Evening star., 1944-09-30

morning papers ' "'"s.''
OF Tuesday, for sale on the streets
at $50 o'clock Monday evening. car
ried vivid descriptions OF Gov Dew
ey's speech in Oklahoma City. One
line read like this: Dewey. his eyes
flashing in a manner reminiscent
OF his many courtroom oattleS
shook his finger at cro~o IN
Municipal Auditorium and de-
clared "''"
The point my friend makes is that
Mr.. Dewey did not begin speaking
until TOO pm. Los Angeles time
and vet there were the papers al
$50 pm. Los Angeles time' telling
how he flashed his eyes and shook
his finger.
Think you will want to have this
information because OF It's very
great Importance to newspapers
voters and public generally" says
nv friends message. He adds that
he thinks 1t is wrong to tell how a
guy talks. before he has done 1t, to
a crowd that isn't there yet.
Could Change Nina.
don't think this is anything Tor
me to get mixed up in. I used TO be
a newspaperman myself: in TACT
come to think of it. l still am. II
I we're going to criticize those Los
Angeles newspa pers, would merely
call their attention to the danger
OF publishing any speech before II
is delivered. There's real risk in
that.
For instance. Mr.. Dewey might
have changed his mind about making
the speech or he might have decided
suddenly not 10 talk with "candor.' y
After all, his decision to talk with
candor had been rather sudden. Or
responding to general criticism, he
might have decided to leave out his
unfair allegation concerning plans
to keep men in the Army longer
than necessary That would have
caused real embarrassment to the
two Los Angeles newspapers, guilty
as they apparently were of jump
ing a release" cardinal sin in
itself
But I don't think that anybody
needs to be seriously upset because
the man who wrote the story antic-
ipated the candidates flashing eyes
and shaking finger or the presence
of Q crowd. When man gets all
filled up with ''unvarniShed can
dor" his eyes are bound to start
flashing and his finger Is bound to
start shaking So the reporter was
only using what is sometimes called
legitimate Imagination and was
doing the copy desk a favor thereby,
saving the men on the desk the
necessity Of writing those descrip-
tive phrases into the story after
Dewey had actually flashed his eyes
and shaken his finger, according to
plan. You can't fire man for that,
any more than you could fire man
for reporting that the President
cooked his long cigarette holder
jauntily," without waiting for this
characteristic action of the Presi-
dent to take place
Something to Expose.
II I were going in for exposing
things, would pick out another
feature of political campaigning.
something new that has been added
in these days Of radio
One of the things for which the
vast unseen audience listens, when
a speech is put on the air, is the
response Of the crowd. If the crowd
in the hall or ball park is enthu-
siastic, some of that enthusiasm is
communicated to the radio audience
Therefore the campaign managers
make it point to have first-class
cheering section close to the micro
phones, fellows prepared to start
pounding their palms every time
the candidate pauses for breath or
whenever they get the signal, fell
lows prepared to shout Alta boy!"
That's telling 'em!" Hit 'em
again" always shooting their voices
in the direction of the mikes.
And we. sitting at home. get a