The necessary attributes of a dramatic reporter, as we have seen, are: fairness, logical thinking, and a background of stage knowledge. And of these three, the background is of the greatest importance; it is the stimulus and the check for the other two. The more a critic can know about every phase of the theatrical profession, contemporary or historical, the better will be his criticisms. The more knowledge of the stage that his copy shows, the more greedily will his readers look for his "Theatrical News" each day. However clear his idea of a play may be he cannot express it clearly and readably without a background of other plays to refer to. And, by the same sign, a wealth of allusions and a quantity of theatrical lore will often carry a critic past many a play concerning which he is unable to form a clear opinion. To develop your ability as a dramatic reporter, watch the theatrical criticisms in reputable dailies and weeklies and learn from them.



XVII

STYLE BOOK

Being a copy of the Style Book compiled for the Course in Journalism of the University of Wisconsin from the style books of many newspapers.

1. Capitalize:

All proper nouns: Smith, Madison, Wisconsin.

Months and days of the week, but not the seasons of the year: April, Monday; but autumn.

The first word of every quotation, enumerated list, etc., following a colon.

The principal words in the titles of books, plays, lectures, pictures, toasts, etc., including the initial "a" or "the": "The Merchant of Venice," "Fratres in Urbe." If a preposition is attached to or compounded with the verb capitalize the preposition also: "Voting For the Right Man."

The names of national political bodies: House, Senate, Congress, the Fifty-first Congress.

The names of national officers, national departments, etc.: President, Vice President, Navy Department, Department of Justice (but not bureau of labor), White House, Supreme Court (and all courts), the Union, Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, Union Jack, United States army, Declaration of Independence, the (U. S.) Constitution, United Kingdom, Dominion of Canada.

All titles preceding a proper noun: President Taft, Governor-elect Wilson, ex-President Roosevelt, Policeman O'Connor.

The entire names of associations, societies, leagues, clubs, companies, roads, lines, and incorporated bodies generally: Mason, Odd Fellow, Knights Templar, Grand Lodge of Knights of Pythias, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Wisconsin University, First National Bank, Schlitz Brewing Company (but the Schlitz brewery), Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company, the Association of Passenger and Ticket Agents of the Northwest, Clover Leaf Line, Rock Island Road, Chicago Board of Trade, New York Stock Exchange (but the board of trade and the stock exchange).

The names of all religious denominations, etc.: Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Spiritualist, Christian Science, First Methodist Church (but a Methodist church), the Bible, the Koran, Christian, Vatican, Quirinal, Satan, the pronouns of the Deity.

The names of all political parties (both domestic and foreign): Republican, Socialism, Socialist, Democracy, Populist, Free Silverite, Labor party, (but anarchist).

Sections of the country: the North, the East, South America; southern Europe.

Nicknames of states and cities: The Buckeye State, the Hub, the Windy City.

The names of sections of a city and branches of a river, etc.: the East Side, the North Branch.

The names of stocks in the money market: Superior Copper, Fourth Avenue Elevated.

The names of French streets and places: Rue de la Paix, Place de la Concorde.

Names of automobiles: Peerless, the White Steamer, Pierce Arrow.

Names of holidays: Fourth of July, Christmas, New Year's day, Thanksgiving day.

Names of military organizations: First Wisconsin Volunteers, Twenty-third Wisconsin Regiment, Second Army Corps, second division Sixth Army Corps, National Guard, Ohio State Militia, First Regiment armory, the militia, Grand Army of the Republic.

The names of all races and nationalities (except negro): American, French, Spanish, Chinaman.

The nicknames of baseball clubs: the White Sox, the Cubs.

Miscellaneous: la France, Irish potatoes, Enfield rifle, American Beauty roses.

2. Capitalize when following a proper noun: Bay, block, building, canal, cape, cemetery, church, city, college, county, court (judicial), creek, dam, empire, falls, gulf, hall, high school, hospital, hotel, house, island, isthmus, kindergarten, lake, mountain, ocean, orchestra, park, pass, peak, peninsula, point, range, republic, river, square, school, state, strait, shoal, sea, slip, theatre, university, valley, etc.: South Hall, Park Hotel, Hayes Block, Singer Building, Dewey School, South Division High School, Superior Court, New York Theatre, Beloit College, Wisconsin University, Capitol Square.

3. Do not capitalize when following a proper name: Addition, avenue, boulevard, court (a short street), depot, elevator, mine, place, station, stockyards, street, subdivision, ward, etc.: Northwestern depot, Pinckney street station, Third ward, Harmony court, Amsterdam avenue, Broad street, Wingra addition, Washington boulevard, Winchester place.

4. Capitalize when preceding a proper noun:—All titles denoting rank, occupation, relation, etc. (do not capitalize them when they follow the noun): alderman, ambassador, archbishop, bishop, brother, captain, cardinal, conductor, congressman, consul, commissioner, councilman, count, countess, czar, doctor, duke, duchess, earl, emperor, empress, engineer, father, fireman, governor, her majesty, his honor, his royal highness, judge, mayor, motorman, minister, officer, patrolman, policeman, pope, prince, princess, professor, queen, representative, right reverend, senator, sheriff, state's attorney, sultan: Alderman John Smith (but John Smith, alderman), Senator La Follette (but Mr. La Follette, senator from Wisconsin).

The same rule applies when the following words precede a proper noun as part of a name: bay, cape, city, college, county, empire, falls, gulf, island, point, sea, state, university, etc.: City of New York, Gulf of Mexico, University of Wisconsin, College of the City of New York, College of Physicians and Surgeons.

5. Do not capitalize:

The names of state bodies, etc.: the senate, house, congress, speaker, capitol, executive mansion, revised statutes. (These are capitalized only when they refer to the national government: e. g., the capitol at Madison, the Capitol at Washington.)

The names of city boards, departments, buildings, etc.: boards, bureaus, commissions, committees, titles of ordinance, acts, bills, postoffice, courthouse (unless preceded by proper noun), city hall, almshouse, poorhouse, house of correction, county hospital, the council, city council, district, precinct: e. g., the fire department, the tax committee.

Certain other governmental terms: federal, national, and state government, armory, navy, army, signal service, custom-house.

Points of the compass: east, west, north, south, northeast, etc.

The names of foreign bodies: mansion-house, parliament, reichstag, landtag, duma.

Common religious terms: the word of God, holy writ, scriptures, the gospel, heaven, sacred writings, heathen, christendom, christianize, papacy, papal see, atheist, high church, church and state, etc.

The court, witness, speaker of the chair, in dialogues.

Scientific names of plants, animals, and birds: formica rufa.

a. m., p. m., and m. (meaning a thousand); "ex-" preceding a title.

The names of college classes: freshman, sophomore.

College degrees when spelled out: bachelor of arts; but B. A.

Seasons of the year: spring, autumn, etc.

Officers in local organizations (election of officers); president, secretary, etc.

Certain common nouns formed from proper nouns: street arab, prussic acid, prussian blue, paris green, china cup, india rubber, cashmere shawl, half russia, morocco leather, epsom salts, japanned ware, plaster of paris, brussels and wilton carpets, valenciennes and chantilly lace, vandyke collar, valentine, philippic, socratic, herculean, guillotine, derby hat, gatling gun.

6. Punctuation:

Omit periods after nicknames: Tom, Sam, etc.

Always use a period between dollars and cents and after per cent., but never after c, s, and d, when they represent cents, shillings, and pence: $1.23, 10 per cent., 2s 6d.

Punctuate the votes in balloting thus: Yeas, 2; nays, 3.

