|in the deaths of the Empress Dowager and |
|the Emperor of China. Chinatown mourns, |
|but it does so in such an unobtrusive |
|Oriental way that the casual visitor on |
|sympathy bent may feel that his words of |
|condolence would be misplaced. |
| |
| A reporter from this paper was assigned |
|yesterday to go up to Chinatown and in as |
|delicate a way as possible to gather some |
|of the sentiments of appreciation of the |
|merits of Kuang-hsu and his lamented aunt, |
|Tzu-hsi. He was told that he might write a |
|little about the picturesque though |
|nevertheless sincere expressions of |
|mourning that he might observe in Pell |
|and Mott streets. |
| |
| Mr. Jaw Gum, senior partner in the firm |
|of Jaw Gum & Co., importers of cigars, |
|cigarettes, dead duck's eggs and Chinese |
|delicatessen, of 7 Pell street, was at |
|home. Mr. Gum was approached. |
| |
| "We would like to learn a little about |
|the arrangements that are being made by |
|the Chinese to indicate their sorrow at |
|the deaths of their beloved rulers." |
| |
| "What number?" queried Mr. Gum. The |
|question was repeated. |
| |
| "P'licyman, he know," remarked Mr. Gum |
|sagely. |
| |
| (So on for a column with interviews and |
|statements from several of Mr. Gum's |
|neighbors.)--_New York Sun._ |
But this is very much like a human interest story--the reporter takes
part in it--and we shall discuss that later.
XII
COURT REPORTING
Probably few classes of news stories present such a lack of uniformity
and such a variety of treatments as the reports of court news. Legal
stories belong to one of the few sorts of stories that do not tend to
become systematized. But there is a reason for almost everything in a
newspaper and there is also a reason for the freedom that reporters are
allowed in reporting testimony. The reason in this case is probably in
the fact that very rarely do two court stories possess the same sort of
interest or the same news value.
We have seen that reports of speeches are printed in the daily press
because our readers are interested in the content of the speech or in
the man who uttered it. In the same way, our readers are interested in
interviews because of the man who was interviewed, because of their
content, or because of their bearing on some current event. On the other
hand there is an infinite number of reasons why a court story is worth
printing or why it may not be worth a line. Sometimes the interest is
in the persons involved; sometimes in the significance of the decision.
People may also be interested in a case because of its political or
legal significance or merely because of the sensational testimony that
is given. And again a very trivial case may be worth a large amount of
space in the daily paper just because of its human interest--because of
the pathos or humor that the reporter can bring into it. Thus the
resulting reports are hard to classify. Each one depends on a different
factor for its interest and each must be written in a different way so
that its individual interest may be most effective. However there are
general tendencies in the reporting of court news.
The news itself is comparatively easy to get. In a large city every
court is watched every day by a representative of the press, either a
reporter for an individual paper or for a city news gathering
association. In some cities where there is no independent news gathering
agency papers sometimes club together to keep one reporter at each
court. The man who is on duty must watch all day long for cases that are
of interest for one reason or another. Even with all this safeguarding
sometimes an important case slips by the papers; often the reporter on
duty considers of little interest a case that is worth columns when
some paper digs into it. Every reporter however who is trying to do
court reporting should learn the ordinary routine of legal proceedings;
for example, the place and purpose of the pleas, the direct and cross
examination of witnesses, and other legal business.
As we shall see when we begin to write court reports, it is necessary to
exercise every possible trick to put interest into the story. In the
actual court room all that relieves the dreary monotony of legal
proceedings is an occasional bit of interesting testimony. And when the
reporter tries to report a case he sometimes finds that interesting
testimony is all that will lighten up the dull monotony of his story.
Therefore while he is listening to a case he tries to get down verbatim
a large number of the interesting questions and answers. Or if he is
unable to be present he tries to get hold of the court stenographer's
record to copy out bits of testimony for his account. Beyond this
recording of testimony there is really little difficulty in court
reporting except the difficulty of separating the interesting from the
great mass of uninteresting matter.
As to the actual writing of the report of a legal trial, the one thing
that the reporter must remember is that a case is seldom reported for
the public's interest in the case itself. There is usually some other
reason why the editor wants a half a column of it. That reason is the
thing that the reporter must watch for and when he finds it he must make
it the feature of his report to be embodied in the first line of the
lead.
