The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-11-23

OA0 JOtii NJ hiffR CdfTle up ~
US this week and said, why
don't you write something about
the man behind the man behind
the nan behind the news?"
Who is that, John?" we asked.
"The linotype operator. The
reporter, see, is the man behind
the news. The editor is the man
behind the man behind the news.
And the linotype operator is the
man behind the man behind the
man behind the news. And there
is a lot to say about linotype
operators. . :"
Well, John is a printer of some
wears standing, and a good one,
and a thoughtful citizen too.
And since he had thoughts about
linotype operators he agreed to
write them himself, and we shall
put in this column if he ever
gives US this copy.
But the idea got us to think
ing about another kind of "op-
orator. we have worked with
in the newspaper business, the
teletype operator, and we decided
to put down a little reminis-
cence and gossip about them on
our own. Probably not many
newspaper readers know the i'm
portance these anonymous men
play in bringing them the news
of the world a few hours or even
minutes after it happens.
l want to go back now a few
years and reminisce a little
about the Associated Press to
give some idea of the worlds
greatest news-gathering organ
ization and how it works.
What the AP really consists
of is a couple of hundred thous-
and miles of leased telegraph
wires and a comparatively small
body of men to keep the news
flowing and operate the tele-
type equipment. All of the report
ers are called editors and they
are classed in the news depart
ment. The teletype operators
and mechanics r in the traffic
department. But by the nature
of the organization the news men
and the traffic men work side
by side, generally with a tele-
graph operator paired off with
every editor, and the only inn
portant difference in status /
suppose is that their respective
departments pay off on alter
nate Fridays and they r there
fore able to support one another
during that long second week,
45.Word Speed
New Orleans was a relay point
in the system, which meant that
it had teletype plugged into two
big circuits. the national circuit,
carrying news of Washington
and New York and Europe, and
in fact all the top stories of the
world; and the Southern circuit,
carrying news from cities like
Atlanta and Birmingham and
Little Rock. Each circuit carried
forty five words a minute. AS
one of a group of wire editors
my job during my eight hour
shift was to take the news, or
copy" off of the chief wires,
plus what was written in our
New Orleans office from Louis
lana and Mississippi kilograms,
and edit it, cut it, and revise II
so as to be able to relay 1t TO
the Louisiana and Mississippi
members on a single circuit oper-
ating at the standard 45-word
speed. The trick was to keep
the good stories and throw away
the trash" Ordinarily that
sounds simple enough, and or
dinarily il is. When a relay edi-
tor gets a story in New Orleans
off the main national wire about
a red-hot hockey game in Tor
onto, instinct would tell him to
throw IL away and use that space
for some sports story more m
teresting to southern editors and
readers, such as Kentucky Derby
gossip. OF the doings of some
southern player in the big lea
CUES. But relay-editing is tricky
The Unexpected
II might sometimes happen that
a Mississippi publisher might
have a burning interest in iee-
hockey that he had never bother
ed to tell anyone about, and he
just might take it into his head
to raise sand with the New Or
leans AP because they had sent
the Kentucky Derby instead OF
the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey
game. What made a brilliant re-
lay editor, as distinguished from
just a middling one, was the
ability to edit a sound wire and
at the same time PLAY lunches
on hockey games. bridge tour
naments. marble contests and a
thousand other speeialties.
l can say without Dragging
that | was probably the worst re-
lay editor that ever edited a
trunk wire for the Associated
Press. | do not mean that | was
the worst newspaperman, but ]
was the worst relay editor. !
IL -