Punctuate lists of names with the cities or states to which the individuals belong thus: Messrs. Smith of Illinois, Samson of West Virginia, etc. If the list contains more than three names, omit the "of" and punctuate thus: Smith, Illinois; Samson, West Virginia; etc. Where a number of names occurs with the office which they hold, use commas and semicolons, thus: J. S. Hall, governor; Henry Overstoltz, mayor; etc.

Never use a colon after viz., to wit, namely, e. g., etc., except when they end a paragraph. Use a colon, dash, or semicolon before them and commas after them, thus: This is the man; to wit, the victim.

"Such as" should follow a comma and have no point after it: "He saw many things, such as men, horses, etc."

Set lists of names thus without points:

Mesdames— George V. King Charles C. Knapp Henry A. Lloyd John H. Cole Jr.

Do not use a comma between a man's name and the title "Jr." or "Sr." as John Jones Jr.

Use the apostrophe to mark elision: I've, 'tis, don't, can't, won't, canst, couldst, dreamt, don'ts, won'ts, '80s.

Use the apostrophe in possessives and use it in the proper place: the boy's clothes, boys' clothes, Burns' poems, Fox's Martyrs, Agassiz's works, ours, yours, theirs, hers, its (but "it's" for it is). George and John's father was a good man; Jack's and Samuel's fathers were not.

Do not use the apostrophe when making a plural of figures, etc.: all the 3s, the Three Rs.

Do not use the apostrophe in Frisco, phone, varsity, bus.

Use an em dash after a man's name when placed at the beginning in reports of interviews, speeches, dialogues, etc.: John Jones—I have nothing to say. (No quotation marks.)

In a sentence containing words inclosed in parentheses, punctuate as if the part in parentheses were omitted: if there is any point put it after the last parenthesis.

Use brackets to set off any expression or remark thrown into a speech or quotation and not originally in it: "The Republican party is again in power—[cheers]—and is come to stay."

Use the conjunction "and" and a comma before the last name in a list of names, etc.: John, George, James, and Henry.

Use no commas in such expressions as 6 feet 3 inches tall, 3 years 6 months old, 2 yards 4 inches long.

Punctuate scores as follows: Wisconsin 8, Chicago 0.

Punctuate times in races, etc.: 100-yard dash—Smith, first; Jones, second. Time, 0:10 1-5.

Peters carried the ball thirty yards to the 10-yard line.

7. Date lines:

Punctuate date lines as follows:

MADISON, Wis., Jan. 25.—

Do not use the name of the state after the names of the larger cities of the country, such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle. Abbreviate the names of months which have more than five letters.

8. Quoting:

Quote all extracts and quotations set in the same type and style as the context, but do not quote extracts set in smaller type than the context or set solid in separate paragraphs in leaded matter.

Quote all dialogues and interviews, unless preceded by the name of the speaker or by "Question" and "Answer":

"I have nothing to say," answered Mr. Smith. William Smith—I have nothing to say. Question—Were you there? Answer—I was.

Quote the names of novels, dramas, paintings, statuary, operas, and songs: "The Brass Bowl," "Il Trovatore."

Quote the subjects of addresses, lectures, sermons, toasts, mottoes, articles in newspapers: "The Great Northwest," "Our Interests."

Be sure to include "The" in the quotation of names of books, pictures, plays, etc.: "The Fire King"; not the "Fire King"; unless the article is not a part of the name.

Do not quote the names of theatrical companies, as Her Atonement Company.

Do not quote the names of characters in plays, as Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice."

Do not quote the names of newspapers. In editorials put "The Star" in italics, but in "The Kansas City Star" put "Star" in italics and use no quotation marks.

Do not quote the names of vessels, fire engines, balloons, horses, cattle, dogs, sleeping cars.

9. Compounds and Divisions:

Omit the hyphen when using an adverb compounded with -ly before a participle: a newly built house.

Use a hyphen after prefixes ending in a vowel (except bi and tri) when using them before a vowel: co-exist. When using such a prefix before a consonant do not use the hyphen except to distinguish the word from a word of the same letters but of different meaning: correspondent, but co-respondent (one called to answer a summons); recreation, but re-create (to create anew) reform, but re-form (to form again); re-enforced; biennial, etc.

Do not use the hyphen in the names of rooms when the prefix is of only one syllable: bedroom, courtroom, bathroom, etc. (except blue room, green room, etc.).

When the prefix is of more than one syllable use the hyphen. Follow the same rule in making compounds of house, shop, yard, maker, holder, keeper, builder, worker: shipbuilder, doorkeeper.

In dividing at the end of a line:

Do not run over a syllable of two letters. Do not divide N. Y., M. P., LL. D., M. D., a. m., p. m., etc. Do not divide figures thus: 1,-000,000; but thus 1,000,-000. Do not divide a word of five letters or less.

10. Figures:

Use figures for numbers of a hundred or over, except when merely a large or indefinite number is intended: twenty-three, 123, about a thousand, a dollar, a million, millions, a thousand to one, from four to five hundred.

Use figures for numbers of less than 100 when they are used in connection with larger numbers: There were 33 boys and 156 girls; there were 106 last week and 16 this week.

Use figures for hours of the day: at 7 p. m.; at 8:30 this morning.

Use figures for days of the month: April 30, the 22nd of May.

Use figures for ages: he was 12 years old; little 2-year-old John. If the words "2-year-old John" begin a sentence or headline, spell out the age.

Use figures for dimensions, prices, degrees of temperature, per cents., dates, votes, times in races, scores in baseball, etc.: 3 feet long, $3 a yard, 76 degrees, Jan. 14, 1906. Time of race—2:27.

Use figures for all sums of money: $24, $5.06, 75 cents.

Use figures for street numbers: 1324 Grand avenue.

Use figures for numbered streets and avenues above 99th; spell out below 100th: 123 Twenty-third avenue, 10 East 126th street.

Use figures in statistical or tabular matter; never use ditto marks.

Use figures, period, and en quad for first, second, etc.: 1.—, 2.—.

Do not begin a sentence or paragraph with figures; supply a word if necessary or spell out: At 10 o'clock; Over 300 men.

Do not use the apostrophe to form plurals of figures: the 4s, rather than the 4's.

In all texts from the Bible set the chapters in Roman numerals and the verses in figures: Matt. xxii. 37-40; I. John v. 1-15. In Sunday school lessons say Verse 5.

Say three-quarters of 1 per cent.; not 3/4 of 1 per cent.

Set tenths, hundreds, etc., in decimals: 1.1; 2.03.

11. Abbreviations:

Abbreviate the following titles and no others, when they precede a name: Rev., Dr., Mme., Mlle., Mr., Mrs., Mgr. (Monsignore), M. (Monsieur).

Do not put Mr. before a name when the Christian name is given except in society news and editorials: Mr. Johnson; but Samuel L. Johnson.

Supply Mr. in all cases when Rev. is used without the Christian name: Rev. Henry W. Beecher; but Rev. Mr. Beecher.

Never use "Honorable" or the abbreviation thereof except with foreign names, in editorials, or in documents.

Abbreviate thus: Wash., Mont., S. D., N. D., Wyo., Cal., Wis., Colo., Ind., Id., Kan., Ariz., Okla., Me. Do not abbreviate Oregon, Iowa, Ohio, Utah, Alaska, or Texas.

Abbreviate thus: Madison, Dane County, Wis.: but Dane County, Wisconsin.

Use the abbreviations U. S. N. and U. S. A. after a proper name.

Y. M. C. A., W. C. T. U., M. E. are good abbreviations.

Abbreviate names of months when preceding date only when the month contains more than five letters: Jan. 20; but April 20. When the date precedes the month in reading matter spell it out: the 13th of January; the 26th inst.

Abbreviate "Number" before figures: No. 10.

