VIII OTHER NEWS STORIES

The fire story is obviously not the only news story that is printed in a daily newspaper, but a study of its form gives us a working knowledge of the writing of other news stories. The fire story is probably the commonest news story, and it is by far the easiest story to handle, for its form has become somewhat standardized. We know just exactly what our readers want to know about each fire, and within certain limits all fires, as well as the reports of them, are very much alike. There is seldom more than one fact or incident that makes one fire different from another and that fact we always seize as the feature of our report. However, the fire story has been taken only as typical of other news stories. Now we are ready to study the others, using the fire story as our model in writing the others.

There is a vast number of other stories that we must be able to write, and they lack the convenient uniformity that fires have. Not only does every story have a different feature, but it is concerned with a different kind of happening. One assignment may call for the report of an explosion, another the report of a business transaction, and another a murder. In each one we have to get the facts and choose the most striking fact as our feature. Never can we resort to the simple beginning "Fire destroyed," but we must find a different beginning for each assignment.

Just as in the fire story, the lead of any news story is the most important part. It must begin with the most striking part of the event and answer the reader's Where? When? How? Why? and Who? concerning it. All the rules that apply to the fire lead apply to the lead of any story.

It would be impossible to classify all the news stories that a newspaper must print. The very zest of reporting comes from the changing variety of the work; no two assignments are ever exactly alike—if they were only one would be worth printing. Newspapers themselves make no attempt to classify the ordinary run of news or to work out a systematic division of labor; a reporter may be called upon to cover a fire, a political meeting, a murder, a business story, all in the same day. Each one is simply a story and must be covered in the same way that all the rest are covered—by many interviews for facts. For our study it may be well to divide news stories into a few large groups. The groups overlap and are not entirely distinct, but the stories in each group have some one thing in common that may aid us in learning how to write them. At most, the list is only a very incomplete summary of the more important kinds of news stories and is intended to be merely a suggestive way of supplying the student with necessary practice.

1. Accidents.—Accident stories may be anything from a sprained ankle to a disastrous railroad wreck, but they all depend upon one element for their interest. They are all printed because people in general are interested in the injuries and deaths of other people—physical calamity is the common ground in all these stories.

The number of possible accidents is infinite, but there are some common types that recur most often. Among these are: railroad, trolley, railroad crossing accidents; runaways; electrocutions; explosions; collapse of buildings; marine disasters; cave-in accidents; elevator, automobile, aviation accidents.

The feature of any accident story is always, of course, the thing that made the story worth printing, and that is usually the human life element. The feature of an accident story is almost always the number of dead and injured. Most reports of railroad wrecks begin with "Ten persons were killed and seventeen were injured in a wreck, etc." The same is true of any accident story; if more than one person is killed it is usually safe to begin with the number of fatalities. In this connection it may be noted that the death of railroad employees seldom makes a story worth printing; they may be included in the total number, but if no passengers are killed, fatalities among trainmen seldom give a story any news value.

Accident stories of course have many other possible features; newspapers report many accidents in which no one is killed. In that case some other element gives the story news value and that element must be played up as the feature. Perhaps it is the manner in which the accident happened or the manner in which a person was killed or injured, as in an automobile accident. The cause of the accident may be the most interesting part of the story: train-wreckers or a broken rail in a railroad wreck, or the cause of an explosion. Very often an accident is reported simply because some well-known person was connected with it in some way; the name then becomes the feature and comes into the first line. A story may be worth printing simply because of the unusual manner of rescue; such a feature is often played up in stories of marine accidents, cave-ins, etc. Not infrequently some of the unusual attendant circumstances give a story news value: e.g., a policeman dragged from his horse and run over by an automobile while he is trying to stop a runaway.

Here are some accident stories from the newspapers:

Fatalities:

Six men were killed and a dozen seriously injured early to-day by an outbound Panhandle passenger train crashing into the rear end of a Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul stock train at Twelfth and Rockwell streets.—Chicago Record-Herald.

Manner:

Run down by her own automobile, which she was cranking, at First and G streets, northwest, Dr. Alma C. Arnold, a chiropractic physician, 825 Fifteenth street, northwest, was forced against the wheel of a passing wagon and seriously injured this morning.—Washington Times.

Cause:

Over-balanced by a granite stone weighing four tons, the entire cornice over the west portico of the new west wing of the capitol fell to the ground this afternoon, carrying with it Daniel Logan, foreman for the Woodbury Granite Company.—Madison Democrat.

