IX FOLLOW-UP AND REWRITE STORIES

The terms "rewrite story" and "follow-up, or follow, story," are names which newspaper men apply to the rehashed or revised versions of other news stories. A large newspaper office employs one or more rewrite men who spend their entire time rewriting stories. To be sure, a part of their work consists of rewriting, or simply recasting, poorly written copy prepared by the reporters. But the major part of their work, the part that interests us, involves something more than that. It involves the rejuvenation of stories that have been printed in a previous edition or in another paper, with the purpose of bringing the news up to the present moment.

News ages very rapidly. What may be news for one edition is no longer news when another edition goes to press an hour later. A feature that may be worth playing up in a morning paper would not have the same news value in an evening paper of the same day. The news grows stale so quickly because new things are continually happening and new developments are continually changing the aspect of previous stories. If a story has been run through two or three editions and new developments have changed it, the story is turned over to a rewrite man for consequent alteration. A story in a morning paper is no longer news for an evening paper of the same date, but a clever rewrite man, with or without new developments added to the story, can recast it so that it will appear to contain more recent news than the original story. The story of an arrest in a morning paper begins with the particulars of the arrest; but when the evening paper's rewrite man has rearranged it for his paper it has become the story of the trial or the police court hearing which followed the arrest. Perhaps the evening paper sends a man to get the later developments in the case, but every rewrite man knows the steps that always follow an arrest and he can rewrite the original story without additional information. His account of the later developments is called either a rewrite or a follow-up story, depending upon the method employed. The same fundamental idea of rejuvenating the former story governs the preparation of both the rewrite and the follow-up story, but while the rewrite story contains no additional news, the follow-up presents later facts in addition to the old news.

1. The Rewrite Story.—The rewrite story is primarily a rehashing of a previous news story without additional facts. It attempts to give a new twist to old facts in order to bring them nearer to the present time. Without the aid of later facts the rewrite man can only select a new feature and revise the old facts. For example, suppose that a $100,000 grain elevator burns during the night. The fire would make a big story in a city of moderate size and the papers next morning would treat it at length. If no one were killed or injured the story would probably begin with a simple announcement of the fire in a lead of this kind:

Fire destroyed the grain elevator of the H. P. Jones Produce Company, First and Water streets, and $50,000 worth of wheat at 2 o'clock this morning. The total loss is estimated at $150,000.

Then the reporter would describe the fire at length, including all obtainable facts. By afternoon almost every one in the city has read the story—and yet the afternoon papers must print something about the big fire. If no new facts can be obtained the previous story must be rehashed and presented with a new feature that will make it appear to be a later story. It is useless to begin the evening story with a mere announcement of the fire, for that is no longer news, and the rewrite man must find a new beginning to attract the attention of his readers. Perhaps in looking over the morning story, he finds that the fire was the result of spontaneous combustion in the grain stored in the elevator. In the morning story this fact was rather insignificant in the face of the huge loss, and most readers passed over it hastily. The rewrite man, however, who has no later facts at his command, may seize it as a new feature. Instead of beginning his story with the fact of the fire, which is already known, he begins with the cause, which appears to be later news. His lead may be as follows:

Spontaneous combustion in the wheat bins of the H. P. Jones Produce Company's elevator, First and Water streets, started the fire which destroyed the entire structure with a loss of $150,000 this morning.

Or if the rewrite man is not so fortunate as to discover a new feature as good as this, he may have to resort to beginning with a picture of the present results of the fire—thus:

Smouldering ruins and a tangled mass of steel beams are all that remain of the H. P. Jones Produce Company's $100,000 grain elevator, First and Water streets, which was destroyed by fire this morning.