Abbreviate contract, article, section, question, answer, after the first in bills, by-laws, testimony, etc.: Section 1., Sec. 2.; Question—, Answer—, Q.—, A.—.

Do not abbreviate railway, company, the names of streets, wards, avenues, districts, etc.: Madison Street Railway Company; State street, Monona avenue.

Street and avenue are sometimes abbreviated in want-ads: State-st, Monona-av.

Spell out numbered streets and avenues up to 100th: Thirty-fourth street, 134th street.

Use & in names of firms, but use the long "and" in names of railroads. Use Etc. and not &c.; use Brothers and not Bros. (except in ads); use & only when necessary to abbreviate in stocks.

Do not abbreviate the names of political parties except in election returns, then: Dem., Rep., Soc., Lab., Ind., Pro., Un. Cit.

Put in necessary commas in abbreviating railroad names: C., M. & St. P. Ry. (Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway); C., C., C. & St. L. R. R. (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad).

Abbreviate without periods in market review and quotations: 25c, bu, brls, tcs, pkgs, f o b, p t, etc. Spell out centimes except when given thus: 10f 20c.

Do not abbreviate Fort and Mount: Fort Wayne, Mount Vernon.

12. Preparation of Copy:

Use a typewriter or write legibly; some one must read your copy.

If you write with a typewriter, double or triple space your copy; never use single space.

Don't write on more than one side of the paper.

Leave sufficient margin for corrections and leave a space at the top of the first page for headlines; leave an inch at the top of each page.

Don't put more than one story on a single sheet of paper.

Don't trust the copy-reader to fill in blanks or to correct misspelled names. If you write by hand print out proper names as legibly as possible; underscore u and overscore n.

Don't assume that the copy-reader, the proofreader, or the editor will punctuate for you, or eliminate all superfluous punctuation.

Remember that uniformity is more to be desired than a strict following of style.

Don't turn in copy without re-reading carefully and verifying all names and addresses.

Use short paragraphs; always paragraph the lead separately; indent paragraphs distinctly.

Don't write over figures or words; scratch out and rewrite.

Number your pages; when pages are inserted use letters: pages 2, 3a, 3b, 4, 5.

A circle around an abbreviation or a figure indicates that the word or number is to be spelled out. A circle around a spelled-out word or number indicates that it is to be abbreviated or run in figures.

Mark the end of your story, thus: # # #

13. Don'ts:

Don't use "Honorable" or abbreviations thereof, except in extracts from speeches or documents, in editorials, or before foreign names.

Don't add final s to afterward, toward, upward, downward, backward, earthward, etc.

Don't use "signed" before the signature of a letter or document; run signature in caps.

Don't begin a sentence or paragraph with figures; insert a word before the figures or spell out.

Don't use commas in dates or in figures which denote the number of a thing, as A. D. 1908, 2324 State street, Policy 33815; in other cases use the comma, as $5,289; 1,236,400 people.

Don't forget that the following are singular and require singular verbs: sums of money, as $23 was invested; United States; anybody, everybody, somebody, neither, either, none; whereabouts, as "His whereabouts is known."

Don't forget that things OCCUR by chance or accident, and that things TAKE PLACE by arrangement.

Don't "sustain" broken legs and other injuries.

Don't "administer" punishment.

Don't confound "audiences," "spectators," and casual "witnesses."

Don't say "party" for "person."

Don't use "suicide," "loan," "scare," as verbs.

Don't use "gotten"; it is questionable; use "got."

Don't use "burglarize."

Don't use "transpire" for "occur."

Don't use "locate" for "find"; to locate a thing is to place it.

Don't use "stopped" for "stayed": He stayed at the Central Hotel.

Don't "tender" receptions nor "render" songs; use simply "give" and "sing."

Don't "put in an appearance"; just appear.

Don't use "don't" for "doesn't."

Don't use "stated" for "said."

Don't say "per day" or "per year," but "a day," "a year"; per is a Latin word and can be used only before a Latin noun, as "per diem" or "per annum."

Don't say "the meeting convened"; members might convene but a single body cannot.

Don't "claim that" anything is so; you can "claim" a thing, however.

Don't say "Mrs. Dr. Smith," just "Mrs. Smith."

Don't say "between" when more than two are mentioned.

Don't use "proven" for "proved."

Don't confound "staid" with "stayed."

Don't say "different than," but "different from."

Don't split infinitives or other verbs.

Don't use "onto."

Don't use "babe" or "tot" for "baby" or "child."

Don't use superlatives when you can help it.

Don't use trite expressions or foreign words and phrases.

Don't use "corner of" in designating street location.

Don't say "died from operation," but "died after operation"—to avoid danger of libel.

Don't get the very habit.

Don't use "couple of" instead of "two."

Don't use Mr. before a man's full name.

Don't use slang unless it is fitting—which is seldom.

Don't mention the reporters, singly or collectively, unless it is necessary. It rarely is.

Don't qualify the word "unique"; a thing may be "unique," but it cannot be "very unique," "quite unique," "rather unique," or "more unique."

Don't use the inverted passive: e. g., "A man was given a dinner," "Smith was awarded a medal."

Don't concoct long and improper titles: Justice of the Supreme Court Smith, Superintendent of the Insurance Department Jones, Groceryman Brown. If the title is long put it after the man's name; thus: George Smith, justice of the Supreme Court.

Don't use the verb "occur" with weddings, receptions, etc.; they take place by design and never unexpectedly.

Don't say "a number of," if you can help it. Be specific.

Don't use the word "lady" for "woman," or "gentleman" for "man."

Don't say "a man by the name of Smith," but "a man named Smith."

Don't use "depot" for "station"—railway passenger station.



APPENDIX I

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

These Suggestions for Study embody the method used in the course in News Story Writing in the Course in Journalism of the University of Wisconsin. The text of the several chapters corresponds to the lectures that are given in preparation for, and in connection with, the study of the various kinds of news stories. These Suggestions for Study correspond to the exercises by which the students learn the application of the principles embodied in the lectures. Hence these suggestions are given mainly from the instructor's point of view; however, a slight alteration will adapt them to home or individual study. Although they give very little practice in news gathering, they enable the student to gain practice in the writing of news—in accordance with the purpose of this book. The reporter who is studying the business in a newspaper office may use them to advantage in connection with his regular work.

EXERCISES FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER

1. Collect clippings of representative news stories, printed in the daily papers, to be used as models.

2. Keep a book of tips of expected news in your town or city.

3. Study news stories in your local paper and try to determine from what source the original news tip came. Try to discover from the story the routine of news gathering which furnished the facts.

4. In the same stories try to determine what persons were interviewed; frame the questions that the reporter might have asked to secure the facts. The instructor may impersonate various persons in a given news story and have the students interview him for the facts; this is to assist the student in learning to keep the point of view and to keep him from asking ridiculous questions.

5. Try to discover what stories in any newspaper are the result of actual reporting by staff reporters—point out where the others come from.

6. Notice the date line on stories that come from the outside, and learn its form.

EXERCISES FOR THE SECOND CHAPTER

1. Watch for local stories that seem to be worth sending out; determine what element in them makes them worth sending out; calculate how far from their source they would be worth printing.

2. Study the news value of stories that are printed in the local papers; determine why they were printed. Look for the same things in stories with date lines in the local papers.

3. Determine what class of readers any given news story would interest.

4. Notice the time element (timeliness) in newspaper stories.

5. Try to determine the radius of your local paper's personal news sources: how near the printing office one must live to be worth personal mention.

6. Watch for local stories whose news value depends upon the death element, upon a prominent name, a significant loss of property, mere unusualness, human interest, or personal appeal; see what the local papers do with these stories and whether the local correspondents send them out.