When we try to play up the most interesting feature of a court report we
find that we must fall back upon the same beginnings that we used in
reporting speeches and interviews. There are several possible ways of
beginning such a story, depending upon the phase of the case or its
testimony that is of greatest importance.
=1. Name Beginning.=--The proper name beginning is very common. It is
always used when any one of prominence is involved in the story or when
the name, although unknown, can be made interesting in itself--as in a
human interest story. The name is usually made the subject of the verb
testified, as in this lead:
| A. F. Law, secretary of the Temple Iron |
|Company, a subsidiary company of the |
|Reading Coal and Iron Company, called |
|before the government investigation of |
|the alleged combination of coal carrying |
|roads, testified today in the Federal |
|building that four roads had contributed |
|$488,000 to make up the deficit of the |
|Temple company during three years of coal |
|strikes.--_New York Sun._ |
The name of a well-known company often makes a good beginning:
| The Standard Oil Company sent a |
|sweeping broadside into the Government's |
|case yesterday at the hearing in the suit |
|seeking to dissolve the Standard Oil |
|Company of New Jersey under the Sherman |
|anti-trust law, when witnesses began to |
|tell of the character of a number of men |
|the Government had placed upon the |
|witness stand.--_New York Times._ |
The name of the judge himself may be used in the first line:
| Judge Mulqueen of General Sessions |
|explained today why he had sentenced two |
|prisoners to "go home and serve time with |
|the families." This punishment was |
|imposed yesterday when both men pleaded |
|drunkenness as their excuse for trivial |
|offenses.--_New York Evening Post._ |
=2. Continued Case Beginning.=--Many court reports begin with the name
of the case when the case has been running for some time and is well
known. Each individual story on such a case is just a continuation of a
sort of serial story that has been running for some time and in the lead
each day the reporter tries to summarize the progress that has been
made in the case during the day's hearing. However each story, like a
follow-up story, is written in such a way that a knowledge of previous
stories is not necessary to a clear understanding:
| The hearing yesterday in the |
|Government's suit to dissolve the |
|Standard Oil Company ended with a |
|dramatic incident. Mr. Kellogg sought to |
|show that the Standard compelled a widow, |
|Mrs. Jones, of Mobile, Ala., to sell out |
|her little oil business at a ruinous |
|sacrifice.--_New York World._ |
In some cases this sort of a lead begins with the mere mention of the
continuing of the trial:
| At the opening of the defence today in |
|the sugar trials before Judge Martin of |
|the United States Circuit Court, James F. |
|Bendernagal took the witness chair in his |
|own behalf, etc.--_New York Evening |
|Post._ |
=3. Summary Beginning.=--The lead of a court report often begins with a
brief summary of the result of the trial or of the day's hearing:
| What the Government has characterized |
|as "unfair competition and |
|discrimination" on the part of the |
|Standard Oil Company continued to be the |
|subject of the investigation of that |
|corporation today before Franklin Ferris |
|of St. Louis, referee, in the Custom |
|House.--_New York Evening Post._ |
The summary may be presented in as formal a way as the _that_-clause
beginning which we used in reports of speeches:
| That the Adams' Express Company's |
|business in New England in 1909 yielded a |
|profit representing 45 per cent. on the |
|investment, including real estate and, |
|excepting real estate, a net income of |
|more than 83 per cent., came out in the |
|course of the hearing before the |
|Interstate Commerce Commission, |
|etc.--_New York Evening Post._ |
=4. Direct Quotation Beginning.=--A direct quotation of some striking
statement made by the judge, by a lawyer, by a witness, or by any one
connected with the trial may be used at the beginning of the lead. Here
is a lead beginning with a quotation from the title of a case:
| "Captain Dick and Captain Lewis, |
|Indians, for and on behalf of the Yokayo |
|tribe of Indians, vs. F. C. Albertson, T. |
|J. Weldon, as administrator of the estate |
|of Charley, Indian, deceased, Minnehaha, |
|Ollagoola, Hiawatha, Wanahana, |
|Pocahontas, etc." |
| |
| So runs the title of as unusual a case |
|as jurists, etc.--_San Francisco |
|Examiner._ |
=5. Human Interest Beginning.=--The human interest beginning is a more
or less free beginning which may be used in the reporting of rather
insignificant cases which are of value only for the human interest in
them. The beginning is capable of almost any treatment so long as it
brings out the humor, beauty, or pathos of the situation. Sometimes the
story begins with a rather striking summary of the unusual things that
came out in the testimony, as in this case:
| How suddenly and how radically a woman |
|can exercise her inalienable prerogative |
|and change her mind is shown in the |
|testamentary disposition made of her |
|estate by Mrs. Jennie L. Ramsay. She made |
|a will on July 4 last, at 3 o'clock in |
|the afternoon, leaving her property to |
|her husband, and at 7 o'clock in the |
|evening of the same day she made another |
|will in which she took the property away |
|from her husband.--_New York Times._ |
Here is an interesting illustration of the use of a trivial incident as
the basis for a humorous lead:
| Bang, an English setter dog, accused of |
|biting 11-year-old Sophie Kahn, made an |
|excellent witness in the City Court today |
|when his owner, Hirman L. Phelps, a real |
|estate dealer of the Bronx, appeared as |
|defendant in a damage suit brought by the |
|girl for $2,000.--_New York Evening |
|Post._ |
The lead of a report of legal proceedings is very much like the lead of
a report of a speech or an interview. It always begins with the most
interesting fact in the case and briefly summarizes the result of the
trial or the day's hearing. It is to be noted that the lead of such a
story always includes a designation of the court in which the hearing
was held and usually the name of the judge and of the case.
After the lead is finished a court report usually turns into a running
story of the evidence as it was presented. This may be condensed into a
paragraph, giving the reader merely the point of the day's hearing, or
it may be expanded into several columns following the testimony more or
less closely. In form, it is very much like the summary paragraphs in
the body of a speech report. The result is usually more or less dry and
reporters often resort to a means, similar to dialogue in fiction, to
lighten it up. Some of the more important testimony is given verbatim
interspersed with indirect summaries of the longer or less important
speeches. Its presentation usually follows the ordinary rules of
dialogue. Here is an extract from such a story:
| After describing himself as a breeder |
|of horses, Gideon said that he was a |
|member of the Metropolitan Turf |
|Association, the bookmakers' |
|organization, but had never been engaged |
|in bookmaking. He did not know where |
|"Eddie" Burke, "Tim" Sullivan (not the |
|politician), or any of the other missing |
|"bookies" could be found. |
| |
| "You are a member of the executive |
|committee of the Metropolitan Turf |
|Association?" asked Isidor J. Kresel, |
|assistant counsel of the committee. |
| |
| "Yes." |
| |
| "Now, what did your committee do in |
|1908, when the anti-race track legislation|
|was pending?" |
| |
| "I don't know." |
| |
| * * * * * |
| |
| "How much did you pay in 1908?" |
| |
| "Two hundred and fifty dollars." |
| |
| "To whom?" |
| |
| "Mr. Sullivan." |
| |
| "What for?" |
| |
| "Death assessments." |
| |
| Gideon said that the little he knew of |
|the doings of the "Mets" was from |
|conversation with the bookies. Etc., |
|etc.--_New York Evening Post._ |
Sometimes this direct testimony is given, not in the dialogue form, but
as questions and answers. Thus:
| In reply to other questions, |
|Bendernagel said he ordered the office |
|supplies, looked after the insurance on |
|the sugar, and was responsible for the |
|fuel, some 700 tons of coal a day. |
| |
| Question.--How much money was paid |
|through your office in the course of a |
|year? Answer.--Four million dollars. |
| |
| Q.--So yours was a busy office? |
| A.--Exceedingly so. |
| |
| Q.--How long were the raw sugar clerks |
|in your office? A.--About twenty years. |
|Etc., etc.--_New York Evening Post._ |
Some papers would arrange these questions and answers differently,
paragraphing each speech separately as in dialogue:
| Question.--Did you regulate their |
|duties in any way? |
| |
| Answer.--No. |
| |
| Q.--Were you connected with the docks? |
| |
| A.--No; that was a separate department. |
|It had its own forces, and they worked |
|under Mr. Spitzer. He had entire charge. |
|Etc., etc. |
The court records take cognizance only of the actual words uttered in
the testimony, but a newspaper reporter never fails to record any action
or movement that indicates something beyond the words. Very often action
is brought in merely for its human interest; thus:
| "How long has it been since you have |
|had a maid?" asked Mr. Shearn sadly. |
| |
| "Not for some time," she said. "Away |
|back in 1907, I think." |
| |
| "What did it cost you for two rooms and |
|bath at the Hotel Belmont, where you lived|
|last year?" |
| |
| "About $300 a week altogether. The rooms|
|cost $20 a day." |
| |
| There were tears in her eyes when she |
|explained that she could no longer afford |
|to keep up her own automobile. Etc., etc. |
|--_Milwaukee Free Press._ |
This sort of dialogue is dangerous and may easily be overworked, but it
is very often extremely effective. One word like "sadly," above, may
convey more meaning than many lines of explanation.