It will be noticed that, while these new rewrite leads begin with a new feature, each new lead contains all the facts presented in the previous lead and is told with an eye to the man who has not read the earlier account. After the lead the rewrite man retells the whole story for the benefit of readers who did not see the morning papers and rearranges the facts so that they appear new to those who read the previous stories. Facts which the other papers buried he unearths and displays; details which appear to be later developments he crowds to the beginning. The whole story is sorted and rewritten in a new order and with a new emphasis. The result is a rewrite story which appears to be later, although it contains no new facts at all. It is seldom, of course, that such a rewrite story is used for local news, for very rarely is it impossible for a later paper to discover new facts. But in the case of news from the outside world, from other cities, the simple method of rehashing old facts must often be resorted to. If the story is based upon a single dispatch announcing an earthquake in Hawaii or a shipwreck in mid-ocean, many rewrite stories must be printed on the same facts before another message brings later news and additional details. An example of this is the treatment of the first few stories of the wreck of the White Star liner Titanic. The story was a big one, but the first dispatches were very meager and many rehashings of these few facts had to be printed before later and more definite news could be obtained.

The simple rewriting of an old story ordinarily involves a condensation of the facts. If a morning paper printed two thousand words on the grain elevator fire above, an afternoon paper of the same day would hardly treat the story at such length. For the story is no longer big news. If a story has run through the first editions of a morning paper it would be cut down, as well as rehashed, in the later editions of the same paper. The story of the fire loses its initial burst of interest after the first printing, and only the essential facts and the facts that can be rejuvenated can be reprinted. The 2,000-word version in the morning paper may be worth only five hundred words or less four hours later.

2. The Follow-up Story.—If new facts are added to a story between editions the new version is no longer a simple rewrite story. It becomes a follow-up story, for it follows up the subsequent developments in the previous story and corresponds to the second or succeeding installments of a serial novel in which each installment begins with a synopsis of previous chapters. For example, if, in the grain elevator fire story, the body of a watchman were found in the ruins after the morning papers have gone to press, the story would immediately have a different news value for the evening papers. The story of the big fire is old, but the discovery of the body is new. Hence the rewrite man would begin with the later development—perhaps thus:

The body of a watchman was found this afternoon in the ruins of the H. P. Jones Produce elevator, which burned to the ground this morning with a loss of $150,000.

The new story, while retelling the principal facts in the previous account, would give prominence to the latest news, the discovery of the body. As an example from a newspaper, let us take the follow-up of a murder mystery. The first stories on this murder simply said that a grocer had been found dead in the cellar of his store and murder had been suggested. The follow-up on the next day (printed here) deals with a new development—has a new feature—and carries the story one step further in the attempt to unravel the mystery:

Developments yesterday in the story of the killing of James White, the Park street grocer, tended to support the contention of Coroner Donalds and the police that White was not murdered, but died by his own hand.

3. Analysis.—So far we have treated the rewrite story and the follow-up story separately, but for the purposes of analysis and study they may be treated together, because the same fundamental idea governs both. Dissection of the follow-up story will also show us what the rewrite story is made of.

From the above clippings it will be seen that the lead of the follow-up story is very much like that of any news story. The lead has its feature in the first line and answers the reader's questions concerning that feature. It is simply a new story written on an old subject which has been given a new feature to make it appear new. Furthermore, it will be noticed that the lead of the follow-up story is complete in itself, without the original story that preceded it. Although the whole idea of the follow story is based on the supposition that all readers have read every edition of the paper and are therefore acquainted with the original story, yet for the benefit of those readers who have not read the previous story, the follow-up must be complete and clear in itself. New facts are introduced into the follow story, but its lead tells the main facts of the original story so that no reader will be at loss to understand what it is all about—in other words, it gives a synopsis of previous chapters. In many follow-up stories the new developments are supplemented by an entire retelling of the original story. This is especially true when one paper is rewriting a story which broke too late for its preceding edition and was covered by a rival paper. At any rate, every follow-up story, like every other news story, must be so constructed as to stand by itself without previous explanation.

Of the 142 bodies of victims of the Triangle Waist Company's fire on Saturday, that had been taken to the morgue up to noon yesterday when it was decided that all the dead had been recovered, all but 45 had been identified today.

This is a follow-up of a story two days before. Every reader of the paper probably knew everything that had been printed previously about the fire, and yet this lead very carefully recalls the fire to the reader's mind. Later in the story the principal facts of the original story are retold as if they were new and unknown.