Attendant Circumstances:

With a blast that shook the entire city and was believed by many to be an earthquake, three boilers in the new engine house of the Pabst brewery on Tenth street, between Chestnut street and Cold Spring avenue, exploded at about 4 o'clock this morning.—Milwaukee Free Press.

2. Robberies.—Another large class of news stories is concerned with robberies of various kinds. Unfortunately for the reporter, very few robberies are alike; beyond the common ground of the interest in the amount stolen and the cleverness of the robber's work, there is seldom any one thing that may be looked for as the feature of a robbery story. The reporter must decide what in the story makes it worth printing.

Robbery stories may include anything from petty thievery to bank defaulting. Some of the possibilities are horse and automobile stealing, burglary, hold-ups, train and street-car robbery, embezzlement, fraud, kidnapping, safe-cracking, shop and bank robbery. It is well for the reporter who has to cover a story of this class to acquaint himself with the distinctions that characterize the various kinds of robbery and the various names applied to the people who commit this sort of crime: e.g., robber, thief, bandit, burglar, hold-up man, thug, embezzler, defaulter, safe-cracker, pick-pocket.

In general the chief interest in robbery stories is in the result of the work—the amount taken—usually accompanied by a term to designate the sort of robbery. Just how the crime was committed is often the feature, as in a train robbery or a clever case of fraud. If the victim or victims are at all well known their names may become the most interesting thing in the story—or even the name of a well-known criminal or band of robbers. In some stories, especially if another paper has already covered the story, the pursuit or capture of the criminals is often interesting; the stories of bank robberies often begin in this way. Other attendant circumstances, such as the number of persons who witnessed the crime, may be the feature. In hold-ups, burglaries, and crimes of that sort, the death or wounding of the victim is often played up. Sometimes the reason for the crime, as in a kidnapping case, is of great significance. In the case of a robbery of a bank or any other institution which depends upon credit for its business, the story usually begins with, or at least mentions near the beginning, the present condition of the robbed institution. It is safe to say that in no case is the name of the criminal, the manner of his arrest (if it is not unusual), the police station to which he was taken, or the charge preferred against him worth a place in the lead.

Some robbery stories from the daily press:

Amount taken:

Furs worth $40,000 were stolen in the early hours of yesterday morning within a stone's throw of Madison Square. Apparently a gang in which there was a woman expert in choosing only the best furs carried off the costly skins, etc.—New York World.

Manner of hold-up:

Seized by thugs in broad daylight as he was crossing the railroad tracks at the foot of First avenue east, Fred Butzer, a stonemason of Butler, Minn., was thrown to the ground, a gag placed in his mouth, his pockets were rifled of $36.—Duluth News-Tribune.

Unusual sort of pickpocket:

A young man in evening dress, who was going down into the subway station at Times Square with the theater crowd that filled the entrance just outside of the Hotel Knickerbocker early last night, paused, knocked a woman under the chin and took away her silver chatelaine purse containing $20 as deftly as he might have flicked the ash off his cigarette. Then he disappeared.—New York Times.

Unusual thieves:

Two girl thieves not more than twelve years old and small in stature for their age have been operating with great success in the different stores in the neighborhood of Amsterdam avenue and Seventy-ninth street. Five or six thefts, etc.—New York Telegram.

Pursuit and capture:

After a chase along Forty-second street and up the steps of the Hotel Manhattan, a woman, who said she was Sadie Brown, thirty-three years old, of No. 215 West Forty-sixth street, was arrested early today on suspicion of having picked the pocket of a man at, etc.—New York Telegram.

Present conditions of robbed bank (second paragraph of an embezzlement story):

Banking Commissioner Watkins this afternoon declared that he found the bank perfectly sound, that all commercial paper was found intact, that none of the accounts have been juggled and that no erasures of any kind were discovered.—Philadelphia Inquirer.

Unusual sort of burglar:

Wearing a Salvation Army uniform, a burglar was caught early yesterday in the home of Walter Katte, a vice-president of the New York Central railroad, at Irvington-on-the-Hudson.—New York World.

3. Murder.—The reports of crimes of this sort can hardly be classified, for there are so many things that may be worth featuring in any murder case. The story itself is usually of such importance that the mere fact that a murder has been committed gives it news value even if there is nothing unusual in the crime—just as in the case of a featureless fire story that begins with "Fire." The handling of a crime depends upon the character and circumstances; the reporter must weigh the facts in each case for himself. However, we usually find a feature in the number of persons murdered, the manner in which the crime was committed, the name of the victim, if he or she is well known, the reason for the deed, or in some of the many attendant circumstances, such as arrest, pursuit, etc. One rule must always be followed in the reporting of a murder story: the reporter must confine himself to the necessary facts and omit as many of the gruesome details as possible. He must tell it in a cold, hard-hearted way without elaboration, for the story in itself is gruesome enough. Just as soon as a murder story begins to expand upon shocking details it becomes the worst sort of a yellow story.

