33 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



ignorance of forestry or lumbering while he makes no greater effort to present 

 his side with an intelligent insight into the exigencies of publishing. 



If, as we contend, forest affairs are of vital importance to the public, press 

 and public want the facts. Everybody wants to know about things that affect 

 him. If the public and the press do not demand any essential or interesting 

 information we have to impart, it is because we do not know how to present it 

 in the form that publishing experience has proved necessary. And that is all 

 there is to it. If we sincerely believe the spreading of this information is 

 desirable, it is our duty to learn how to adapt it to established mediums. 



A newspaper wants news. This means something not previously known 

 to its readers. It wants it while it is news, which means that it has not been 

 printed elsewhere, even for other readers, and also that it has not lain long 

 unprinted. These are the essential principles for the layman to grasp. He must 

 not forget that even unpublished information loses value with every hoyr it is 

 delayed, because this convicts the paper of the newspaper crime of sluggishness 

 in news-gathering. But it is even more unforgivable to take advantage of an 

 editor's unfamiliarity with the subject to foist onto him, as news, something that 

 has been printed already. 



A newspaper will also use some things that are not news if they are inter- 

 esting. But it wants to know this and handle them accordingly. Moreover, 

 things that are news differ in value with the universality of their interest. A 

 discovered fact of high importance, but only technically, is worth less than one 

 of smaller importance in which everyone is interested. Finally, incomplete infor- 

 mation that is news is more valuable, as a rule, than the same information 

 delayed for completion or verification which does not carry any essential differ- 

 ence of idea. 



Perhaps the foregoing remarks seem trite, but the publicity efforts of 

 foresters and lumbermen often show slack compliance with the principles out- 

 lined. The first study should be the classification and valuing of your informa- 

 tion from a newspaper standpoint. 



With such a classification, we are equipped to approach the next problem — 

 presentation. Effective publicity work usually requires systematic furnishing of 

 written material. This must comply with newspaper practice. Any good text- 

 book on newspaper writing will be far more useful than such brief discussion 

 as is practicable here. But correct practice must be followed. If the story can 

 be sent out as sharp timely news, under a date-line, it should be written like 

 telegraphic reports and not spoiled with "editorial" interpolations. If it cannot 

 possibly be made news, do not betray intent to deceive by writing it as such but 

 put it in interview, report, or column-filler form. And write everything so the 

 essentials are presented in the first few lines or paragraphs, so excess length 

 can be dropped to suit the editor without spoiling what remains or requiring 

 rewriting. 



Now, as to what should be given publicity, what can be given it most easily, 

 and the systematizing of distribution. Since these points fall into group rela- 

 tions between subjects and mediums, they can hardly be discussed separately. 



