THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURACY
The surest guarantee for right-doing in journalism is contained
in the teaching that right is always right and that it must
be done for its own sake. This is the great basic truth to be
taught the students of schools of journalism and impressed
upon the minds of all newspaper workers. No other “endowment”
than this of sound principles is to be desired, either for
newspapers or individuals, because both must work out their own
salvation in life’s daily battle, which is won for the right
only by those steadfast souls that fight for the sake of right
alone.--From an editorial in the St. Louis _Post-Dispatch_.
The haste and hurry of which so much is made may and does
prevent polished work in a newspaper office. But it does not
prevent accurate, careful, painstaking work. The history of
the world which lay on your doorstep this morning is amazingly
accurate; the mistakes in it are few and far between ... The
average high school of to-day turns out a variety of English
that the best natured city editor consigns to perdition in
seven tongues, and beats out of the aspiring cub without
delay or remorse. And in the important matter of brevity and
directness of saying what you have to say in the curtest and
plainest phrase of which the language is capable, the newspaper
is the greatest educator in the world.--From an article by
GEORGE L. KNAPP.
A first essential of good news writing is accuracy. The word should be
graven in the mind of every reporter and every editor. It is spoken
by the city editor to his reporters almost every hour of his working
day. Placards on the walls may call attention to it, as in some offices
where, with laudable brevity, the motto is urged upon the staff:
ACCURACY
TERSENESS
ACCURACY
If a story is accurate, if it is written with a nice attention to
detail, it is likely to be fair. If a story is not accurate, it is not
news in the best sense.
Accuracy implies more than mere grammatical correctness. It means more
even than the stating of every fact with precision. A story may be
taken to pieces, fact by fact, and every sentence found to be correct;
yet the whole may give a false impression. Accuracy means the spirit as
well as the letter of the truth.
OBSERVATION
Truthful, precise writing is the fruit of accurate observation. If one
would write news, he must learn first to see news clearly and without
prejudice. Therein the trained reporter excels the casual observer. The
one has learned to observe keenly; the other, well equipped though
he may be in the rules of rhetoric, has not schooled himself in the
business of seeing things with an eye single to getting the facts in
right proportion. Learn to observe and you will have gone far toward
mastering the art of news getting and news writing. Casual observation
is nearly always faulty. Take for example the conflicting statements
of persons on the witness stand. One man, telling his version of an
automobile accident, swears the car was going fully thirty miles an
hour, another is certain the speed was only eight miles; one heard the
driver sound a warning “honk,” another is equally positive no warning
was given. Each witness is a reputable citizen and each thinks his
version is the truth. The discrepancy in their testimony is due, not to
any effort to deceive, but to the common failure to observe carefully.
It is the business of the newspaper man, whose eyes must serve
thousands of readers each day, to see rightly what others see
imperfectly or not at all. He is subject to the same human limitations
as the others, but he must make it his duty, by training his mind and
his eye, to reduce those limitations to the minimum. Then, and then
only, can he gather and write news with the maximum of efficiency.
In giving names and street addresses there is special need of accuracy.
Watch, too, the spelling of all the words in your copy. Remember the
dictionary is made for use.
NAMES
The average good citizen likes to see his name in print, but he is
deeply offended at seeing it misspelled. Smythe’s name is a thing
peculiarly his own; he can never cherish any particular regard for
the newspaper that persists in calling him Smith. So with Browne and
Maughs and Willson. Their names are not Brown, Moss, Wilson. A reader
whose name is misspelled feels, unconsciously perhaps, that he has
been robbed of some intimate possession. A blow has been aimed at his
individuality. To paraphrase a great reporter of life, his “good name”
has been stolen, and as a good citizen he resents the theft.
The misplacing of an initial or the careless dropping of a letter from
a name may cost the newspaper a subscriber. Certainly it convicts the
paper of inaccuracy in one man’s eyes. He reasons that if the paper is
mistaken in the spelling of his name, it may be guilty of other grave
inaccuracies in its news. His faith in the paper is shaken. And the
newspaper that loses the faith of its readers is in danger of losing
the good will that is its chief asset.
STREET ADDRESSES
Care should be taken in the writing of street addresses. The difference
between two street numbers may represent the difference between
respectability and its opposite. A serious injustice may be done a
person by printing his name with the wrong street address. Such a
mistake was made not long ago by a western newspaper, which gave an
address in a neighborhood of doubtful reputation to a citizen of high
standing. As a result of the writer’s carelessness the newspaper was
sued for libel.
The reporter should be constantly on his guard in taking down the
addresses given by unknown persons. Especially is this true with
reference to the data furnished by criminals for the police “blotter.”
It is a common practice of habitual criminals to give as their own the
addresses of reputable citizens.
Learn all you can of the city in which you work. Such knowledge will
be invaluable as a safeguard against many pitfalls. The city directory
is an excellent guide, but sometimes is inaccurate.
