^ SUCCESSFUL NEWSPAPE ^CtftlRESPONoi?^ ^eluding a Directory of the Newspapers of the United States to which news can ..*<'i profitably be sold. . '"^'vSJ ^jl;' *i;^rx .^^ T^;^- f?^^ THE ART OF SUCCESSFUL NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENCE. BY MORRIS J. WHITE. Including a Directory of the Newspapers of the United States to which news can profitably be sold. Copyright. 1911. by Morris J. White. The Art of Successful Newspaper Correspondence. To begin with, don't read this just once and lay it aside. Read it every day until you learn it. Then you will profit by it. The sphere of a ne\vsi)aper c* )rrespt)nf the corres])ondent for afternoon papers is very limited. That of the corresp<.)ndent for morning papers lasts until an hour or so after midnighi. So this book is devoted mostly to the morning paper work. The greatest essential of successful newsi)aper corresi)ond- ence is to de\elop the faculty of getting news, instead of the faculty of fluent writing, as so many people supj)osc. News- papers want facts. They have editors and copy readers whose business it is to whip the facts into c.rdcr if thev do not arrive 2470fi9 in the lJC^L ot cohditicjii. It you send all the tacts, if yoti scoop your rival a little, you ntc^d not \vutsider. There is only one way to learn newspaper work, and that is to go after news and use }our wits to get it. This can as well be done b\- a free lance as by a rei)ortei' connected with a news- paper. Ill ])lanning a campaign renuMuber this: Never go to a man and ask him if he has any news. Almost invariably llu- answer will be in the negatixe, even if thai inan is loaded with news, lie cannot think of what he knows in the line i^\ news on the spur ^^\ the moment. 2 Lay out your (.aiiipai-ii hcl'orc y<>ii apinoac'li a man. It is best to liave S(inie dctinitc (object to lead up to. It vou haven't, but are simply seekiuj^ to develop soinethint;. such as is ^;eiu-i- ally the case when a prominent man ethnics to vcnir citv and }(~)U are sent to inter\ie\v him. fortify yourself with s<.)me care- fully prepared (juestions to ask — (juestions on subjects in which he himself is likely tn be interested. That will start a con\er- sation. and if he is an authorit}- on the subjects yen haw brought uj). he will \ery soon be sayini^- somethini^^ worth printing. Men in the [)id:)lic eye, whether statesmen, the heads of business or educational institutions, or men prominently iden- tified with such institutions, in short, men wh(^ play a part in big" affairs of any sort, always have news. Tt depends on the skill of a correspondent to bring it out. The rule applies to all cpiests for news. Start a conversa- tion. If the man you talk to does not happen to have any news he may say something wdiich will give you a tip leading to big results. Even when covering "routine," (the news of police stations, courts and offices in city and county buildings which is prepared and waiting for all reporters to come in and look at), the people you talk with may give you an inkling of a much bigger story than is contained in the official records you are picking' up. Jn approaching a man who is disinclined to talk, always impress him with the fact that you are trying to do him a favor, not an injur}- ; that there is a story to such-and-such effect, and that all you desire is the truth n\ it, and have come to him because he is the fountainhead of knowledge on that subject. C^ne very old and very successful ruse to open the mouths of men and wr)men who rebuti" newspai)er men i^ to give them to understand, by inference, if possible, in preference to direct words, that you know all about "the other side" of the case and only desire to be fair in getting this side of it. 3 Ill any e\eiit, never give U[) until the paper has gone to JMCSS — you will he surprised at what ohstacles you will over- come. Xo matter how small a city, it has some man or men who are known to the outside world. Cultivate them, and in their conversation you will find a continual source of revenue. You must understand, however, that these men do not care to talk on trivial subjects. They are too busy to bother with trivialties, else they would not have gained prominence. There is always something new in the affairs in which they are interested. Plan to draw it out. 