NEWSPAPER 



4185 



NEWSPAPER 



prohibition, or woman suffrage, or such appar- 

 ently simple problems as clean streets and al- 

 leys, and at the same time be useful and inter- 



esting even to those who are not interested in, 

 or those who are opposed to, the causes which 

 it is championing. 



Gathering and Publishing the News 



Getting the News. If a newspaper is a small 

 one, in a country town, its staff is necessarily 

 limited. One man may do all that a dozen 

 men do on a daily in New York or London. It 

 is obvious that one man can get all the local 

 news for a weekly paper in a town of 2,000 

 people, but it may take 500 men in a city of 

 2,000,000 people. On a large city paper the 

 responsible head is usually the editor-in-chief. 

 Below him is the managing editor, to whom the 

 city editor, the sporting editor, the financial 

 editor and the other department heads are 

 onsible. Each department may have a 

 number of reporters, who gather news items. 

 The city editor has charge of the largest staff 

 of reporters and is responsible for all local hap- 

 penings. 



A Reporter's Duties. Few people realize how 

 systematically a reporter must follow events in 

 order to prevent a rival from getting a "scoop," 

 that is, a piece of news unknown to the first 

 reporter. On a great paper certain reporters 

 are assigned to routine work ; for example, one 

 keeps in touch with the police department, 

 while another watches the court records. Im- 

 portant assignments are given to experienced 

 men, and it is the ambition of almost every 

 ;>erienced "cub" reporter to become a "star" 

 whose "stories" are placed on the first Dage. 

 -it from the President of the United States 

 or a local happening tremendous in its conse- 

 a is a "story" for a star reporter. 



News from All the World. There was a time 

 when newspapers contained largely local mat- 

 but the telephone, the telegraph, the wire- 

 less telegraph and the cable have altered this 

 condition. A San Francisco or Vancouver pa- 

 per publishes the news of an occurrence in 

 London at about the same time that it is 

 printed in a New York paper. All the largest 

 papers keep correspondents in various parts of 

 th world to report the most important events. 

 Occasionally, as in war time, special correspond- 

 ents will be sent to the front. But the great 

 body of news comes through the Associated 

 Press, or similar organisations, which lessen the 

 burden of expense for the individual newspaper. 



Editorial Writers. Besides the gatherers of 

 news and those who put it into shape for publi- 

 cation, there are also a number of editorial 



writers. They comment on the occurrences of 

 the day, offer advice for the future, and other- 

 wise express the policy of the paper. As most 

 newspapers are affiliated with some political 

 party, or are recognized advocates of various 

 public movements, it is the task of the edi- 

 torial writer to convince his readers that his 

 paper's viewpoint is the correct one. 



Business Management. The reader of a news- 

 paper must not forget that it is a business or- 

 ganization. Though a newspaper may have 

 lofty ideals and may give all the news, it is 

 not likely to be a success unless the owner 

 makes a profit, or at least pays expenses. The 

 first requisite of success from this point of view 

 is a large number of readers. Some of the New 

 York dailies have circulations of over 300,000, 

 and at least one has an average of 600,000. 

 One Chicago evening paper averages more than 

 480,000 copies sold daily. A cheap but bril- 

 liant Paris paper, Le Petit Journal, at one time 

 had an average daily circulation of 1,250,000. 



Distribution of Newspapers. The problem of 

 delivering copies of a great daily paper to its 

 thousands of readers is solved in a simple way. 

 In a small city or town most of the paper's 

 circulation is among regular subscribers, who 

 pay for their paper at weekly, monthly or 

 yearly rates and have them delivered at their 

 homes or offices. The carriers are hired by the 

 newspaper, and the subscription rate usually 

 includes a small charge for the delivery service. 

 In larger towns and cities subscribers may re- 

 ceive their papers in this way, but a vast num- 

 ber of readers buy their copies at news stands 

 and pay for each copy when they buy it. 

 From the printing office of the newspaper there 

 is a steady stream of wagons and automobiles 

 towards all parts of the city. These vehicles 

 deliver parcels of newspapers to the various 

 stands, distributing agents and railroad depots. 

 The earliest issues of a metropolitan daily are 

 rushed to the outlying sections and suburbs at 

 the same time that they arc placed on sale in 

 the central district. 



The delivery of metropolitan dailies to sub- 

 urbs and near-by cities goes on at the same tun* 

 that papers arc being delivered at home. The 

 New York business man who is visiting in Bos- 

 ton, Albany, Baltimore or Philadelphia may 