7. Analyze the nature of the personal appeal in stories that are printed only for their personal appeal.

8. Notice how local reasons change the news values of local stories.

9. In any or all of these stories determine what the feature is. Distinguish between the fundamental incident which the story reports and the additional significant feature which enhances the news value of the fundamental incident.

EXERCISES FOR THE THIRD CHAPTER

1. Run over the Style Book at the end of this book; note the essential points in newspaper style.

2. Give the principal rules for the preparation of copy.

3. Glance over the "Don'ts" in the Style Book.

EXERCISES FOR THE FOURTH CHAPTER

1. Study the form and construction of news stories, especially simple fire stories.

2. Pick out the feature of each story—the additional incident in the story which increases the news value of the story itself—and see if the striking feature has been played up to best advantage.

3. Notice how the reader's customary questions—what, where, when, who, how, and why—are answered in the lead. Make a list of the answers in any given story.

EXERCISES FOR THE FIFTH CHAPTER

1. Collect good fire stories appearing in the newspapers. Study the construction of the lead and the order in which the facts are presented in the body of each story.

2. Write the leads of fire stories. The chances are that actual fires will seldom occur at the time when the student wishes to study the writing of fire stories, but the instructor may give his class, orally or in writing, the facts of a fire story. He may use imaginary facts or he may take the facts from a story clipped from a newspaper—the latter method is better because it enables the instructor to show the students, after they have written their stories, just how the original story was written in the newspaper office. The facts should be given in the order in which a reporter would probably secure them in actual reporting so that the student may learn to sort and arrange the facts that he wishes to use, and to select the feature. The instructor may even impersonate different persons connected with the story and have the class interview him for the facts. This method is to be followed throughout the whole study of news story writing. (In individual study, practice may be secured from writing up imaginary or real facts.)

3. In these first fire stories, use fires that have no interest beyond the interest in the fire itself—that is, no feature. Begin the story with "Fire" and devote the lead to answering the reader's customary questions.

4. Look for newspaper fire stories that are not correctly written and reconstruct the lead according to the logic of the fire lead. That is, strive for conciseness and cut out details that do not properly belong in the lead.

5. Make a list of the reader's customary questions concerning any fire and write out the briefest possible answers. Then construct a lead to embody these answers. Determine which answer should come first and which last, according to importance.

6. Write the bodies of some of these stories. First list the facts that are to be presented and determine the order of their importance.

7. Emphasize the separateness and completeness of the two parts of the story—the lead and the body of the story. Test the leads to see if they would be clear in themselves without further explanation.

8. Strive for brevity, conciseness and clearness; wage war on all attempts at fine writing.

EXERCISES FOR THE SIXTH CHAPTER

1. Study fire stories which have features—an interest beyond the mere fire itself—and see how the newspapers write them.

2. In a feature fire story of Class I., make a list of the reader's customary questions concerning the fire, as if it were a simple fire story, and a list of the answers. See if any answer is more interesting than the fire itself, or if its presence makes the story more interesting. Show that such an answer is the feature.

3. Write fire stories with features in some one of the reader's customary answers. (Class I.)

4. Study a simple fire story and try to imagine what things—properly answers to the reader's customary questions—might happen to give the fire greater news value. This will show the student how to look for the feature of a story.

5. Write the lead of any fire story in as many different ways as possible, striving in each one to play up the same feature.

6. Study a simple fire story and try to imagine what unexpected things might occur in connection with the fire which would be of greater interest than the fire itself. Show that these would be features and that they do not fall within the answers to the reader's customary questions—i. e., they are unexpected.

7. Write fire stories with features in unexpected attendant circumstances.

8. Make up lists of dead and injured; notice how the newspapers arrange and punctuate these lists.

9. Study fire stories with more than one feature. Work out the possibilities in any given fire along these lines.

10. Write fire stories in which there is more than one feature worth a place in the lead. Try various combinations in the lead to discover the happiest arrangement. Show how one of many striking features may be of so much importance as to drive the other features entirely out of the lead.

EXERCISES FOR THE SEVENTH CHAPTER

1. Count the number of words in the sentences and paragraphs of representative newspaper stories.

2. Practice writing fire leads that might be printed alone without the rest of the story.

3. Take a fire lead and experiment with various beginnings to show the possibilities:

a. Noun—experiment with and without articles. b. Infinitive—Distinguish infinitives in "to" and in "-ing." c. That clause. d. Prepositional phrase. e. Temporal clause. f. Causal clause. g. Others.

Show that any of these beginnings may be used in the playing up of any one feature.

4. Study how a name may overshadow an interesting story; determine when a name is worth first place in a lead. Study the practice of representative papers in this—do not hesitate to show how a paper has been illogical in beginning certain stories with an unknown name, for everything one sees in a newspaper is not ipso facto good usage in newspaper writing.

5. In students' stories, notice what the principal verb says and point out any misplaced emphasis.

6. Wage war on "was the unusual experience of" and "was the fate of" in leads.

7. Try to avoid "broke out" in fire leads. Devote the space to more interesting action.

8. Cut out all useless words in students' exercises; strive for brevity. Go through a student's story and weigh the value of each word, phrase, and sentence; cut out the useless ones or try to express them more briefly. Do the same to actual newspaper stories.

9. Weigh the value of every detail introduced into a lead and cut out the unnecessary ones; relegate them to the rest of the story.

10. Wage war on all meaningless generalities; demand exactness.

11. Refer the class to the Style Book in this volume and require them to follow a uniform style. Point out the differences in style of various papers.

12. See if the bodies of students' stories mean anything without the presence of the leads. Require the body of the story to be separate and complete in itself. This need not, of course, be carried to the point of repeating addresses given in the lead.

13. Try writing a story by simply elaborating and explaining the details mentioned in the lead of the story. Determine what facts must be added.

14. See if any story can stand the loss of its last paragraph. Determine how many paragraphs it can lose without sacrificing its interest.

15. In writing the body of a fire story, list the facts that are to be told, in their logical order; thus: origin, discovery, spread, death of firemen, escapes, injuries, rescues, explosion, extinguishing of fire. Number them in the order of their importance. Try to build a story out of these by following the logical order and at the same time crowding the most interesting facts to the beginning.

16. Practice getting the facts of a story by means of interviews. The instructor may have the students determine what persons they wish to interview for the facts and the instructor may impersonate these persons in turn. The class may then write the story from the facts gained in this way without reference to the interviews. This is for selecting and arranging facts in their logical order.

17. Practice the use of dialogue in stories. Judge its effectiveness and show that in most cases it is well to avoid dialogue.

18. Practice rewriting long stories into short press dispatches of 150 words or less, considering the different news value.

EXERCISES FOR THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

1. Collect clippings of other kinds of news stories.

2. In writing these other stories use the fire story as a model; the facts may be presented as they were in the fire story.

3. Study the possible features in accident stories; write accident stories with various features; make lists of dead and injured.

4. Study and write robbery stories with various features; distinguish between the various names applied to robbery and to the people who rob.

5. Study and write murder and suicide stories with various features, striving in each case to give the facts without shocking the reader. Show how the featureless murder or suicide story is very much like a featureless fire story.

6. Study and write riot, storm, flood, and other big stories.

7. In the study of police court news have the class go to the local police courts and report actual cases.

8. Send the students to report meetings. Report conferences, decisions, etc. Insist that the story begin with the gist of the report in each case and never with explanations.

9. Write stories on bulletins, catalogues, city directories, etc. Study them with reference to their timeliness and try to discover what in them has the most news value. Require the student to begin with this element of news value and to give the source (the name and date of the bulletin, etc.) in the lead.

10. Look over the daily papers and pick out news stories which bury the gist of their news and have the students rewrite the leads to play up the real news or to give greater emphasis to buried features.