'Jlieir opinions on important current news are valuable. In view^ of this, keep an eye on what's doing in the world. If something happens in another city, such as a business or j)olitical development, in which a prominent man of your city would be interested, ask him what he thinks about it, what conditions led up to it, and what he thinks it will lead t6. Almost anything he says will be of value. Often the simple fact that a man declines to talk on a given subject is the best kind of news, owing to the infeTences which can be drawn, or the circumstances of his declination. If a prominent politician visits another one, especially if they be of ditTereiit cities or states, why does he do it? If a city official or other i:)roniinent man goes to sc^mc (~>thcr city, what is his object? If a club, civic board or other organiza- ti<^n is called in a s])ecial meeting, what is in the air? Why couhhi't the}' wait until the regular meeting? If a big block of real estate is sold, what does the new owner intend to (\o with it? In fact, there is a "what" t(^ almost everything that happens. AnsNyer those "whats" and you have news. To get these tips, mix with people of all classes. \'isit the sources of routine news, such as ccnirts, county and city offices, police stations and hotels. Often \()u will find news rea(h' made. .\11 von lu\e to do is to grab it, and perhaps ^ct a few details. Never j;ct dis- coiirai^ed. The \ ery l)est news always hreaks suddenly and unexpectedly. That is why it is the l)e>t. in the ne\vsi)ai)cr tield more than in anything- else, the means to success is eternal vii^ilance. Jxead all the i)ai)ers puhlished in \. »ur city, and keep posted. Von can .L;et many tips from them, and manv C()mi)lctc stories. It is all ri.i;ht tn file news taken from an aiu-rnoon pajuT tn a morning- pajjcr in another city, or news from a mornini^ l)aper to an afternoon ])aper in another city; hut never file a story a day old from one morning paper to another morning paper. It is better to miss an item altogether than to file one "M hours old and have your paper detect you in it. A story is news onl}' when it is new. W hen you get your news, offer it \o your papers in the form of a query. That is. wire them a brief outline of what you have. If they want it. they will order it. This pr(»cess is more full\- explained further on in this book. DIFFERENT CLASSES OF NEWS. The news a correspondent wants is of three kinds — news of a color local to the city in which the ])aper to which it is offered is published, news of a general interest throughcnit the country, and state news. The first is by far the easiest to sell. It C(.^nsists of mat-- ters which directly concern the city in which your paper is published, or concerning some person a resident of. or well known in that city, or concerning something which ha> hap- pened in that cit}-. thus having a direct interest there. The special correspondent generally has a clear field on this, because the Associated Press or other news associations do not carry items of a local character. Though the service of these asso- ciations is very extensive, they cannot handle everything that happens in the world, or e\en in the United States. 5 As examples of this kind of news: If a prominent man from some other cit}- is in your city, and gives an interview upon any subject, ofYer it to the papers in the man's home citv. Find out the object of his visit. That will make a good item. If either a man or woman from some other city is married in your city, it is news in that ])arty's home city. It is still better news if elopers come to your city and marry, or try to marrv iind fail. If a robbery or murder has been committed in some other city, no matter how long ago, and the culprit is captured in your city, it is of more interest in the other cit}- than it is in your own. Or if some resident of your city goes to some other city and does something noteworthy, the papers in that city will want something concerning his identity, career and accomplishments. In short, look out for anything in which the name of another city is mentioned. News which is of interest in several cities the Associated Press is likely to carry, for enough of its papers desire it to make it an object. A story of very large character you gener- ally will not do much with, because everybody wants it and the news associations will cover it thoroughly. About the only chance you will have to get an order ou it will be to oftcr some sidelight or feature which the news associations have not had space to cover. Or if it happens to be a story hard to get at, you might get an order if you offer it early. The Associated Press often is late with its stories because it depends upon the newspapers in the various cities for most of its news and if a story hapj)ens to be delayed in the ncws]-)a]icr <^fficc the Asso- ciated Press cannot get it early. THE EASIEST MONEY. The best class of general news to sell is sjiorting news. The news associations carry lots of