It is interesting to see what in any given newspaper story can be followed up for a later story. The would-be reporter may get good practice in writing follow-up stories from the mere attempt to study out the next step in any given new story. With this next step as his feature he may try to write a follow-up story without additional information, and then compare it with other follow-up stories. For every news story contains within it clues to what may be expected to follow.

When any serious fire occurs certain additional facts may always be expected to follow. The finding of more dead, the unravelling of a mysterious origin, the re-statement of the loss, and the present condition of the injured are some of the possibilities that a rewrite man considers when he tries to prepare a follow-up story on a fire. The Washington Place fire in New York on March 25, 1911, furnished admirable material for the study of the rewriting of fire stories. The fire occurred on Saturday afternoon too late for anything but the Sunday editions. The original story as it appeared in the Sunday papers and the Monday issues, of papers which had no Sunday editions, began like this:

One hundred and forty-one persons are dead as a result of a fire which on Saturday afternoon swept the three upper floors of the factory loft building at the northwest corner of Washington place and Greene street. More than three-quarters of this number are women and girls, who were employed in the Triangle Shirt Waist factory, where the fire originated.—Boston Transcript, Monday.

The Monday stories on the fire followed up various phases as shown in the following. Each one while indicating that the story was a follow-up retold the principal incidents in the fire.

The death list in the Washington place and Greene street fire was swelled today to 145, a majority of the victims being young girls.—Monday morning—second story.

At dawn today it was estimated that 25,000 persons had visited the temporary morgue on the covered pier at the foot of East Twenty-sixth street, set aside to receive the bodies of those who perished in the Washington place fire on Saturday afternoon.—Monday morning—second story.

The horror of the fire in the ten-story loft building at Washington place and Greene street late Saturday afternoon, with its heavy toll of human lives, grows blacker each succeeding hour.—Monday afternoon.

Of the 142 bodies in the morgue as a result of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory fire, all but fifty had been identified this morning.—Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday other lines opened up for the rewrite man:

Sifting down the great mass of testimony at their disposal, city and county officials hoped today to draw closer to the source of responsibility for Saturday's factory fire horror in which 142 persons lost their lives. Investigations started yesterday.—Tuesday afternoon.

With all but twenty-eight of the victims of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory horror identified, District Attorney Whitman continues steadily compiling evidence. Funerals for scores of victims are being held today, while the relief fund, etc.—Tuesday afternoon.

Borough President McAneny of Manhattan, the district attorney's staff, the fire marshal, the coroner and the state labor department are bending every energy toward fixing the blame for the loss of the 142 lives in the, etc.—Tuesday afternoon.

Union labor, horrified by the full realization that the waste of human life in the Triangle Waist factory fire might have been saved had existing laws been enforced, today arranged for a monster demonstration of protest, etc.—Tuesday afternoon.

And so the stories ran for many days until newspaper readers had lost all interest in the fire. Most of the stories were simply retellings of the original story with a new bit of information in the lead. People were ravenous for more details about the fire and the follow stories supplied them until they were satisfied. Rarely is a fire worth so many retellings.

A serious accident is often followed up in one or more editions. If many people are killed or injured, the revised list of dead or the present condition of the injured always furnishes material for a follow-up. Sometimes the fixing of the blame, as in a railroad accident, or other resulting features are used as the basis of the rewriting.

In the case of a robbery the commonest material for a follow-up story is the resulting pursuit or capture. Very often a final report of the loss, the present condition of a robbed bank or public institution, or perhaps the regaining of the booty, makes a feature for a new story. But usually the follow-up is concerned with the pursuit, capture, or trial. This is especially true if the original story has been told by an earlier paper and another later paper wishes to print a more up-to-date story on the robbery, such as:

MINOCQUA, Wis., Oct. 22.—It now begins to look as if the bandits who robbed the State Bank of Minocqua early Tuesday morning would make their escape with the booty. (This is followed by a re-telling of the entire story of the robbery and an account of the pursuit.)

The most usual follow-up of a murder story is interested in the pursuit, capture, or trial of the perpetrator of the deed. For example:

Following the discovery of the body of Pietro Barilla, an Italian, of Woodhaven, Long Island, who was stabbed to death by four men, presumably Black Hand members, in Lincoln Road, near Flatbush, early yesterday morning, the police arrested three men yesterday.