EXERCISES FOR THE NINTH CHAPTER

1. Collect good examples of the follow-up and the rewrite story; follow one important story through several days' editions to see how it is rewritten day by day. Examine an afternoon paper's version of a story covered in a morning paper.

2. Take any news story and work out the follow-up possibilities; imagine what the next step in the story will be.

3. On this basis, write follow-up stories and rewrite stories.

4. Write a follow-up story which, while beginning with a new feature, retells the original story.

5. Study and write follow-up stories involving fires, accidents, robberies, murders, suicides, storms (present condition), etc.

EXERCISES FOR THE TENTH CHAPTER

1. Collect good examples of speech reports.

2. Take notes on oral speeches and write reports of varying lengths. Practice taking notes in the proper way and write the report at once—perhaps as an impromptu in class. The instructor may send his students to public lectures or read representative speeches to them in class.

3. Write reports of speeches from printed copies of the speech; that is, edit them in condensed form.

4. Take one lead and experiment with different beginnings, playing up the same idea in each case.

5. Discuss speeches to determine the newsiest and timeliest thing in the speech—the statement to be played up in the lead.

6. In the body of the report try to use as much direct quotation as possible, use complete sentence quotations, do not mix quotation and summary in the same paragraph or sentence. Study the rules regarding the use of quotation marks.

7. Have the students write running reports of speeches—that is, have them write their report as they listen to the speech and submit their report in this form. Naturally the lead must be written later.

EXERCISES FOR THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER

1. Collect representative interview stories.

2. Have students interview various people without the aid of a note book; have them bring back quoted statements by the use of their memory. Have them interview some one who will criticize their manner and method.

3. Have a definite reason or timeliness for every interview—have the student map out a definite campaign beforehand. Try writing out the questions beforehand in shape to fill in the answers.

4. Write interview stories from the results of these attempts.

5. Begin the same interview story in various ways.

6. Write an interview story in which the feature is a denial or a refusal to speak; tell what should have been said and what the denial or refusal signifies.

7. Study the form of the body of the report (see Speech Reports).

8. Write stories which are the result of several interviews on the same subject; arrange them informally and formally.

EXERCISES FOR THE TWELFTH CHAPTER

1. Collect examples of good court reports.

2. Attend and report actual cases in the local courts (preferably civil courts).

3. Determine what is the most interesting thing in each.

4. From this, write court reports—reports of the cases which the students have heard.

5. Experiment with the various beginnings for the same report.

6. Try summarizing a case in one paragraph.

7. Practice getting down testimony verbatim.

8. Practice summarizing testimony in indirect form.

9. Practice writing out the testimony in full in the various ways.

10. Write testimony with action in it for the sake of human interest.

11. Show how all of these may be combined into one good court report.

EXERCISES FOR THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER

1. Notice how various newspapers treat social news; study the reason in each case; collect examples.

2. List the facts of a wedding story; write short and long wedding stories.

3. Write wedding announcements, beginning in various ways.

4. Write engagement announcements.

5. Write up receptions, banquets, dinners, etc.; report actual functions.

6. Write announcements for the same functions.

7. Write up some unusual social story as a news story.

8. Practice writing obituaries and simple death stories with accompanying obituary. Write sketches of the lives of prominent people.

9. In these exercises use actual events as subjects.

EXERCISES FOR THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER

1. Study sporting stories for their material and method.

2. Report a football game or some other sporting event.

3. Make a running account of a football or baseball game.

4. Write a brief summary of the game to be sent out as a dispatch, limiting it to 150 words.

5. Write up the same game in 200-300 words; attach a condensed running account of the same length.

6. Write a long story of the same game, following the outline given in the text; attach a detailed running account by periods or innings; compile tables of players and results for the end.

7. The study of sporting news may be taken out of its logical place and studied during the baseball or football season.

EXERCISES FOR THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER

1. Collect human interest and newspaper feature stories.

2. Watch for material for human interest stories; look at the facts in your other news stories in a sympathetic way and see how they could be made into human interest stories.

3. Write human interest stories on facts given by the instructor and on facts discovered by the students.

4. Write animal stories, and witty comments on the weather.

5. Write up some timely local subject as a 1500-word feature story.

EXERCISES FOR THE SIXTEENTH CHAPTER

1. Gather good theatrical reports and watch for those in which the whole report is written around a single idea.

2. At the theater watch for things to comment on; try to bring away one definite idea about the play—with illustrations.

3. Write dramatic criticisms that are the embodiment of a single idea or criticism on the play.

4. Try to point out the bad things in a play without being bitter or personal.

5. Write a half-column of copy on a vaudeville show, supposing that the copy is paid for and must praise, not only the show as a whole, but each individual act.

EXERCISES FOR THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER

1. Notice the form and punctuation of the date line: MADISON, Wis., Feb. 29.—

2. Notice the writing of street addresses: 234 Grand avenue, 4167 Twenty-sixth street; 3857 138th street; (without "at").

3. Notice in the use of figures—sums of money, hours of day, ages, figures at the beginning of sentence.

4. Notice use of titles; use of Mr. before a man's name—always give a man's initials or first name the first time you mention it in any story.



APPENDIX II

NEWS STORIES TO BE CORRECTED

(The following stories have been prepared to illustrate some of the most usual mistakes in newspaper writing. They may be rewritten or used as exercises in copy-reading. As a class exercise, the student may revise and correct these stories without recopying, just as a copy-reader revises poorly written copy.)

I

Shortly after 2:30 this morning fire

broke out in a pile of old papers in the

basement of the Harmony Flat building,

at 1356 Congress avenue, a four-story

eight-apartment structure. Two firemen

were killed by a falling wall.

The fire had a good start before the

janitor, Michael Jones, who sleeps in the

basement, awoke. He turned in an alarm

and ran through the halls awakening the

occupants. The people on the two lower

floors escaped in their night clothing by

the stairways, but the fire spread very rap-

idly, the occupants of the upper floors be-

ing forced to flee down the fire escapes in

the rear.

When the firemen put in an appearance,

Mrs. Jeanette Huyler appeared at a third

story window and called for help. An ex-

tension ladder being hoisted, she was res-

cued without difficulty. During the fire

the wall on the east side fell and killed

Fireman John Casey and Jacob Hughes;

Fireman Williams Jacobs was hit on the

head by a brick and seriously injured.

The fire was extinguished before it

spread to an adjoining three-story flat

building on the west.

The firemen in searching the ruins

found the body of a man who was later

identified as Rupert Smithers; he was 70

and occupied a lower flat by himself. The

janitor said that he was deaf and prob-

ably did not hear the warning. The three

dead and injured firemen belong to Hose

Co. No. 24.

Loss $50,000, fully insured.

—————



II

The police have arrested John Johnson,

23 years old, 2367 Sixth Street, charged

with murdering Mrs. Laura Buckthorn,

the well-known proprietor of the Duchess

Restaurant, 438 High street. He is now

in the county jail.

Mrs. Buckthorn was sixty years old and

the widow of one of the oldest settlers in

the city.

She lived in her small cottage at 2367

Sixth Street and supported herself by

means of the restaurant. John Johnson, a

street car motorman occupied a room in

her cottage. Mrs. Buckthorn was found

dead in her bed, in a pool of blood, with

two bullet holes in her head this morning.

Mrs. Grady, the restaurant cook said, "I

became alarmed when Mrs. Buckthorn did

not appear as usual at the restaurant this

morning and went to her home to find

her."

Inquiry showed that Mrs. Buckthorn

had drawn $250 from the First National

Bank yesterday and her daughter, Mrs.

J. D. Jackson, 1548 Sixth Street, says that

her mother often kept such sums of money

at home under the mattress of her bed.