this but there is such a plethora of it that they also forego lots of it, or handle it in such brief form that it is insufficient for most i)apers. Baseball, prize r'uv^ and foolhall arc the most in demand, ranking in the order named. In hasehall. if you reside in a major league city the doings and sayings of tlic owner, manager or players of your home team are of interest thrcnighout the circuit. Shifts in the team, trades or j)urchases of players, and plans for the future all command attention. If you are in a minor league city, your club is likely to sell a player to some major league club, or some scouts may happen in to look over certain players. There may be some unusual feature of a game, such as a no-hit game, or a fight between players or an attack on an umpire. If you happen to be a baseball writer you can cover the games for papers in other cities which do not send staff men with their teams. Whether you are in a major or minor league city, the papers in the other cities of your circuit always want any news you have regarding any of the clubs. Newspapers of all kinds and sizes are greedy for prize ring news. It doesn't make much difference whether a fighter is well known or not. Every prize fighter is his own press agent, and this fight stuff is the greatest bunc that ever was exploited for news. Any man who can don a pair of gloves and live through a preliminary can get attention on the sporting ])ages by bragging what he intends to do to some one higher up. If a fighter already prominent spills such talk it is grabbed for like free ice cream. A fighter does not have to be a cham- pion, or even a near champion, to be prominent. He only has to do or say something to make himself talked alxuit. When- ever you sell an item on him you increase his value for more. It makes no difference what he says. A fighter may say one thing one minute and contradict himself the next. A wise correspondent will sell the first remark the day he gets it and hoard up the other until the folhnving day. then sell that too. Football news is more local in character than baseball or fight news. Nowadays every state has its university. The large states have several. News of a university football team is good in the cities of each state which lias a college on that team's schedule. For instance, Ohio has several well known colleges — Ohio State University, at Columbus, Case and West- ern Reserve in Cleveland, Oberlin, Miami, and others. If any of these i)lays in any other state, a story of the game can be sold to every paper in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. Toledo, while i)ractically as large a city as Columbus, is shy on newspaper enterprise. Stories of the team's i)raclice. or of the individual players, especially in case of illness or injury, or ])enalties in studies which may keep them out of the game, and remarks and plans of the coach are valuable. Students in college cities do a great deal of this football correspondence, but their lack of actual newspaper training induces papers in many large cities to in- trust their football correspondence to some experienced man in the largest city of the state, who can cull the cream from what the college correspondents send in and forward a concise story. College baseball and track sports are covered in the same way as football. Other sports, golf, tennis, ^achting, baseball, wrestling, shooting and even skating, skat, chess and checkers are salable to a limited extent — always to cities from which the visiting contestants hail. Horse races are not 'of great consequence, as the news associations generally carry all that is wanted oi Ihcni. WIDEST RANGE IS IN STATE NEWS. State news is in a held by itself. It is the most lucrative ()\ all to corrcsj)on{lents who can get in right on it. The great bulk of it is sold to the i)apers of the large cities of a state, which ha\e a state wide circulation. These papers take prac- tically e\erything that happens. They use it in their state editions (Mily, then throw it away to make room for late general news, in states like .