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This is a new release of the original 1946 edition.
This is a new release of the original 1946 edition.
Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of
rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone
NEWS GATHERING AND NEWS WRITING BY ROBERT M.. NEAL, M. A. ASSISTANT
PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FORMERLY OF THE
SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN AUTHOR OF EDITING THE SMALL CITY DAILY NEW
YORK 1940 PRENTICE-HALL, INC. COPYRIGHT, 1940, BY PRENTICE-HALL,
INC. 70 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS
BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM, BY MIMEO GRAPH OR ANY OTHER
MEANS, WITHOUT PER MISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHERS TO TEE
MEMORY OF R. W. N. INTRODUCTION THIS BOOK has a highly
particularized slant and two equally well-defined procedures. The
slant is that of viewing news gathering and news writing as related
directly, even exclusively, to the young reporter freshly started
upon his first job. His first 10 or 12 months on a staff are likely
to do more than will any later period in his career in molding him
into a superior newspaper worker or stranding him upon the sandbars
of mediocrity. A textbook that answers the questions he will ask
and views problems as he will view them during those important
first months should be helpful. The first procedure is to present
news writing as a problem in interesting readers and to show how
stories can be made so in viting that they will be read eagerly i
The newspaper does not receive the attentive and deliberate reading
given the smooth paper magazine or the glazed-paper book. It is
skimmed rather than studied. Stories may be accurate and complete,
but they will not be read unless they are vigorously interesting.
To this end, the book attempts to show reader psychology and to
indicate how that psychology can be met. The second procedure is to
suggest, time and time again, ways whereby the new reporter can
transmutehis enthusiasm and energy into work that will bring him
the favorable notice of the newspapers executives. Every youngster
knows that he could prove himself a star man if only the big
stories came his way. To wait for them to do so is to trust
entirely too much to the whims and fancies of luck. The book tries
to point out how the reporter can make his own luck, so far as that
happy process is possible. vii viii INTRODUCTION Handling heavy
news, such as city government affairs, and controversial
information is emphasized. A reporter who can put even a trifle of
sparkle into the monthly report of the sealer of weights and
measures demonstrates his quality, and one who can write safely
about moot issues without diluting his stories into dishwater has a
valuable skill. In both these enterprises the book attempts to show
what demands readers make upon the newspaper. Here, as throughout
the volume, the discussion cen ters upon Why The reasons that
validate a practice or a method are treated at length.
Illustrations and examples have been worked directly into the text,
instead of being segregated as chapter aftermaths. Illus trative
reading is too easy to skip if it is fenced off. In style, the book
aims to be chatty and conversational. News papering is too much fun
to be preceded by an over-formal text book. Emphatically this does
not mean that the book views reporting as a game. Without
reservation, the book holds that reporting is a professional work
and must be so regarded if the reporter is to be more than a
routine gatherer and writer of news. The author acknowledges with
pleasure the assistance given by two men now actively engaged in
newspapering. Walter J. Pfister, city editor of theSheboygan,
Wisconsin, Press, made avail able for Chapter 5 a news executives
views about young reporters and their hopes for advancement. Gordon
Sabine, a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal, reviewed many
of the chapters and contributed excellent suggestions for their
improvement. And to Helen S. Neal, the authors wife, most active
thanks are due for taking over the burdensome work of building the
index. The press of the United States never was more important to
the nations welfare than it is in these critical times...
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