Southwestern Reporter

“ The entire A. E. will be a little longer than the two others, but not very much. Here and there, I fancy, you will laugh as you read it; but it seems to me rather a CLEVER book than anything else: the book of a man, that is, who has paid a great deal of attention to contemporary life, and not through the newspapers.
I have never seen my Burns! the darling of my heart! I await your promised letter. Papers, magazines, articles by friends; reviews of myself, all would be very welcome, I am reporter for the MONTEREY CALIFORNIAN, at a salary of two dollars a week! COMMENT TROUVEZ-VOUS CA? ”

“ Sojourner then gathered up her bag and shawl, and walked into the parlor in a stately manner, and there, surrounded by the children, the papers were duly read and considered. The Express, the Post, the Commercial Advertiser, the World, the Times, the Herald, the Tribune, and the Sun, all passed in review. The World seemed to please Sojourner more than any other journal. She said she liked the wit of the World's reporter ”

“ Others are regular contributors who fill certain amounts of space each week or month. Still others, specialists in their lines, write only occasionally, but deal in a scholarly, exhaustive way with their subjects. The feature stories in the news columns are written generally by the stronger men on the regular staff of reporters. Some papers have regular feature men on whom they rely for human interest stories. And any newspaper man who can handle such stories well may be sure of a place at an advanced salary over the ordinary reporter. ”

“ Before noon every reporter, pressman and employee on the DAILY NEWS was informed of the remarkable fact that the paper was going to press without a word in it about the famous prize fight of Sunday. The reporters were simply astonished beyond measure at the announcement of the fact. Every one in the stereotyping and composing rooms had something to say about the unheard of omission. Two or three times during the day when Mr. Norman had occasion to visit the composing rooms the men stopped their work or glanced around their cases looking at him curiously. ”

“ They treat an important event rather as a semi-news semi-editorial review article—an article of news with interjected comment, with expression of opinion as suits the writer’s fancy or belief or prejudice.
In American newspapers of high grade the reporter is not permitted to comment or inject opinion or seek to influence the reader; he must not depart from the cold facts of narration. No comment outside the editorial page is the rule. The foreign correspondent is excepted from this requirement and the Washington man partly so.
Not any other kind of newspaper work gives more useful experience. ”

“ The "Nose for News."—Recognition of news values is put first in the tabulation of requirements for successful writing because without a "nose for news"—without the ability to recognize a story when one sees it—a reporter cannot hope to succeed. Editorial rooms all over the United States are full of stories of would-be reporters who have failed because they have not been able to recognize news. The following is a genuine first paragraph of a country correspondent's letter to a village weekly in Tennessee ”

“ In addition, every large daily has in the chief cities its representatives who, while often engaged in regular reporting, nevertheless do work of a correspondence nature. It is highly advisable, therefore, that every newspaper man, because probably some day he may have to do correspondence work, should know how to gather, write, and file such stories.
286. Estimating the Worth of News.—A correspondent is both like and unlike a regular reporter—like, in that in his district he is the paper's representative and upon him depends the accurate or inaccurate publication of news ”

“ On such papers he must follow precisely the commands of the managing editor or the city editor and must feature sympathetically or severely what they request. Usually an intelligent sympathy with the general policy of the paper is sufficient for a reporter, no matter how conscientious. It is only rarely that he is trammeled with being forced to write contrary to his convictions. ”

“ No attempt is, or should be, made there to influence public opinion. That function is reserved for the editorial columns, and the reporter must be careful not to let his personal views color the articles he writes. The following story was written for a small Wisconsin paper by a rabid political reporter:
THOMAS MORRIS IN TOWN
Thomas Morris, lieutenant governor of this state and candidate for the United States senate, was in Appleton this morning and spent the day in Outagamie county shaking hands with those who would. But few would shake. ”

“ The trouble with the Southern reporter is—Women. They unsettle him; they throw him off his balance. He is plain, and sensible, and satisfactory, until a woman heaves in sight. Then he goes all to pieces; his mind totters, he becomes flowery and idiotic. ”

“ Gathering News.—The prospective reporter who supposes that newspaper men wander aimlessly up and down the streets of a city, watching and hoping for automobiles to collide and for men to shoot their enemies, will have his eyes opened soon after entering a news office. He will learn that a reporter never leaves the city room without a definite idea of where he is going. If newspapers had to police the streets with watchers for news as the city government assigns officers of the law, the cost of gathering news would be prohibitive. ”

“ It would be rather futile to attempt the Don Quixote act, if only for the reason that one would never get into print. One can’t do more than follow instructions. The reporter’s best policy is his paper’s best honesty. ”

“ These men, all of them from the North, know something about the negro. Though little enough as yet, Congress has never asked these teachers to tell what they know about him. Facts regarding the lives or the motives of men are not obvious. The newspaper correspondent cannot reach them in an hour, or even in a year. I have been personally familiar with a number of events in the South. I have never known one of these to be correctly reported. Has any lawyer of this city ever known one of his cases to be reported accurately in the daily press? Truth seems to be in a deep well everywhere. ”

“ Many a society leader plans receptions and dinners of which the florist learns before the friends who are to be invited. And by skilfully encouraging the friendship of these tradesmen, a shrewd reporter can obtain exclusive facts about prominent persons who cannot understand, when they see their names in the morning paper, how the information was made public. These "dark runs" justify diligent attention. They produce news, and valuable [Pg 41] is the reporter who can include successfully a number of such sources in his daily rounds. ”