\cw ^'ork. rcnnsyh ania, (^hio, Illinois, 8 Michigan and a few others which contain cities of half a million or more population, a corres])on(lent in a small city can make a hundretl dollars a mouth from just one hii; paper. A city of 30,000 to 50,000 population is aj)! to furnish a dozen items in a day. There is a minimum rate on them, j^enerally ;{.") cent>. though some ver\- good papers pay but 25 cents. lUit they pay enough for the stories that exceed one hundred word> to hriii- the total for a day's correspondence up to from three to Wm: dollars. A correspondent handling two such papers has a good thing, especially as he can sell a considerable i)ortion of the same news to large papers in adjoining states which U'a\ r a circulation in certain parts of his own state. Chicago papers, for instance, cover Michigan and W'iscon- sin almost as thoroughly as do the Detroit and Milwaukee papers respectively. Cincinnati papers circulate largely in Kentucky and Indiana, besides in Ohio. The Cincinnati En- quirer circulates everywhere in the United States and takes news from everywdiere. Cleveland papers are somewhat re- stricted. They cannot go far south because they meet the competition from Cincinnati and Pittsburg; to the west they are shut oil by Chicago and Detroit; to the east they collide with Buffalo. Chicago papers have a clean sweej) to the west and northwest until they reach the zone of the Denver pai)ers. St. Louis shuts oft' Chicago in the southwest, and takes for its own general territory, all the great southwest to the farthest corners of Texas. News fn^m anywhere in that section can be handled for St. Louis papers much as state news is. Philadelphia and Pittsburg divide Pennsylvania. New York has its own stale. New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Poland and a fair general circulation in the rest of Xew England, with some in the middle west. Boston makes a specialty of Xew England. The south- ern states east of the Mississippi are in the sphere of Baltimore and Washington, except Tennessee, Louisiana and .Mississippi, wdiich are better covered bv Cincinnati. Chicago and St. Louis. While the big papers in these cities want the best news of a nature local to outside territory in which it originates, they do not use it as freely as they do news from their own states. THE FEATURE STORY. One strong point in state news is the feature story. A feature story is one which is not of great intrinsic importance but has an odd turn which makes it interesting. It bears the same relation to news that fiction does to history — interesting, but that is all. ,\ state correspondent can use feature stories ad. lib., sent by mail. Only the best of them are good enough to send by wire to papers in other states. These must be short. Fifty to a hundred words is all that newspapers care to pay tolls on. Except in state news they have to go by wire be- cause if you mail them the editors will fear that they arc old, even though ^ou ma}' have dug them up exclusively for your- self. Some feature stories partake of the sensational, in which case tliey rise above the feature class. More newspapers will buy sensations than will accept the simple feature stories. Sen- sations also will draw the biggest orders. If prominent per- sons are involved the papers will take almost any amount you offer — providing the story is not so big the Associated Press carries it. in which case you are shut out. But you are not supposed to know anything about what the Associated' Press carries, so query everything. The subject matter of a feature st^^ry is of little ckiisc- quence. It is the oddity that counts. An odd accident. (u\i\ adventure, odd case of animal intelligence, odd tragedy. ^H\^\ romance, odd marriage tangle, odd medical case or surgical operation, all are e(|ually good for pai")ers that like feature stories. Sometimes a single hundred word item can be sold a dozen times. It will not ilo, however, to (juery all newspapers on feature 10 stories. Some editors will not touch them and will reverse tolls on you. Afternoon newspapers will not take feature stories by wire because of the costly tolls. There are some that are ^\n(\ to get them by mail, however. Newspapers like to get as much matter by mail as possible, for their telegraph bills are one of their largest editorial e\- f)enses. A state correspondent, especially one serving an after- noon paper, can send a great deal of matter by mail. ii>v he lives near the city in which his paper is published. Anv time a state correspondent is certain he has a story some other cor- respondent knows not of, he should mail it. It will be only three or four hours reaching its destination; often not more than two hours. In that way he will get much more money out of it himself, for the paper will use two or three times as much of a long story if it gets it without the expense of telegraphing. A thousand word story mailed may all get into the paper; if queried, the chances are the order would be "Send '300," unlcs* it was an exceptionally good story. Thus the correspondent would get $3 for it. instead of seventy-five cents. Afternoon papers are not as shy of mail stories as morning papers are. for good news which turned up too late in a day for them to get by wire is still good news when it appears in the office bright and early the next morning, while news mailed to a morning paper cannot be less than twenty-four hours old when it is published, unless it is sent a very short distance. The correspondent in a large city finds the value in state news to lie in relaying it to other large cities which have paper:* circulating in his state. Many papers rely on their correspon- dent in the largest city of a state to cover the entire state for them. That often is a lucrative source of income, because the news associations (!