This is a new release of the original 1946 edition.

This is a new release of the original 1946 edition.

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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...