Very often the present condition of the victim of an attempted murder calls for a new story. The stories following the attempted murder of Mayor Gaynor of New York are good examples of the latter. If a mystery surrounds the crime a possible solution is grounds for a new story. The stories which might follow the unraveling of the mystery surrounding the fictitious death of the grocer, mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, would be second-day murder stories. The original story, let us say, was something like this:

James White, a groceryman, was found dying yesterday with a bullet wound in his abdomen, in the cellar of his grocery store at 1236 Park street.

The next story on the murder would be concerned with the unraveling of the mystery, thus:

The preliminary inquiry yesterday by Coroner John F. Donalds, into the mysterious death of James White, the Park street grocer, resulted in the conclusion that White was murdered.

And so the stories might run on day after day following the solution of the case like the succeeding chapters of a continued novel, and each one gives the synopsis of the preceding chapters in its lead, as every good follow-up story should do.

Suicide stories seldom offer material for follow-up stories unless there is some mystery surrounding the case. Sometimes the present condition of a resuscitated victim of attempted suicide or the disposition of the estate of a suicide offers material for rewriting.

Serious storms and floods are usually followed up for several days. Readers are always interested in the present condition of the devastated region. Very often the list of dead and injured is revised from day to day, and any attempt to lend aid to the unfortunate victims is always a reason for a later story.

Any meetings, conferences, trials, conventions, or the like must be followed up day by day with succeeding stories. Each story is complete in itself, but each one adds one more chapter to the report of the meeting. This method of following a continued proceeding calls for a series of follow-up stories; examples of the stories that follow a continued legal trial will be given later under Court Reporting.

Many other illustrations might be given of follow-up stories that appear daily in the newspapers. In the last analysis, the follow-up or the rewrite story is nothing more than an ordinary news story, and as such must be written in the same way. It begins with a lead which plays up a feature and answers the reader's questions about the subject; the body of the story runs along like the body of any news story. But it is different in being a later chapter of a previous account; while complete in itself, it must not only indicate the previous story, but must tell its most important facts for readers who may have missed the previous story. It is simply a news story which is tied to a previous story by a string of cause and effect.

4. Following Up Related Subjects.—In this connection it may be well to mention another kind of follow-up story that is usually written in connection with big news events. It is written to develop and follow up side lines of interest growing out of the main story. In its most usual form it is a statistical summary of events similar to the great event of the day—such as similar fires, similar railroad wrecks, etc., in the past. Any big story attracts so much attention among newspaper readers that the facts at hand are usually not sufficient to supply the public's demand for information on the subject. To satisfy these demands editors develop lines of interest growing out of the main event. They interview people concerning the event and concerning similar events; they describe similar events that have taken place in the past; they summarize and compare similar events in the past—in short, they follow up every line of interest opened up by the big story and write stories on the result. These stories are of the nature of follow-up stories in that they grow out of, and develop, the main story in its greatest extent.

For example, the wreck of the ocean liner Titanic called for innumerable side stories because the public's interest demanded more facts than the newspapers had at hand to supply. Hence, the papers wrote up similar shipwrecks in the past, gathered together summaries of the world's greatest shipwrecks, interviewed people who had been in any way connected with shipwrecks or with any phase of this shipwreck, described glaciers and icebergs, estimated the depth of the ocean where the Titanic sank, described the White Star liner and other liners, pictured real or imaginary shipwrecks, and developed every other related subject. The real news in all this mass of material was very meager, but the related stories satisfied the greedy public and helped newspaper readers to understand and to picture the real significance of the meager news.

In the same way a disastrous fire, like the burning of the Iroquois Theater, calls for innumerable outgrowing stories. Even when the event reported in the main news story is not sufficiently important to call for related stories, it is often accompanied by a list (usually put in a box at the head of the story) of other similar events and their results. These follow-up stories of related subjects are, in form, very much like feature stories, although they usually conform to the follow-up idea of mentioning in their leads the main news event to which they are related.

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