Mrs. Jackson also says that she often

warned her mother against such habits.

The money was not under the mattress

this morning.

Further inquiry showed that John Johnson

did not appear for work as usual this

morning and was later found by Police-

man Patrick O'Hara in the railroad yards.

He had with him $223.67 and a ticket to

New York. He was known to be hard up

but refused to account for the money and

was given a berth in the county jail.

Samuel Benson, cashier of the First Na-

tional, is sure that the two 100-dollar

bills which were found on Johnson are the

same bills that he gave to Mrs. Buckthorn

yesterday afternoon. Johnson will be

given a hearing to-morrow but it is al-

ready considered certain that he is the

guilty party, the evidence being so strong.

(This story may be rewritten for local use and for a dispatch.)

—————



III

Sparks, resulting from the grounding

of an electric wire, ignited a bucket of gas-

olene and fired the shop of the G. W.

Smith Motor Co., at 228, 232 West street

last night, five automobiles valued at

$5,800 being destroyed and the building

being damaged to the extent of 6,200 dol-

lars by fire.

The insulation on the wires of an exten-

sion light that Edward Flasch, one of the

repair men was using became cracked, the

wire grounding as a result. The sparks

fell into a bucket of gasolene standing

nearby and in a few minutes the entire

building was ablaze. G. W. Smith, pro-

prietor of the garage, said that he was sit-

ting in his office at the time of the explo-

sion and tried to put the fire out with sand

but could not get the blaze under any con-

trol. He then started to run out as many

machines as possible.

Six cars, valued at $9,000 were saved.

—————



IV

Madison, September 25th, 1912; With

a loud deafening roar that violently

aroused hundreds from their beds of slum-

ber the monster gas holder occuppying

the southwest corner of South Blount and

Main Streets at the gasplant of the Madi-

son Gas and Electric Company collapsed

very suddenly at 6:sO a. m. this morning,

and now lies partly submerged in water,

a total wreck. The damage will be fully

25,000 dollars, but there will be no inter-

ruption to the service the company's excel-

lent reserve equippment being immediately

brought into action for the emergency.

The cause of the explosion was at first

clothed in deep mystery before the officials

of the company had time to make any in-

vestigation.

However it was definitely ascertained

during the morning when Mr. John W.

Jackson, the secretary and treasurer of the

company, being interviewed by a Daily

News correspondent this morning, stated

that the immense quantities of snow on

the roof of the holder was primarily re-

sponsible. The weight of the snow on

one side of the holder causing it to drop

down broke the wheel and pushed the

holder off the foundation on which it was

standing. There was a momentary blaze

but when the tank settled down into the

reservoir below the fire went out and the

awful peril from this highly dangerous

source was fortunately averted.

As it was dozens of windows at the

planing mill on the opposite side of the

street were all left intact. In fact no dam-

age whatsoever outside of the holder re-

sulted from the unfortunate accident.

Two workmen, Jacob Casey and Nelson

Jones, were unfortunately caught beneath

the wreckage and their bodies were

removed later in the morning by the fire

department. The tank was full when it

collapsed and that it did not scatter de-

struction and take more innocent lives

was one of the fortunate features of the

accident and a great cause for congratula-

tion among the officials of the company

today.

(This story illustrates, among other things, excessive wordiness.)

—————



V

After being chased by a young woman

for several blocks, a man who gave his

name as John Weber, was pursued through

a saloon at 11-97th street by Policeman

Arthur Brown and captured on the roof of

a building adjoining the saloon, where the

man had hidden behind a chimney. Weber

was arrested by the policeman and is held

on a charge preferred by Charles Young, a

grocer at 2145 Sixth avenue, of attempt-

ing to rob Young's grocery store.

According to Young, just before he

closed his store for the night last evening,

a young man entered the store and asked

for a pound of butter. "I thought," said

Young, "that the man was just married

and might be a possible new customer. I

started for the back of the store to open a

new tub but just as I turned to go, he hit

me over the head with his cane. The

blow dazed me but I still had sense enough

to grab him by the collar. In the fight we

both fell through the glass door at the

front of the store and the d—n rascal got

away." A young woman, who was pass-

ing the store, seeing the fracas, screamed

and started to run after the young man.

She followed him until he ran into a sa-

loon. Then she ran up to Policeman

Brown, who was standing at the corner of

97th st. and Sixth-av and told him that a

robber had gone into the saloon. The po-

liceman ran into the saloon, but found the

man had left by the back stairs. The po-

liceman followed up two flights of stairs

leading to the roof, on the run, where he

found Weber hiding behind a chimney.

Weber refused to give his address.

After watching until she saw the robber

taken away in the paddy-wagon, the

doughty young woman disappeared. Her

name is unknown.

—————



VI

A burglar dressed in a Salvation Army

uniform was arrested for attempting to

burglarize Walter White's home, 16 West

62nd st. at about two o'clock last night.

He gave his name as Julius Woll and his

address as 129 23rd ave.

The caretaker at Walter White's said

he was awakened at 1 o'clock by the noise

of bureau drawers opening and he at once

phoned to the station. An officer came

and found the would-be burglar under the

bed. After considerable scuffling the man

was arrested and taken to the station.

The Salvation Army denied any connec-

tion with the prisoner but the landlady at

his address said he had two uniforms and

always wore one. He also carried a

prayer book under his arm whenever he

left his room. She also said that he had

resided in her house for six weeks and

owed four weeks board; also that he had

not been there for two weeks. Inquiry

proved that he was out regularly until

three or four in the morning.

—————



VII

The wedding of Mr. James Henry,

1463 Seventh Street, and Miss Sarah

Jones, last night at the home of the bride's

parents, at 316 North Johnson Street, was

a brilliant success.

Fifty guests were present and the pres-

ents which they brought all but filled the

parlor. After the ceremony a seven-

course banquet was served until 11:30

o'clock. Miss Sadie Jones rendered "The

Rosary" to the accompaniment of Mr.

John Field.

The bride wore a gown of pink taffeta

and carried sweet peas. The bridesmaid,

Lily Swenk, was dressed in white muslin.

The groom and best man, Mr. Arthur

Howles, wore conventional black. Rev.

Stone of the First M. E. church officiated.

The groom is a promising young law-

yer of this city. His bride is one of the

city's leading young society woman, being

deeply interested in the Womans' Suf-

frage League. There marriage is the re-

sult of a love affair begun at the univer-

sity and is the cause of heart-felt congrat-

ulations from their friends. After a trip

to the Coast, the happy couple will reside

in this city.

—————



VIII

"What we need in our universities are

sportsmen and not sports," said President

G. E. Gilbert of the Western University,

in the convocation address yesterday aft-

ernoon at four o'clock. "The sportsman

plays for the game, but the sport plays for

the victory."

The President continued, "Before the

battle, and during the battle, the

sportsman can be told from the sport."

It is the actions of the man, he

said, when he is in the test that determine

to which class he belongs. The President

summarized the various college

activities and showed how the two

classes of men appear in each different

activity. And in each, as the President

said, "you can tell the sportsman from the

sport."

"I think that this, the relation between

the sportsman and the sport, is the truest

analogy that can be applied to human life.

Life as a sea, life as a battle, life as a river

in which you must always paddle your

own canoe upstream, life as a hill-climbing

contest—all these analogies have their

weaknesses. But life as a game is a true

analogy."

The President concluded with a glowing

tribute to our university.

—————



IX

FAULTY LEADS

Evading the police by sliding down a

rope fire escape from a hotel window, Jo-

seph Matus, charged with robbing a lum-

ber jack of $125, escaped the police

temporily only to be arrested an hour

later at the Chicago, Milwaukee and St.