* * * * *
These quotations are usually interspersed with paragraphs which
summarize the unimportant intervening testimony. The running story
attempts to follow the progress of the hearing in greater or less
detail, depending upon the space given to the story, just as a speech
report attempts to follow a public discourse. Dry and unimportant facts
are briefly summarized, interesting parts of the testimony are quoted in
full. The running story is usually written while the hearing is in
session or taken from a stenographic report of the hearing. After the
running story has been completed, the reporter prepares a lead for the
beginning to summarize the results or to play up the most significant
part of the story. If the running story is short a lead of one paragraph
is sufficient, but if it is long, the lead may be expanded into several
paragraphs.
XIII
SOCIAL NEWS AND OBITUARIES
The study of newspaper treatment of social news is a broad one. Every
newspaper has its own system of handling social news and the general
tendencies that are to be noted deal rather with the facts that are
printed than with the manner of treatment. Every newspaper gives
practically the same facts about a wedding but each individual newspaper
has a method of its own of writing up those facts. One thing that is
always true of social news reporting is that the amount of space given
to social items varies inversely with the importance of the newspaper
and the size of the city in which it is printed. A little country weekly
or semi-weekly in a small town does not hesitate to run two columns or
more on Sadie Smith's wedding. The report runs into minute details and
anecdotes that all of the "Weekly's" readers know before the paper
arrives. But the editor prints everything he can find or invent simply
because all of his readers are more or less personally connected with
the affair and are anxious to see their names in print and to read about
themselves. The liberty that such an editor gives himself is of course
impossible in a larger paper.
On the other hand, a daily in a city of average size would reduce such a
story to a stickful and a metropolitan daily would run only a one-line
announcement in the "List of marriages," unless the story was especially
interesting. The same thing applies to all social stories. Some
metropolitan newspapers do not run social news at all.
All of this is true because social news is governed by the same
principles that regulate all news values. Unless a society event has
some feature that is interesting impersonally--that is, of interest to
readers who do not know the principals of the event--it is of value only
as a larger or smaller number of the paper's readers are personally
connected with the event. Hence in a small town where every one knows
every one else, society news is of great value. In a large city a very
small proportion of the readers are connected with the social items that
the paper has to print and are therefore not interested in
them--accordingly the newspaper either cuts them down to a minimum of
space or does not run them at all.
Therefore in our study society news falls into two classes: social items
that are of interest only in themselves to persons connected with the
events; and big society stories or unusual social events that are of
interest to readers who are not acquainted with the principals.
=1. Weddings.=--The wedding story reduced to its lowest terms in a
metropolitan paper consists of a one-line announcement in the list of
"Marriages" or "Marriage Licenses"; thus:
| SMITH-JONES--Feb. 14, Katherine Jones |
|to Charles C. Smith.--_New York Times._ |
If the paper runs a few columns of social news and the persons concerned
in the wedding are of any importance socially, the wedding may be given
a stickful. Such an account would confine itself entirely to names and
facts and would be characterized by very decided simplicity and brevity.
Usually nothing more would be given than the names and address of the
bride's parents, the bride's first name, the groom's name, the place,
and the name of the minister who officiated. Occasionally the name of
the best man and a few other details are added, but never does the story
become personal. It is interesting only to those who know or know of the
persons concerned.
For example:
| SMITH-JONES |
| |
|The marriage of Miss Katherine M. Jones, |
|elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Randolph |
|Jones, 253 Ninth street, and Charles C. |
|Smith was celebrated at 4 o'clock |
|yesterday afternoon at the First Methodist|
|Church, 736 Grand avenue. Rev. William |
|Brown, rector of the church, performed the|
|ceremony. |
It will be noted that in the above story the name of the bride is
written out in full, "Miss Katherine M. Jones." Many newspapers,
however, would simply give her first name, thus: "Katherine, elder
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Jones."