«• not carry such news. The Associated Press has a state wire in all the states of large population. On this wire general news is cut to a small proportion of its original bulk and short items of state news are handled in its stead. As 11 "the Associated Press main wires carry only general news, these state items never are sent outside the state unless they happen to be of general interest. Often items which actually are of ;general interest are not sent out. SMALL CITIES AS A FIELD FOR NEWS. While most news of general interest originates in the large cities, the correspondents in small cities tlmt are college towns, or state capitals, or have large business interests, ought to do ])articularly well with general news. Such cities as Gar}-, Ind., Lorain, Ohio, Battle Creek, Mich.. Dulutli. Minn.. lUitte, Mont., and a score of others, while small, have business enterprises of national renown. Many of the great colleges are located in cities of less than ^.'ijxio j)opulation. 'JMie capitals of most states are in comparatively small cities. In state capitals the political pot almost always is boiling. A little prying into jxilitics is apt at any time to disclose a turn of national interest. If a legislator plans to intn)duce some unique bill and you can learn of it before hand, you have a clear field on it. These, and bills affecting railroads, (^r other interstate instituti(»ns such as insurance c«»m panics, or large business corporations, or church organizations, are good news in other states. So is an original policy or crusade by the governor, or a campaign against a I'nited States senator or a congressman, or a camjiaign affecting a state delegation to a national convention. In college towns there arc man}' i)rofessors and thousands of students from other states. Their doings anil sayings and accomplishments will be of interest to papers in their home states. Often there are prominent members of the facult\- and 'even students, whose accomplishments constitute news of gen- eral importance. Capt. Sealby, who was in command (^f the Steamer Republic when she was smdv in a \o^^, entered Michigan University after that episode, to study admiralty law. instead •of returning to the sea. In one of the far nt^rthwestern states •an ex-congressman entered college in the fall oi IIMI. 13 A MINE THAT IS NEGLECTED. rractically all C(>lk\L;c news is handled hv sludcnt corres- pondents, and most of them, in their enthusiasm for what docs most to keep the name ct their uni\ersity before the public, can see nothinj:;- but the fo(jtball, basel:)all and track teams. In overlooking; news of the students and the facult\-, they iL::norc a tield as fertile as that of colle.c^e sports. Suppose, as an exami)lc, a student is acting' as a corres- pondent in one of the universities in Chicai^o. A student from Missouri is elected an officer of his class, or editor of the collei^e paper, or wins a place on a del)atin|L;- team, or writes a colle.^e son^::, or makes the football or base])all team or shows up well in track athletics, or has an accident, or in any other way attracts attention — Missouri papers want it. five of them in St. Louis, four in Kansas City and a cou])le in St. Joseidi. The chances are that more than half of them would order a hundred or more words of the story and the correspondent would make three or four dollars on it. A big university is likely to have students from every state in the Union, and a correspondent who keeps his eyes and ears open can make a good living from what seems to the average. unobser\-ing youth to be common- place incidents. I know of a case in which a student corresp<^ndent of a middle west uni\ersity wrcjte to the big papers in every state asking them if they would not like a list of the students enrolled from their state and what they were doing. Almost every i)aper answered in the al¥irmati\e and he made more than a hundred dollars from the work. The president of a large college or university generally is a figure of national importance. His opinions on public affairs, educational