NEWSPAPER REPORTINGAND CORRESPONDENCE
A MANUAL FOR REPORTERS,
CORRESPONDENTS, AND STUDENTS
OF NEWSPAPER WRITING
BY
INSTRUCTOR IN JOURNALISM IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.
NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1912
Copyright, 1912, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
TO
MY MOTHER
[vii]INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this book is to instruct the prospectivenewspaper reporter in the way to write thosestories which his future paper will call upon him towrite, and to help the young cub reporter and thestruggling correspondent past the perils of the copyreader'spencil by telling them how to write cleancopy that requires a minimum of editing. It is notconcerned with the why of the newspaper business—theeditor may attend to that—but with the howof the reporter's work. And an ability to write isbelieved to be the reporter's chief asset. There isno space in this book to dilate upon newspaper organization,the work of the business office, the writingof advertisements, the principles of editorialwriting, or the how and why of newspaper policyand practice, as it is. These things do not concernthe reporter during the first few months of his work,and he will learn them from experience when heneeds them. Until then, his usefulness dependssolely upon his ability to get news and to write it.
There are two phases of the work which everyreporter must learn: how to get the news and how[viii]to write it. The first he can pick up easily by actualnewspaper experience—if nature has endowed himwith "a nose for news." The writing of the newshe can learn only by hard practice—a year's hardpractice on some papers—and it is generally concededthat practice in writing news stories can besecured at home or in the classroom as effectively aspractice in writing short stories, plays, business letters,or any other special form of composition.Newspaper experience may aid the reporter in learninghow to write his stories, but a newspaper apprenticeshipis not absolutely necessary. However,whether he is studying the trade of newspaper writingin his home, in a classroom, or in the city roomof a daily paper, he needs positive instruction in theEnglish composition of the newspaper office—ratherthan haphazard criticism and a deluge of "don'ts."Hence this book is concerned primarily with thewriting of the news.
Successful newspaper reporting requires both anability to write good English and an ability to writegood English in the conventional newspaper form.And there is a conventional form for every kind ofnewspaper story. Many editors of the present dayare trying to break away from the conventional formand to evolve a looser and more natural method ofwriting news stories. The results are often bizarre[ix]and sometimes very effective. Certainly originalityin expression adds much to the interest of newspaperstories, and many a good piece of news isruined by a bald, dry recital of facts. Just as thegood reporter is always one who can give his yarnsa distinctive flavor, great newspaper sto