Newspaper Reporting and Correspondence Part 13

=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 compet.i.tion 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 t.i.tle of a case:

"Captain d.i.c.k 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 t.i.tle 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 a.s.sociation, 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 a.s.sociation?" asked Isidor J. Kresel, a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sessments." 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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 princ.i.p.als 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 s.p.a.ce or does not run them at all.

Therefore in our study society news falls into two cla.s.ses: 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 princ.i.p.als.

=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 princ.i.p.als. 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.