Examples of murder stories from the newspapers:

Manner:

After crushing in the head of his superior officer with an axe, James Layton, boatswain of the Liverpool sailing ship Colony, refused to submit to arrest, and, still waving the bloody weapon, committed suicide by jumping into the sea.—New York Mail.

Motive:

In revenge for a beating he received the day before, Gaetona Ambrifi yesterday shot and instantly killed Frank Ricciliano, a sub-section foreman on the Pennsylvania Railroad, while they were working on the roadbed near Peddle street, Newark.—New York Sun.

Prominent name:

Mayor William J. Gaynor of New York City was shot and seriously, perhaps fatally, wounded on board the steamer Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse at 9:30 as he was sailing for Europe.

Resulting pursuit:

The police of Brooklyn have another murder mystery to unravel through the finding early today of the body of Peter Barilla on Lincoln road, near Nostrand avenue, Flatbush. There were two bullet wounds in the body and four stab wounds in the back.—Brooklyn Eagle.

Attendant circumstances:

A hundred or more persons who were about to take trains witnessed the shooting to death of a Jersey City business man in the Pennsylvania Railroad station there this afternoon.—New York Mail.

4. Suicide.—What is true of murder stories is also true of suicide. Each individual case has an unusual feature of its own. We ordinarily find a good beginning in the manner of the suicide, the name of the person who has killed himself if he is well known, the reason for the act, or some one of the attendant circumstances—often the manner of resuscitation if the crime is unsuccessful. For some unexplained reason many papers do not print accounts of ordinary suicides, except when the individual is prominent. At any rate the story must be told without gruesome details and as briefly as possible.

Examples from the press:

Name:

William L. Murray of Rockview avenue, North Plainfield, paying teller of the Empire Trust Company of New York, committed suicide at Scotch Plains early this afternoon by shooting himself in the head. No reason is assigned for the act.—New York Sun.

Motive:

Driven insane by continued brooding over ill health, Miss Ada Emerson, a former teacher in the Beloit city schools, killed herself in a crowded interurban car Saturday afternoon by slashing her throat with a razor.—Beloit Free Press.

Here the manner is the feature, but it is not played up in the first line because it is too horrible.

5. Big Stories.—The big stories of catastrophes are usually handled on a large scale—played up, as the newspaper men say. The story in itself is of sufficient importance to make it unnecessary to play up any single feature of the story. However, the reporter, in looking for a good beginning, often finds it in the most startling fact in the story. If he is reporting a riot he usually begins with the number of killed or injured, the amount of property destroyed, the character of the riot, or the cause, as in this example:

In an effort to bring about the reinstatement of one of their number who had been discharged for non-unionism, a hundred or more journeymen bakers wrecked the bakeshop of Pincus Jacobs, at No. 1571 Lexington avenue, early this morning.—New York Evening Post.

In the case of a storm the human life element is of greatest importance, then the damage to property, and last, the peculiar circumstances. For example:

CLEVELAND, Dec. 11.—Fifty-nine lives were the cost of a storm which passed over Lake Erie Wednesday night and Thursday, and more than $1,000,000 worth of vessel property was destroyed.—New York Evening Post.

If the story is concerned with a flood the human-life element is first, then the damage, the cause, the freaks of the flood, or the present situation. For example:

PARKERSBURG, W. Va., March 10.—Three persons are known to have perished in a flood which swept down upon the city on Friday when two water reservoirs on Prospect Hill burst without warning. Forty houses were destroyed and many persons are missing. The property damage will be nearly $500,000.

6. Police Court News.—The ordinary run of police court news is in a class by itself. Usually the only news value in the story depends upon some unusual incident or circumstance that attracts the attention of the reporter. This is of course the source of many of the stories of crime, mentioned before, but many stories turn up at the police courts which are not concerned with crime, although in some cases they are concerned with criminals. In this field of reporting there are many opportunities for the human-interest story which will be taken up in a later chapter. When the incident is reported in an ordinary news story the feature is usually in some attendant circumstance and the story might well be classed with one of the above groups. Here are two examples from the daily press:

Because he did not have sufficient money to buy flowers for his sweetheart, Henry Trupke, aged 21 years, forged a check for $22.50 on a grocer, J. Sieberlich, 781 Third street, and after a week's chase was caught last night as he got off a Wisconsin Central train.—Milwaukee Sentinel.

