appeared called
Journalists Wife" On receiving it
the reviewer remarked that obviously
the field was now being left clear for
the wimmen folks and that shortly, no
doubt, there would be procession of
works called Journalists Son" and
Journalists Daughter" for clearly
the noble stays had withdrawn from
the arena.
Consequently, she was not little
dismayed, on picking up Mr.. Rosten's S
book, to see the title he had given it.
A little examination sufflced to show
that the lives of our correspondents
are not yet exhausted as sources of
literature. This work Is not series
of biogra phies, as was to be feared.
1t is worse; it is the journalist consid-
cred, as 1t were. In The Mass 1t is
the result of QUESTIONABLE. Yes. It
is the result of QUESTIONABLE. One
hundred and tWenty-seven Washing
ton correspondents were circularized
and invited. under the anonymity OF
statistics, to tell all Their reports
have been summarized here, and those
who want to know the family in
comes, the religion, the marriage sta
tistics, the political creeds and the in
herited attitudes of the local branch
of the Fourth Estate can do no better
than consult Mr.. Rostens pages. No
doubt much good is to be accomplished
by such factual compilations, and. if
you like books that do you good, why
this one is more interesting than
many. The reviewer read it through
wit 1oY ~, n
weight of professional resignation.
Mr.. Rosten first obligingly explains
how news is gathered in Washington.
You 70 to press conferences. or maybe
you have a beat. Some Presidents
have been easy to deal with, he says
and some have not and, since his re-
port on his QUESTIONABLE obviously
would not make full-length book, ne
pads some with reminiscing about the
Executive attitude toward the press
from the days of Theodore Roosevelt
down. He writes, too, that some
correspondents are employed by news
services and some by newspapers. He
does not fail to mention that Govern
ment Offices strive to make life easier
for reporters by giving them hand
outs. And so on.
It Is only when he begins analyzing
his questionnaires that he uncovers
any really good stuff, and he does not
do that until he has set forth. with
his mind obviously turned toward the
current passion for social interpreta-
tions," large mass Of data about
the personal backgrounds and family
lives of the press men. Mostly they
come from middle class and profess
sional families. he notes. Mostly they
were reared in homes supported by
fair incomes. Mostly they themselves
are married Mostly they read the
New York Times and Time. And
quite few of them have attended
college. So what?
AS far as the reviewer can see
nothing. But when, after conScien-
tiously putting these precious facts
down, Mr.. Rosten takes up the OBJ
servations of the reporters themselves
as to what they think Of their jobs,
he does get some interesting material.
On the greatly publicized theme Of
editorial pressure, for one thing, the
questionnaires seem to have brought
out something. For much has been
written lately about the manner in
which the honest newsman is forced
to slant his stories to meet the policy
Of his paper. That there are two
sides to this story (the reviewer is
looking for story which has only
one side and will be delighted if any
one can give her guidance to find
ing IT. is brought out by Mr.. Ros-
tens findings. One of the state
ments which he included for check
ing was the following:
Correspondents try too hard to
please their editors If they had more
independence they would discover that
they really have more freedom than
they assume" To this proposition
over half of the Washington cor
respondents agreed. MIR Rosten backs
up their agreement. too. by quoting
the experiences of a number of papers,
one of them Washington daily. He
also brings out that reporters have
been known to slant stories In &C.
cordance with their private political
SouRlCGlOIlo, dAIilOukH WIldL GIley were
sent to get was nothing except facts
There is a non-conformity and un-
conventionality in these revelations
which the reviewer found downright
refreshing.
In listing the grievances which the
Washington journalists hold against
their jobs Mr.. Rosten also brings out
some cheerful news. High in the
list Of drawbacks was to be found this
item-"enforced association with Con-
gressmen." Others redolent of hu-
man quality were dumb press rela-
tions men," "spotting propagandists"
and handling too many Government
handouts"-of which latter one re-
porter said he got 96 in one day.
Well. there it is. II you 60 in
for these grim factual compilations,
this ought to suit you. It Is not
as dreary as the true masterpiece.