SPELLING
Spell correctly. This applies not alone to proper names. Some news
writers are prone to shift the burden of spelling to the man who edits
the copy or to the proofreader. Doubtless there are many brilliant news
gatherers who are deficient in spelling, but, other things being equal,
the man who spells correctly is preferred to him who is slovenly in
this respect. Bad spelling, though not fatal to a writer’s chances, is
often a sign of lazy habits of mind. The precise thinker, as a rule,
has too much regard for the tools of his trade--his words--to abuse
them. The city editor judges the new man largely by his copy. The
story that shows attention to spelling, to all the little niceties of
writing, assuredly has a better chance of a favorable reception than
the story, of equal news value, that betrays carelessness.
SUMMARY
If any hard-and-fast first principle relating to accuracy can be laid
down, it is this: _Get the names right._ Once this principle is
grounded in the mind of the reporter, he is fairly sure to strive for
accuracy in all the details of his story.
Persons who know nothing of the inner workings of the newspaper office
may profess to believe that stories are written without regard to
accuracy and are thrown into type haphazard, just as they come from
the writers. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A newspaper that
permitted such a condition would be swamped with libel suits within a
week. In every newspaper office, certainly in every newspaper office
worthy the name, there is an unceasing war against inaccuracy of every
kind. The new reporter learns this when he comes in jubilant from an
assignment, only to be sent back to get the middle initial of a name.
The out-of-town correspondent learns it when he is called from his bed
by long-distance telephone to explain a vague statement in a story he
had wired earlier in the night. When one considers the difficulties
under which news is gathered and the limited time at the newspaper’s
command, the wonder is not that errors occasionally creep into the news
columns but that the errors are so few.
The newspaper as it goes to the reader, though it is the product
of many very human persons working under pressure, is remarkably
accurate. A painstaking effort has been made to give the reader a
true picture of the day’s happenings. Copy readers have gone over the
reporters’ copy for errors of fact and of style; proofreaders have
corrected typographical errors after the matter has been set in type;
one or more editors have read the revised proofs with an eye single to
detecting faults.
The newspaper, of all modern institutions, is the most human. It is
written by, for and about men and women. Its failings are the common
failings of humankind. Forewarned thus against himself, it is the duty
of the news writer, even while he works with one eye on the clock,
to be always vigilant in the battle against inaccuracy--to do his
full share, and more, in keeping the columns of his paper free from
misstatement of every kind.
SUGGESTIONS FOR HOME OR CLASS-ROOM STUDY
The following stories are presented, not for any specific bearing on
the discussion of accuracy, but as “horrible examples” of bad news
writing in general. Inaccuracy in a news story seldom stands alone as a
fault, because if a story is inaccurate the chances are it is deficient
in other respects. The writer who does not take his work seriously
enough to get his facts correct is not likely to pay attention to
style. The stories here reproduced may serve as a warning against some
of the faults pointed out in the preceding chapters.
I. This and the story under II show the absurdity of attempted “fine
writing”:
Shrouded in deep mystery and in spite of the fact that
strenuous efforts were made to keep the details of the affair
secret, startling facts regarding the robbery of the Blank
sorority house came to light yesterday. The house was entered
by a burglar some time during the Christmas recess and some
valuable silverware was taken.
But this is not all. Although when interviewed on the subject
the members of the sorority refused to give any of the details
to the public, some unique traits have developed in the burglar
which may enable an ambitious Sherlock to unravel as deep a
mystery as has ever puzzled Pinkerton’s band of trained sleuths.
(Query: Isn’t it about time to give the word “strenuous” a needed rest?)
II. The story of a death was told thus in a small newspaper:
Mrs. Eliza Williams, mother of Mrs. Geo. Brown, was released
from her physical surroundings Saturday morning at ten o’clock
and called to occupy a building, a house not made with hands
eternally in the heavens. She has been in this earth life 87
years.
(Evidently the foregoing means: “Mrs. Eliza Williams, mother of Mrs.
George Brown, died at 10 o’clock Saturday morning. She was 87 years
old.” The simplest style is always the best in writing of death. Say
“body,” not “remains”; “coffin,” not “casket”; “the dead man (or
woman),” not “the deceased” or “the defunct.” “Burial” is better
than “interment.” “The late” is nearly always useless. “Obsequies”
implies that the ceremonies were imposing; in most cases “funeral”
is the proper word. Never use a flippant word in a death story. In
all news writing spell out proper names: e.g., “George,” not “Geo.”
Most newspapers use numerals in giving the hour, as 10 o’clock. It
is usually preferable to place the hour before the day; thus, “at 10
o’clock Saturday morning.” Be careful to refer to the dead in the past
tense; the verb in the last sentence of the story quoted should be “had
been.”)
III. Note the use of cheap slang in the following story:
Fred Smith, a young man about 18 or 19 years old, who formerly
resided in this neighborhood but more recently at Jonesburg,
had been boozing at the saloon all day and in the evening
walked out of that burg on the railroad track. He evidently
fell with his head down on one side of the dump and one foot
over the rail. The 7 o’clock passenger struck him and mashed
the foot. He was picked up by the train crew and brought to
town and received medical attention.
(It is seldom in good taste, nor is it safe, to accuse a person of
drunkenness. Bear in mind the injunction: Tell the facts and let the
reader draw his own conclusions.)