Paul depot.

—————

Ignited by the breaking of an electric

lamp, a tank of whiskey containing 7,705

gallons exploded and threw Francis Tab,

120 W. 139th St., thirty feet against the

opposite wall at the E. J. Jimkons Com-

pany, 40th street this morning.

—————

Fire of unknown origin started in the

big lumber yards owned by Charles John-

son at 763 Clinton Avenue, yesterday aft-

ernoon. The yards and one million feet

of lumber were totally destroyed. The

entire district between Mitchell street and

the South River was in danger of total

destruction, according to fire Chief Casey.

—————

Fire starting in a shed on West street

caused the total destruction of the First

Baptist church and the death of two fire-

men killed by falling walls. Loss $120,-

000.

—————

Trade war is the only probable result

of the abrogation of the Russian treaty,

was the statement of the Hon. Frank J.

Blank, secretary of State, before a large

and enthusiastic audience at the opera

house last evening. 1800 people packed

the building to overflowing.

—————

John Jones, a workman, who was

slightly injured when a thousand pounds

of powder exploded and wrecked the

Three-Ex Powder mill last night, was

taken to the St. James hospital.

—————

The presence of mind and coolness of

Mrs. J. B. Sweeny, 758 North Street,

saved little Johnny Sweeny from death

last night when she caught him by the

coattail and dragged him from beneath

the fender of a street car. Mrs. Sweeny

was dragged 50 feet by the car and taken

to the St. Luke's hospital in an ambulance

that was hastily summoned.

—————

Falling through a street car window

without receiving so much as a bruise was

the unusual experience of Michael Casey

last night on Main Street. Michael was

not intoxicated—so he says.

—————

Recklessly driving his automobile over

the curb on Smith street, Mr. James

White, who resides at 764 Smith street,

was fatally hurt by a careless chauffeur,

who was unable to handle his machine

and skidded at the corner near Mr.

White's home.

—————

At a meeting of the Sane Fourth com-

mittee in the city library last evening

at seven thirty, it was decided that Smith-

town must pass a law forbidding the sale

and use of cannon crackers.



INDEX

A

Abbreviations, 287. Accidents, 3, 107-109, 291. Accuracy, 145, 168, 209, 212, 290. Addresses, style of, 278, 279, 286, 288, 290, 310. Advertising, 28. Ages, how written, 286. Animal story, 253. Announcements, of engagements, 210; social, 212; stories on, 121; wedding, 209. Article beginning, 43, 80. Assignments, 5, 29. Associated Press, 10. Association, City Press, 10, 193. Athletic news, 219-232, 278, 283.

B

Baseball stories, 219. Beat, or run, 5, 29. Beat, or scoop, 6, 30. Beginning of lead, 80, 89; with article, 43, 80; with name, 57, 85, 161, 175, 180, 195, 249; with time, 47. Beginnings of court reports, 195-200; of human interest stories, 244-250; of interview stories, 179-187; of speech reports, 151-164. Big story, 5, 31; following-up of, 140; handling of, 116; resulting interviews from, 176, 187. Bills, stories on legislative, 121. Body of the story, 45, 76; discussion of, 91; of court reports, 200; of follow stories, 129; of human interest stories, 250; of interview stories, 185; of news stories, 122; of obituaries, 216; of speech reports, 164. Book, of tips, 3, 295; style, 33, 276-293. Box, 32, 188. Break, to, 31. Brevity, 13, 206, 217, 231. Brief summary athletic story, 222. Bulletins, stories on, 121. Business office, 28.

C

Capitalization, 276-281. Circulation, 15, 28. City editor, 2, 29. City Press Association, 10, 193. Classes of readers, 16. Clause beginning of lead, 82. Clean copy, 30. Clearness, 91, 104, 123. Clippings, 295. Coherence, 166, 266. Column, 32. Compositor, 30. Compounds and divisions of words, 285. Concreteness, 104, 293. Conferences, reports of, 119. Continued case beginning, 196. Cooperation in newsgathering, 10, 193. Copy, 30; preparation of, 289. Copyreader, 29. Copyreading, 311. Corrected, stories to be, 311. Correspondent, work of, 2; instructions to, 11, 223. Court reporting, 4; discussion of, 192-203, 281. Cover, to, 29. Crime, stories on, 110-116. Criticism, dramatic, 259-275. Crowd, used as feature, 68. Cub reporter, 28. Cynicism, 235, 252.

D

Datelines, 283, 310. Dates, how written, 278, 286, 290. Day city editor, 29. Dead, lists of, 63. Death element, 3, 22, 61, 73, 107. Decisions, reports of, 119. Definiteness, 104. Desk man, 29. Despatch, 12, 222. Dialogue, use of, 103; in court reports, 200; in human interest stories, 245, 251; rules for, 283. Dictation of stories, 298. Diction, 290-293. Directories, stories on, 121. Distance, effect of, 11, 20. Division of words, 285. Don'ts, in dramatic reporting, 265; in general, 290; in leads, 85-90. Down style, 33. Dramatic reporting, 259-275.

E

Editing, 30, 144. Editor, 29; day or night city, 2, 29; sporting, 29, 219; state, 2; Sunday, 29; telegraph, 2, 29. Editorial room, 28. Editorial writers, 29. Elections, 3, 277, 281, 288. Emphasis, 102. Engagement announcements, 210. Entertainments, reports of, 210. Exaggeration, 22, 89. Expected news, 3.

F

Faults in news stories, 75-104. Faulty stories to be corrected, 311. Feature, the, 27, 31, 37, 41, 50, 106-122, 125, 150, 175, 195, 228, 244, 266; crowd as, 68; death as, 61, 73; exaggeration for, 89; fire fighting as, 67; how, 57; in accident stories, 107; in football stories, 219-232; in human interest stories, 233-255; in murder stories, 114; in police stories, 118; in robbery stories, 110; in speech reports, 150; in suicide stories, 115; injuries as, 65; more than one, 70; playing up of, 27, 31; property threatened as, 66; rescues as, 65; unexpected attendant circumstances as, 60; what, 55; when, 54; where, 52; who, 57; why, 51. Feature fire story, 50-74. Feature social story, 213. Feature story, the special, 31, 255. Featureless fire story, 41-49. Figures, news value of, 24; use of, 283, 286, 290. Fine writing, 124, 213, 218, 251. Fire story, 39, 41, 50, 75, 105, 122. Fires, 3, 4, 7, 39, 41, 50, 75, 105, 122. Follow, or follow-up, story, 32; relation of, to court reports, 197; relation of, to interviews, 187; writing of, 125, 130-140. Following up related subjects, 140. Football stories, 219-232. Form of the news story, 34-40. Freak leads in speech reports, 163.

G

Gathering the news, 1-13; in athletic reporting, 230; in court reporting, 193; in human interest stories, 234; in interviewing, 169; in reporting speeches, 144. Generalities, meaningless, 89. Gist, 31, 36, 233, 243, 266. Grammar, 78, 84, 123. Group interviews, 187.

H

Heads, headlines, 27, 30, 78, 188. Hospitals, as news sources, 4. How, feature in, 57. Human interest stories, 17, 24, 32, 178, 185, 191, 198; discussion of, 233-255. Humor, 24, 198, 214, 241. Humorous story, 241.

I

Infinitive beginning of lead, 81. Injuries, feature in, 65; list of, 64. Instructions to correspondents, 12. Interest, 14, 35, 92, 102, 104, 141, 179, 192; human, 17, 24, 32, 178, 185, 191, 198, 233-255. Interview stories, 175-191. Interviews, for facts, 6, 103; for opinions, 6, 141, 169-191; group, 187.

K

Keynote beginning of speech report, 158. Killing a story, 30.