matters and sociological ]n-oblems always are a matter of interest. ^Nlany of the faculty also are i)romincnt. New^s regarding instructors who are not ])roniin(nt cni be -nid in the states from which they hail. ]3 Afternoon papers confine their special correspondence al- most exclusively to state news and to matters with a feature local to their own city, because of the high telegraph tolls. On very important subjects they will order special stories from cities outside the state. They will order short items from out- side the state if they have an end local to their city. A few of them that make a specialty of sensational stories will take anything of that nature that turns up anywhere. A few others that operate or are connected with a news service other than the Associated Press will take general matter in small doses for the use of their service. For these reasons it hardly i)ays to bother with afternoon papers except for state correspondence. In fact, for a man who is serving morning papers, to serve afternoon papers also will actually cause him a loss. Suppose a story turns up good for New York or Chicago. High telegraph tolls will prevent most of the afternoon papers ordering it. If you query it, probably you will get an order from just one of them, and that order will be small. You will make from fifty cents to a dollar on it. lUit if you had left it alone, taking a chance on the Associated Press or some other correspondent sending it out. probably you would have sold it to at least three morning pai)crs at from one dollar to two dollars each. In short, you would have made a profit of from two to five dollars by letting it alone in the afternoon, for if you sell it to just one afternoon paper it will kill the sale of it for morning papers altogether. There is little danger that anyone else will send it to after- noon ])apers, owing to the conditions descril)0(l in the fore- going paragrai)hs. THE NEWS TO LOOK OUT FOR. While the exact sort of news any paper or papers will want cannot be told, for the reason that whenever there is a shake-up in the editorial seats new ideas come to the frt^nt. a compre- 14 hensive summary of tlic classes of news to look out for can be quite accurately set forth. In brief, the news a general corre- spondent wants is as follows: Items rcj^ardiuL; i)coi)le of other states who visit \oiir citv. especially prominent men and women. .Ascertain the object of their visit and i^et them to talk about it. Prominent people of your own state and citv a< well as of other states can hi^uro in i^'-eneral news, while j)eople not well known furnish items ji^dc^d only for the cit}' from which the\' came. Get court cases in which people of other states are involved. Weddings and divorces in which people of other states figure. Business deals involving $100, UUO or more, such as the merger of big firms or banks, the establishment of new ones r»r the sale of old ones. Also failures and lawsuits. Look out for corporation news, especially of telegraph, tele phone, railroad and power cojmpanies. Political news that has a national bearing. Accidents and murders are good if some prominent person is involved, or some person from another state, or if there is some sensational feature. Fires which destroy large bu*^iness concerns or the resi- dences of wealthy or famous men. Crimes of the **big" class, such as embezzlements, bank wrecking, and swindles. Feature stories of unusually good (piality. csi)ecially if they can be illustrated. All sorts of sporting news. This is easiest t«i get as well as easiest to sell, because all men connected with sports, exce|)t the sedate major league club owners, like to talk of their accom- plishments and plans. Always look out for a chance to illustrate a story. Photo- graphs are in good demand and most papers pay well t<-)r them. 15 Photos to accomiKiny the announcement <>f an engagement or the story of a werlding are particularly salable. State news C(jrrespon(lents want i)ractically everything out of the ordinary that happens in their town. Perhaps the best way to convey a good idea of salable general news is to give a list of items 1 sold in one month to a single Chicago paper, the month selected being one in which a varied range of news turned up, and not much of it feature stufif. It was October, 190i), the matter being filed from Detroit. On only one day, aside from Sundays, did the paper fail to order at least one story. The total for the month was 12,325 words. That is better than the average for general correspondence, but a state corespondent serving a big paper in the largest city of his own state often can double such a file. The