If the above wedding were of greater importance more details might be
given. These would include the attendants, descriptions of the gowns of
the bride and her attendants, the guests from out of town, music,
decorations, the reception, and perhaps some of the presents. Sometimes
the wedding trip and an announcement of when and where the couple will
be at home are added. The above story might run on into detail something
like this:
| Miss Jones, who was given in marriage |
|by her father, wore a white satin gown |
|trimmed with Venetian point lace, and her |
|point lace veil, a family heirloom, was |
|caught with orange blossoms. She carried |
|a bouquet of white sweet peas and lilies |
|of the valley. Miss Dorothy Jones, a |
|sister of the bride, who was maid of |
|honor, wore a gown of green chiffon over |
|satin, with lingerie hat, and carried |
|sweet peas. Douglas Jackson was the best |
|man and the ushers were Dr. John B. |
|Smith, Samuel Smith, Gordon Hunt, Rodney |
|Dexter, Norris Kenny, and Arthur |
|Johnston. A reception followed the |
|ceremony at the home of the bride's |
|parents. |
This is probably as long a story as any average paper would run on any
wedding, unless the wedding had some striking feature that would make
the story of interest to readers who did not know the principals. Note
in the foregoing story the simplicity and impersonal tone. There is a
wealth of facts but there is no coloring. This tone should characterize
every society story. A list of out-of-town guests might have been added,
but as often that would be omitted. In some cases the last sentence
might be followed by an announcement like this:
| The bride and bridegroom have gone on a |
|wedding tour of the West; after April 1 |
|they will be at home at 76 Kimbark |
|avenue. |
In this connection the young reporter should note the distinctions in
meaning of the various words used in a wedding story. For instance, he
should consult the dictionary for the exact use of the verbs "to marry"
and "to wed"--he should know who "is married," who "is married to," and
who "is given in marriage," etc. He should also know the difference
between a "marriage" and a "wedding."
=2. Wedding Announcements.=--Wedding announcements are run in the social
columns of many papers. These items contain practically the same facts
that we find in the story written after the wedding, except, of course,
that the reporter cannot dilate on decorations, and must stick to facts.
These facts usually consist of the names of the couple, the names of the
bride's parents, and the time and the place of the wedding. Additionally
the reporter may give the minister's name, the names of the maid of
honor and of the best man, the reception or breakfast to follow, and
where the couple will be at home.
| The wedding of Miss Gladys Jones and |
|Richard Smith will take place on |
|Wednesday evening in All Angels' Church. |
|The bride is a daughter of Mrs. Charles |
|Jones, who will give a bridal supper and |
|reception afterward at her home. |
There are of course many other ways to begin the announcement. "Miss
Mary E. MacGuire, daughter of, etc."; "Invitations have been issued for
the wedding of Miss, etc."; "One of the weddings on for Tuesday is that
of Miss, etc."; "Cards are out for the wedding on Saturday of Miss,
etc."; and many others. In each case the bride's name has the place of
importance.
=3. Announcements of Engagements.=--Announcements of engagements are
usually even briefer than wedding announcements. The item consists
merely of one sentence in which the young lady's mother or parents make
the announcement with the name of the prospective groom.
| Mrs. Russell D. Jones of 45 Ninth |
|street announces the engagement of her |
|daughter, Natalie, to John MacBaine |
|Smith. |
The item may also begin "Mr. and Mrs. X. X. So-and-So announce, etc.,"
or simply "Announcement is made of the engagement of Miss Stella Blank,
daughter of, etc."
=4. Receptions and Other Entertainments.=--If a paper is to keep up in
society news, it must report many social entertainments. However, such
events are treated by large dailies as simply, briefly, and impersonally
as possible. Such a story, like the report of a wedding, consists merely
of certain usual facts. The name of the host or hostess, the place, the
time, and the special entertainments are of course always included.
Sometimes the occasion for the event, the guests of honor, and a
description of the decorations are added,--also the names of those who
assisted the hostess.
| Mrs. James Harris Jones gave a |
|reception yesterday at her home, 136 |
|Fifth street, for her daughter, Miss |
|Dorothy Jones. In the receiving line were |
|Miss Marjorie Smith, Miss, etc. * * The |
|reception was followed by an informal |
|dance. |