L

Lead, 31; beginning of, 80, 89; don'ts in, 85-90; in athletic stories, 223, 227; in court reports, 195-200; in fire stories, 39, 42, 50, 77-90; in follow stories, 127-140; in human interest stories, 233; in interview stories, 179-185, 188; in obituary stories, 214; in other news stories, 106; in speech reports, 147-164; length of, 75; main verb of, 86. Leaded, 32. Length, of lead, 75; of paragraphs, 75; of sentences, 76. Line-up of teams, 232. Linotype, 30. Lists of dead and injured, 63; of guests, patronesses, etc., 211, 282; of names, 282. Local interest, 21, 26. Long football story, 226. Loss of life, 22, 61, 73; of property, 23, 55.

M

Mailing stories, 13. Main verb of lead, 86. Make-up, making up, 31, 37. Manner, reporter's, 172. Marriages, 206. Meaningless generalities, 89. Meetings, reports of, 3, 119, 291. Money, sums of, 281, 286, 290. Morgue, 4, 216. "Mr.", use of, 287, 292, 310. Murders, 113.

N

Name beginning, in court reports, 195; in human interest stories, 249; in interview stories, 175, 180; in news stories, 57, 85, 108-116; in speech reports, 161. Names, prominent, 23, 57, 108-116, 150, 161, 178; use of, 276, 277, 280-283. Narrative order, in athletic stories, 227; in court reports, 200; in human interest stories, 250; in interview stories, 185; in news stories, 34-40, 92-102; in obituaries, 215; in speech reports 166; in wedding stories, 207. News, 14-27, 125; agencies for gathering, 10, 193; cooperation in gathering, 10, 193; expected and unexpected, 3; gathering of, 1-13, 144, 169, 193, 230, 234; sources of, 4, 29; sporting, 219-232, 278, 283. New story, 34-124. News story form, 34-40. News tips, 3, 30, 295. News values, 11, 14-27, 38, 41, 204, 233. Newspaper terms, 28-33. Night city editor, 29. Nose for news, viii. Notebook, 170. Note taking, in athletic reporting, 230; in court reporting, 194; in dramatic reporting, 267; in interviewing, 170; in speech reporting, 144. Noun beginning of lead, 80.

O

Obituaries, 214. Order of narrative (see Narrative order). Outlining of a story, 99.

P

Paragraph length, 75, 290. Paragraphing, 48, 75, 166, 186, 290. Participial phrase beginning for lead, 83, 158. Parts of a news story, 46, 76, 91. Pathetic story, 238. Pathos, 24, 198, 238. Personal appeal, 25, 249. Personal news, 20, 204. Photographs, 13. Playing up, 31; of the feature, 27, 31. Point of view of newspaper, 8. Police court news, 4, 118. Policy, 26. Political news, 25. Practice, 294. Preparation of copy, 289. Prepositional phrase beginning, 82. Press Associations, 10, 193. Printed matter, stories on, 121. Prominent names, 23, 57, 108-116, 150, 161, 178. Proof, 30. Proofreader's signs, 32, 290. Property losses as features, 23, 55. Property threatened as feature, 66. Public records, 4. "Punch," 13. Punctuation, 281. Purpose of newspapers, 14.

Q

Q. & A. testimony, 201, 283, 288. Queries, 12. Questions, reader's customary, as features, 51; in fire stories, 38, 42, 50, 77; in follow stories, 132; in human interest stories, 233; in interview stories, 179; in obituaries, 215; in other news stories, 106; in speech reports, 150. Quotation beginnings, direct, 151, 153, 183, 198, 245; indirect, 154. Quotations, 103, 146, 164, 186, 189, 200, 284. Quoting, rules for, 284.

R

Range of news sources, 20. Readers, classes of, 16. Reader's customary questions. See Questions. Receptions, 210, 291. Rehashing, 125-130. Related stories, 140, 176, 187. Releasing a story, 31, 144. Reporter, 2, 28, 170, 186, 219, 235, 258, 259, 292. Reporting court news, 192-202, 281. Reports, dramatic, 259-275; of meetings, conferences, decisions, etc., 119; of speeches, sermons, lectures, etc., 143-168. Rescues as features, 65. Rewrite man, 125. Rewrite story, 32, 125-130. Robberies, 110, 291. Runs, or beats, 5, 29. Running a story, 30. Running story, 31, 189, 200, 223, 227.

S

Sarcasm, 274. Scoop, or beat, 6, 30. Season story, 257. Second day story, 32, 125, 130-140. Sensationalism, 18, 90, 234. Sentence length, 76. Sermons, reports of, 3, 143-168. Set up, to, 30. Simple fire story, 40-49. Slang, 28, 292. Slash, to, 37, 92. Slug, 30. Sob squad, 236. Social announcements, 212. Social news, 204-214. Sources of news, 4, 29. Speaker beginning, 161, 180. Special feature story, 255. Speech reports, 3, 143-168, 284, 291. Sporting editor, 29, 219. Sporting news, 219-232. Staff, 28. State editor, 2. Stenographic reports, 144, 194. Stickful, 32. Stories to be corrected, 311. Storms, 3, 116. Story, 30; baseball, 219-232; big, see Big story; body of, see Body of the story; faults in news, 75-104; feature fire, 50-74; fire, 38, 40, 105, 122; follow, follow-up, or second day, 32, 125, 130-140; form of news, 34-40; news, 34-40, 50, 75, 105-124; on announcements, bulletins, and other printed matter, 121; on legislative bills, 121; parts of news, 45, 76, 91; police court, 118; related, 140; rewrite, 32, 125-130; running, 31, 189, 200, 223, 227; simple fire, 41-49; special feature, 255; summary athletic, 222; unusual social, 213. Street numbers, 278, 279, 286, 288, 290, 292, 310. Style, 13, 33, 103, 233, 251. Style Book, 33, 276-293. Suggestions for study, 4, 294. Suicide stories, 115, 291. Summary beginning, for court reports, 197; for interview stories, 182, 188; for speech reports, 157. Sums of money, 281, 286, 290. Sunday editor, 29. Superlatives, 222, 292.

T

Tables of athletic results, 232, 283. Taking notes. See Note taking. Telegraph editor, 2, 29. Telegraph queries, 12. Telephone, use of, 13. Terms, newspaper, 28-33. Testimony, 200. That-clause beginning, in interview stories, 182; in speech reports, 154. Theatrical news, 259-275, 284. Time, indication of, 281, 286. Time beginning, 47. Timeliness, in general, 19; in human interest stories, 238, 256, 286; in interviews, 176, 187. Tips, 3, 30, 295. Title beginning of speech report, 160. Titles, use of, 276, 277, 279, 282, 284, 287, 290, 292. Track news, 219, 223. Truthfulness, 8; in general, 290; in human interest stories, 239; in interviewing, 179; in speech reporting, 145, 168. Typewriter, use of, 289.

U

Unexpected attendant circumstances, 60. Unexpected news, 2. Uniformity, 33, 34, 289. United Press, 10. Unusual social stories, 213. Unusualness, 24, 213. Up style, 33. Uplift run, 236, 254. Usual football story, 223.

V

Values, news, 11, 14, 27, 38, 41, 204, 233. Vaudeville reports, 264. Vernacular, newspaper, 28. Vividness, 104, 114, 116.

W

Weather story, 256. Wedding announcements, 209. Wedding story, 206. What, as feature, 55. When, as feature, 54. Where, as feature, 52. Who, as feature, 57. Why, as feature, 51. Wordiness, 87.

Y

Yarn, 30.

- Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and in spacing in abbreviations have been retained as in the original, along with deliberate misspellings and errors in "News Stories to be Corrected" in Appendix II. -

THE END