The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-02-05
Today
AND
TOE11OTrOw
Frank Parker Stockridge

SCOOPS 1885,. gossip
It is popularity of the human
race that most of us consider it
feather in our caps to get news
first = whether it is war news,
news of marriage, birth or a
death. We get real satisfaction out
of telling our neighbors some
thing which they haven't yet
heard.
In America it sometimes seems
as though we are nation OF news
reporters all out to get scoop"
When friend asks, did you hear
what happened to so-and-so?" the
most disappointing answer you
can give is an out and out yes"
That desire to be first with the
news, which used to be confined
to back fence gossiping about ev-
ents in the lives of common
friends, is now broadened to in
clude all of the news of the day
the rumors, the bulletins and the
news interpretations.
Radio, with it's opportunity to
speak first in the news field, since
it can get an announcement to the
people a few moments before the
fastest newspaper can be on the
street with it, has become the
envy of all gossip-land - and
many listener tunes in for a
last-minute morsel before joining
friends to whom he or she can
say, did you hear the 1atest?"
RADIO ......... tirelesSnesS
If this war is going to last for
ten years, as some people predict,
one of the groups I feel most sor-
ry for is the radio news COM
mentators who have to act pam
icky about some new news deve-
lopment every half hour of the
day.
If the same man reports the
news bulletins every half hour
for an eight hour day for ten
years, he will make total of &c. |
400 such announcements.
Almost an equal amount of
sympathy should be extended to
those hard souls who plan to lis
ten to these announcers for the
duration-who are going to per-
NIT their emotions to be lifted and
dropped several times a day as
the news man reports the hourly
successes and failures of all the
armies of the world. -
Some of these listeners may be !
rewarded by being in on the kill
by being the first in the neigh
borhood to hear such news as the
surrender Of the German, Japan
csc or italian forces-but even
anticipation of being the first to
hear such joyful announcements
hardly seems sufficient reason to
keep the radio blasting for months
for years to come.
TEMPO hunger
The chief difficulty with the
present radio news set-up is that
the news hasn't yet caught up
with the tempo of radio.
Today news is happening faster
than at any time in history, but
the half-hour announcement plan,
with break-ins between times for
special announcements, leaves the
commentators constantly hungry
for bigger and better stories to
broadcast to their eager listeners.
Even in this day of mass produc-
ton of news, events don't happen
fast enough to satisfy the appe-
tite Of radio.
That's why radio headlines
must be created through the voice
of the announcer and a news item,
which might be an inside short in
a newspaper, is sent flying
through the ether with all the
fanfare of five-alarm fire.
Whether the excitement of the
announcers can be sustained or
will be toned down by time is still
a question, but all the evidence
points toward its being continued
indefinitely. For over the years
the announcers have been able to
keep themselves in a frenzy over
the vitamins in a cereal, the tas-
tiness of a cigarette, or the fluff
fines of a soap sud.
CENSORSHIP -. Sh-h-h!
Censorship, now in force in the
United States, calls for revamp-
ing of our whole mental attitude
toward news reports.
Instead of passing a news item
on from its source to the people
as if it were hot potato, news
casters and newspapers are obi
gated to null over it a little, de-
eide if it's an item which fits the