stories were as follows, many of them being filed to other cities also, enabling me to sell them several times : Manager Jennings on \\'orld's series chances. Capt. Sealby attending Michigan University. A woman tortured. City l)acks a ball team as an advertisement. Football. Hazing at a college. A move of the Wholesalers Association. Interview with a Chicago man. Athletic field for co-eds at University. r.cll hops' graft. A murder. Betting on World's series. Another on the same. ]3r. Cook's visit. Police Commissioner's radical moxe. School of religion. Evangelists speak from auto. Story on .Manager Jennings. University flag rush. Senator Purrows story. l)aseba]l. World's series betting. r.ascl>all. l^hysician arrested. Mad l)ull escapes. Ban Johnson. A murder. Ticket scalpers. Stanley Ketchell's mother. Baseball. Mail story on nuinici|)al graft. 3,000 words. Baseball aftermath. A defaulter. jiaseball. i'rize fight. Defaulter. lilted youth lakes life, r.aseball. Mob of women riots. Ty Cobb's auto. Shi]) launch. Church story. ]-)aseball. Furniture factory story. Baseball. \'. M . ('. A. plans. Jennings signs. Secretary Dick- ins(Ui not entitled to life saving medal. 1. <>()() words. Baseball. ]G (."ollege story. Detroit Tnitcd Railway story. Divorce. Anti- treat society. Story on I'^.x Secret a rv W'wIuTrv. l^niversitv endowments. The baseball was short items re-ardin- the rlnh and play- ers. TRIVIAL MATTERS TO FIGHT SHY OF. A study of the sort of news wanted is no more important than a consideration of what is not wanted, 'j'his is hroiit^dit to mind by the fact that editors everywhere are receiving from individuals in small cities, and even villa^^es, hundreds of miles distant, crudely written items rec^ardino- people and happeninti^s which hardly would be worth j)rintin.i;- in the towns in which they originate, much less in large cities. Generally they are accompanied by letters sprinkled with wise-sounding newsi)aper terms, used in a way indicating only a vague idea of their meaning, unmistakably the earmarks of lax study or incom- petent teaching, Whichever it is, it has made them jokes in- stead of newspaper correspondents. So a warning is in order right here. Xever send trivial matter to a newspaper just because you have nothing really good to send. Editors never use anything simply to call attention to the fact that your town is on the map. They are disgusted at receiving trivial items. Xothing will queer a correspondent so quickly, not even lack of reliabil- ity. The word "trivial" is subject to a double interi)retation in this connection. If some one steals a thousand dollars and is arrested, the papers of your own state might use it. lUit to the papers of other states it would be trivial. If he should steal a hundred dollars and be arrested, that would be trivial even in your own state, unless he was a proiuinent i)erson. A state correspondent can use almost any class of new<. court cases, police cases, accidents, crimes of all kinds, busi- ness news, deaths of prominent people or old residents, anni- 17 versaries of various kinds, conventions, meetings, church news, weddings, in fact, anything that is not utterly inconsequential. There is no way to draw a deadline between what is trivial and what is not, but the use of a little common sense will enable the correspondent not to get too far below the standard. The best ])lan is to read the paper and take note of what gets in. Then you w^ill know what to send. Editors have widely differ- ing ideas. Some will use what others reject. The great bulk of state news is decidedly trivial to paper:^ at a distance. If there is another large city right on the border of your state, as Chicago is to Wisconsin and Indiana, for instance, or, Pittsburg to Ohio, or Cincinnati to Kentucky, the papers in that city will use your state news. Only state news of general interest is w^anted by papers on the far side of other states. Of course, there often is in your state news an item concerning some other city or some person of some other city. Such stories are readily salable. The best way for a general correspondent to judge whether to query a story is to "put yourself in his place." Suppose you reside in Cincinnati and are correspondent for a Chicago paper. If a black hand artist dynamites a house it makes cjuite a stir in Cincinnati. Size up the magnitude of the story, how many killed, how much financial damage, etc., and consider whether you would be interested in it if it had occurred in Chicag(\ If not, then Chicago will not be interested in it because it occurred in Cincinnati. That, I have found, is the surest way to avoid offering what