474 



NKWSI'AIT.R 



Mr John Walter was the originator anil wile owner 

 ill Ixitli pa|icrs, anil inniiily through lii- energy ami 

 ability did the journal ultimately attain its posj 

 tinii of prv eminence. In the litcrarv direction of 

 the (taper lie always employed tin- higliest available 

 talent, while in tin- mechanical production of it lie 

 effected numerous improvements. In 1814 he suc- 

 ceeded in printing the Time* by steam-power. 



The publication of tin- leading London and pro- 

 vincial newspaper* involves an immense outlay, 

 and the co-operation of an army of experts repre- 

 senting every department of human Knowledge. 

 The work i-< now divided and sulidivided in such a 

 way that it is dilticult to describe its organisation on 

 the lines of the old otlicial designations. It is no 

 longer tMMsihle t speak unreservedly of an 'editor- 

 in-chief 'as having necessarily supreme power as 

 the representative of the proprietors. So onerous 

 mid so various have the duties of that office liecome 

 that it is, so to speak, frequently ' put into com- 

 mission.' It is not uncommon to find a managing 

 editor whose Imsiness it is to control in every way 

 the supply of news, including foreign correspond- 

 ence and reporting of all kinds, and a literary 

 editor who controls the general poliey of the paper. 

 and is responsible for the style and substance of all 

 original matter. It is increasingly rare to Innl an 

 editor who writes any one of the several leading 

 articles with which most of the great dailies fur- 

 nish their readers. Kaeh of these journals has a 

 statf of leader-writers, who are often well-known 

 worker* in literature outside of journalism. On the 

 principal newspapers the leader-writing stall' in- 

 cludes experts of the highest mark, who are paid 

 retaining fees in order tliat they may lie in readi- 

 ness, on the shortest notice, to supply essays on 

 the subject* of which they are masters. For the 

 leaders themselves they are paid special fees. A 

 similar system prevails witn respect to special 

 correspondents, whether employed in a military or 

 social capacity. (Jeorge Borrow was the first war- 

 correspondent, writing from Spain to the Mnrninrj 

 Hemld\n 1839. Some of these gentlemen receive 

 what Mr (1. A. Sala has described as 'the 

 wages of an ambassador,' in consideration of 

 lieing always prepared to start for a campaign in 

 Darkest Africa,' or to chronicle a royal pro- 

 gress. That the services rendered in return in- 

 volves much personal danger is sadly suggested 

 by the memorial in the crypt of St Paul's to the 

 war-correspondents who fell in the Soudan. The 

 sun-editors vary in minilter, according to the com- 

 pleteness of the organisation of the particular 

 paper. The duties of the subeditor on all im- 

 portant new.spa|er8, whether metropolitan or pro- 

 vincial, have lieen almost revolutionised dining 

 the last four decades of the century. It is true 

 that on the evening papers it is still m-i '- 

 s-irv that the sub editors should make a special 

 Mudy of the morning papers of the current date. 

 This indeed enables the evening, or more properly 

 speaking the afternoon, journals to appropriate the 

 ni..-t interesting telegraphic items within a few 

 hours df their appearance in the morning papers, 

 to whose conductors such specially wired news may 

 have caused a heavy expense. It mav lie noted 

 that in some of the Uritish colonies a law already 

 exists giving copyright of 'exclusive' news for 

 twenty-four hours after publication. On the whole, 

 however, the sub editor has almost ceased to be a 

 gleaner in the fields which have lieen sown and 

 already reaped by his colleagues. The old fashion.-. I 



sneer at tl ndnclors of newspaper*, that they 



put in anything to (ill up," is now only an anins. 

 jug anachronism. Such are the ' services ' of news 

 which a daily paper is obliged to employ whether 

 they In- tlio-e of the. Press Association, the Central 

 News, the Central Press, the Exchange Telegraph 



Company, Keuter -, or Dal/ids that a sub editor'* 

 trouble in leaving his work i- to lec.mcile il,e 

 amount of ' tlinisied ' matter which he has put into 

 the wakt4*-|Ni|M*r Imjtkct with hi- duties to his chict-. 

 ! ' Agency wa- founded in ls."i>, the < Vntial 

 Press in lsi;:t. the I tation in I Mis, and 



the I'ential News Agency in 1870. 



Tin-re u -i-d to \- twelve or sixteen parliamentary 

 shorthand remitters mi e\eiy London daily. At 

 that lime the daily pio\incial papi-i.- obtained their 

 telegraphic reports of pailinmcnt solelv from one 

 or other of the news organisations. This is now 

 changed. The chief pajicis in the provinces have 

 formed syndicates in accordance with their respec- 

 tive (Kilitics for the purpose of obtaining special 

 reports of the debates from their own associated 

 stalls of reporters. This HI langemcnt, which par- 

 liament Mini-lions, enables the leading provincial 

 dailies to supply parliamentary rejiorts according 

 to their own special ri*i|iiireineiits, then-suit Is-ing 

 that debates are frequently reported nt 



length in those papers than in the London journals 

 .it the same date. Thus it aii-es that the chief 

 provincial papers have otlt.-e- in the neighbourhood 

 of Fleet Street or the Strand, where a special wire 

 or wires will connect the London and the country 

 nllices. Formerly the journalists who were in 

 charge of these wires \\cie styled the 'wire men ;' 

 now they are designated London editors. In the 

 city there are also editors whose special functions 

 are the furnishing of information connected with 

 financial matteis to various papers. The chief 

 London dailies retain the exclusive services of a 

 citv editor, while M'M-ral provincial journals, 

 published in diUcri-nt localities, arc served by one 

 and the same city editor. These remarks apply 

 also in a inodilicd degree to colonial and even 

 foreign newspaper, which often have their own 

 special sen ices of news, and special rcpiesenta- 

 lives, in London and other principal cities. 



Another important representative of modern 

 newspaper enterprise is what is known as the 

 London correspondent. Theie were London cor- 

 respondents of n kind even in the days of the 

 Restoration, but it was not until l.Mi.'f that the 

 'London letter,' ns it is now know n, was introduced 

 as a special feature of provincial papers. In that 

 year the Central Press Agency proposed to supply 

 their clients with 'a London letter once a week, 

 written by a gentleman of long standing in the 

 literary world. This was the late Kdward Spender, 

 who for some years continued to write what formed 

 an admirable compendium of the week's political, 

 social, and literary gossip for country readers. As 

 time went on the weekly letter liecame a daily 

 eontiibution, and other London correspondents 

 enteied the Held, until now the London letter is 

 an indis|iensal'lc fentuie of all provincial join-mils. 

 Many well-known journalists are engaged in this 

 work, including several members of parliament, and 

 the lobby of the House of Commons tornis theircliief 

 hunting -ground. 



In 1S43 the number of newspapers published in 

 London was 7!) : in Issn ii was about :(-!(! : in 1MMI 

 it had increased to lilli. (If these -JS are daily, 

 Oof which are issued in the evening (nominally), 

 their lirst editions Ix'ing issued aliout noon. I li.- 

 price of these papers is either a ]>cnnv, or, as in the 

 case of the Oalfy Mai/ t IVMi.. a halfpenny : the 

 Tint's continues to lx- published at threcjience. The 

 list of duilv pa|M-rs. which formerly consisted almost 

 entirely of political journals, has during recent 

 \.'arsl>ecn increased by the appearance of several 

 daily sheets devoted exclusively to financial and 

 commercial matters. Financial journalism, indeed, 

 forms a very special feature of modern newspaper 

 enterprise. The Krniiiiniint. established in I si::, 

 and a few other weeklies of kindred aims, held this 