But a few hours before receiving a sentence of two years in the house of correction for stealing furs from the store of Lohse Bros., 117 Wisconsin street, John Garner, self-confessed thief, was married to Rose Strean, one of the witnesses in the case, which was tried yesterday in the municipal court.—Milwaukee Free Press.

7. Reports of Meetings, Conferences, Decisions, etc.—This group includes all reports of meetings, or conferences, of bodies of any sort, political or otherwise, reports of judicial or legislative hearings or decisions, or announcements of resolutions passed. Such as:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15.—Acquisition of the telegraph lines by the government and their operation as a part of the postal system is the latest idea of Postmaster General Hitchcock. Announcement was made today that a resolution to this effect will be offered to Congress at the present session.—Wisconsin State Journal.

There is always one thing in these stories that gives them news value—the purpose or result of the conference, hearing, or announcement. This purpose or result, of course, must be played up. The one point that the reporter should remember is that a well-written lead begins with the result or purpose of the meeting or announcement rather than with the name of the meeting or the name of the body that makes the announcement. Never begin a story thus: "At a meeting of the Press Club held in the Auditorium last night it was resolved that——" Transpose the sentence and begin with a statement of what was resolved. In the following story the order is wrong:

The Supreme Court of the United States, through the opinion delivered by Justice Vandevanter, today declared constitutional the employers' liability law of 1908.

The import of the decision is buried; it should be written thus:

The employers' liability law of 1908 was today declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Vandevanter delivered the opinion of the court, made in four cases.

In these stories, as in all other news stories, the lead must begin with the fact or statement that gives the story news value. Burying this fact or statement behind two or three lines of explanation spoils the effectiveness of the lead. A student of journalism may gain very good practice in the writing of news stories by looking over the leads that appear in the daily papers and transposing those leads which bury their news behind explanations. The first line of type in a lead is like a shop's show window and it must not be used for the display of packing cases.

8. Stories on Other Printed Matter.—A large part of a newspaper's space, especially in smaller cities, is devoted to stories based on printed bulletins, announcements, city directories, legislative bills, and published reports of various kinds. Sometimes a news story is written upon a pamphlet that was issued for advertising purposes—because there is some news in it. In all of these stories the reporter must look through the pamphlet to find something of news value or something that has a significant relation to other news. Smaller papers often print stories on the new city directory; the increase or decrease in population is treated as news and a very interesting story may be written on a comparison of the names in the directory. In university towns the appearance of a new university catalog or bulletin of any sort is the occasion for a story which points out the new features or compares the new bulletin with a previous one. Reporters and correspondents in political centers, like state capitals, get out stories on committee and legislative reports and on new bills that are proposed or passed by the legislature. The writing of these stories is very much like the reporting of a speech, which will be discussed later. The newest or most interesting feature in the report or bill is played up in the lead as the feature of the story, followed by the source of the story, the printed bulletin upon which the story is based; thus:

A new plan for placing the control of all water power in the state in the hands of the legislature was proposed in the minority report of Senators J. B. Smith and L. C. Blake, of the special legislative committee on drainage, issued today.

These eight classes of news stories do not include all the news stories that a newspaper prints, but they are in a way typical of all the others that are not mentioned. It will be noted from these that all news stories, just like the fire story, are usually written in about the same way. Each one has a lead which begins with the feature of the story—i.e., the fact or incident in the story which gives it news value and makes it of interest—and concludes by answering the reader's questions, when, where, who, how, why, concerning the feature. Each story begins again after the lead, and in one or more paragraphs explains, describes, or narrates the incident in detail and in logical order. This body of the story which follows the lead, while following in general the logical order, is so written that its most interesting facts are near the beginning and its interest dwindles away toward the end. This is to enable the editor in making up his paper, to take away from the end of any story, as we have seen before, a paragraph or more without spoiling the story's continuity or depriving it of any of its essential facts. The form of the conventional fire story may be used as a model in the writing of any news story.

In writing the body of a story to explain, describe, or narrate the incident mentioned in the lead, every effort should be directed toward clearness. This is particularly true of stories which are in the main narrations of action. The number of facts that may be included must depend upon the length of the story; if all of the facts cannot be included without overburdening the story, cut out some of the details of lesser importance, but treat those that are included in a clear readable way. Short sentences are always much better in newspaper writing than long involved sentences. Pronouns should always be used in such a way that there can be no doubt in regard to their antecedents. If a relative clause or participial expression sounds awkward make a separate sentence of it. In other words, be simple, concise, and clear—that is better in a newspaper than much fine writing.

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