“ I likewise mentioned his own affair to Mr. Southwell, and I hope that will be done too; for Southwell seems to think it reasonable, and I will mind him of it again. Tell him this nakedly. You need not know the particulars. They are secrets, one of them is about Mrs. South having a pension; the other about his salary from the government for the tithes of the park, that lie in his parish, to be put upon the establishment. I dined in the city with my printer, with whom I had some small affair. I have no large work on my hands now. ”

“ I know that journalists who in their papers work for us to the best of their ability, are secretly troubled with serious scruples on that point. The agents of the South, whose footprints are frequently visible in the public press, are availing themselves of this state of things with great adroitness. ”

“ My ardency of temper was particularly suited to a frank, confiding people, such as are most of the southwestern men; and one or two accidental circumstances yielded me professional occupation long before I expected to find it. I had occasion to appear in court at an early day, and succeeded in making a favorable impression upon my hearers. To be a good speaker, in the south and southwest, is to be everything. Eloquence implies wisdom—at least all the wisdom which is supposed to be necessary in making lawyers and law-makers—a precious small modicum of a material by no means precious. ”

“ It is pleasing to observe that the prospects for the permanency and success of this Magazine are very encouraging. The South can, and we are sure will support liberally, both in contributions and subscriptions, a monthly literary periodical, and the Messenger is, in every way, worthy of that patronage. The number before us, and one or two others which we have had the pleasure of seeing, strike us as not containing quite enough of those lighter articles which relieve the mind of the reader, and give a pleasing variety to a work of this kind. ”

“ Editorial of March 4 combines typical Reporter interests: consumers, electric power
Over-all, the quality and scope of the Reporter's local coverage seems as good if not better than that of the Oregonian, while the latter supplies a more comprehensive picture of the world outside Portland. The Journal's greatest attractions are a gossipy local column and a sprightly sports section. ”

“ Other Reporters.—As the new reporter waits by the city editor's desk, he will notice the arrival of the other members of the staff, who immediately begin their work for the day. One of these is the labor reporter. His business is to obtain and write news relating to labor and unions. Another is the marine reporter. He handles all news relating to shipping, clearing and docking of vessels, etc. Another reporter handles all stories coming from the police court. Another watches the morgue and the hospitals. Another, usually a woman, obtains society news. ”

“ A REPORTER is now and again compelled to exercise other powers than those which are generally supposed to be at the command of the writer of shorthand and the paragraphist. I knew a very clever youth who in a crisis showed of what he was capable. There was, in the town where we lived, a society of very learned men and equally learned women. Once a fortnight a paper was read, usually on some point of surpassing dulness—this was in the good old days, when lectures were solemn and theatres merry. ”

“ The Association lists for sale interesting and excellent publications for adults and children and very many color slides on Southwestern subjects. These make fine gifts for birthdays, parties, and special occasions, and many prove to be of value to children in their school work and hobbies. ”

“ Both public and private efforts are being made in countless communities of the South to begin the lifting of this great burden. Some of the States have already taken encouraging measures in this direction. While there are reactions, the general tide is that of progress. It is easy to make too much of the violent reactionary outcries of a few Southern newspapers. ”

“ It is a recognized fact that colored readers in the South care almost exclusively for local news. Indeed, they simply desire to see their own locality written up. The news of the great, wide world, or even the news of the great, wide country, or the news even narrowed down to the experiences and doings of their own race, as they are scattered abroad throughout our land, is not desired to any great extent by them. ”

“ I ken the man, ye see; I have lost siller by him ere now. He thinks of naebody but just himsel’; clan, king, or dauchter, if he can get his wameful, he would give them a’ the go-by! ay, or his correspondent either. For there is a sense in whilk I may be nearly almost said to be his correspondent. The fact is, we are employed thegether in a business affair, and I think it’s like to turn out a dear affair for Sandie Sprott. The man’s as guid’s my pairtner, and I give ye my mere word I ken naething by where he is. He micht be coming here to Helvoet ”

“ Much as I have differed with the editor of the Southern Press in his general views of public policy, I am disposed to forgive him past errors in consideration of his public acknowledgment of this "incidental evil," and his frank recommendation of its removal. A Southern newspaper less devoted than the Southern Press to the maintenance of slavery would be seriously compromised by such a suggestion, and its advice would be far less likely to be heeded. ”

“ It is honestly rather amusing; it is a story of what journals and journalists really are. A monstrously lazy man lives in South Bucks partly by writing a column in the Saturday Daily News. At the time he usually writes it (which is always at the last moment) his house is unexpectedly invaded by infants of all shapes and sizes. His Secretary is called away; and he has to cope with the invading pigmies. Playing with children is a glorious thing; but the journalist in question has never understood why it was considered a soothing or idyllic one. ”

“ I cannot receive it back till the mail of April. Yes, it can be out in time; pray God that it be in time to help.
How do journalists fetch up their drivel? I aim only at clearness and the most obvious finish, positively at no higher degree of merit, not even at brevity—I am sure it could have been all done, with double the time, in two-thirds of the space. And yet it has taken me two months to write 45,500 words; and, be damned to my wicked prowess, I am proud of the exploit! The real journalist must be a man not of brass only, but bronze. ”

“ But the journalist’s method is the way to manufacture lies; it is will-worship—if you know the luminous quaker phrase; and the will is only to be brought in the field for study and again for revision. The essential part of work is not an act, it is a state.
I do not know why I write you this trash.
Many thanks for your handsome dedication. I have not yet had time to do more than glance at Mrs. Begg; it looks interesting.—Yours very truly,
Robert Louis Stevenson.
To Miss Annie H. Ide Vailima, Samoa [November 1891] . ”