a])pears to the editors as trivial. It" for any num- ber of consecutive days T fail to appl}' that test, I find myself the recipient of a call down for oft'ering matters of slight value. Don't send stories long distances by mail, unless you have something you know is exclusive and can inform the editor -^o. The natural supposition is that stories which spend twenty- four hcnns or more on a train are stale when they arrive. Stories of a >pecial nature often are ordered by mail; that i>^ a different matter. • ^ i^ | 18 THE SPECIALTIES OF CERTAIN PAPERS. Almost every ne\vsj)ai)er is |)arlial t.» some certain kind <>f news, because o\ the business <»r social interests of its city or the character of its circulation. In testini; out this deniand and studyins^ the results, lies one of the broadest avenues to success. The most notable instances of sJ)eciali/.inl^^ the names of the papers and the kind of news the\- particularly desire, are ;^'iven herewith : Xew York Times — Axiation. art, wealthy men. particularly titled foreigners, society weddini^^s when one or both parties are known outside their own city. i)olitics. Xew York Sun — Accidents, crimes, {.general news, and bi^^ stories which it must have for its news service, it bein.i^ without the Associated Press. Xew York Press — I'eature stories, the \er\- best only, an an«l sport>. Cincinnati Enquirer — The best features, preferably siu^rt. sensations, politics, sports, local o])tion. especially "dry" defeats. 19 Cleveland Leader — Lake marine. >])r.rt>. Cleveland Plain Dealer — Lake marine, sports. Cleveland Press — Sensations. Piuffalo Express — Lake marine. Washington Post — Sports. This enumeration does not mean that the classes of news specified are the only ones these papers will order, but the classes they are more likely than not to order. Neither does it mean that these are all the papers in the country that are i^ood to have on your list. Some of the best ones are not mentioned because they do not specialize on anythini;'. A complete list of papers correspondents should keej) an eye on is s^iven further on in this book. Just what i)aper is best for a correspr>ndent to have depends uj)on where he resides. A correspondent residinc;" in the east naturalh' can make more money from a New York ]:)a])er than he can from a Chicaj^o paj)er. and \ice \ersa. Which i:)oints out a vital essential of }'our campaign — get the correspondence of newspajjers in the nearest large city. PAen if }'ou reside in tile largest city in the country, the princi])le is the same. Xew York news is of more interest in i^hiladelphia and Px^ston than it is in Chicago. P>ut from the viewpoint of the general corre- spondent, the correspondent anywhere east of the Rockies, there is just one best paper to have — the Cincinnati Kncpiirer. It orders a bigger variety of news than any other ncwsj)aper, and nK>re of jt. though it rarely takes a long st(^ry except fn^m points in Ohio. It wants idiotographs of every person and thing of consequence. This statement must not be taken as an opinion as to which is the best ne\\si)ai)er in the I'nited States — simply which is the best one for a correspondent to ha\e aside from the big city ])apers of his own state. It is good for another reason — it rarely sends staff men out of ( )liio. w hile Xew Yc^rk and Chicago pai)ers send >taH men on comi)aratively slight -stories. 20 Xcitlier doc^ llii> iiu-aii that tlu- l''.ii(|iiiror will okUt every thin.ii- tliat is oti'crod. ( )n llio ci.nlrar\. the i-".n(|iiirer is very (liscriminatinL;. It you iA'ivv i::inH\ stiitY. y<.n will veil it: if you offer trivial or silly tilings, or stale tliiiiL;^. y..n will i;et turned down, and turned down hard. 'i'lic papers whose eorrespondenee is worth while l'. -rni j)urred to his highest activities all the time, by comj)etition or ambition, is apt to let matters drift once in a while. That is what leaves an opening in every city and what makes a good share of the cities practically virgin. , 31 One i)otent thing^ tending toward neglect of correspondence is the fact that many, if not most correspondents have positions on ne\vsi)ai)ers and often their salaried jobs keep them too busy to give their correspondence the attention it needs. Another reason is, and this is a condition that is growing steadily throughout the country, that newspaper owners and editors object to their employes acting as correspondents for outside papers. They do not care to have their news sold to competitors and they consider that they are entitled to the entire time of their employes when they pay for it. I'or these reasons the field for the free lance is steadily broadening. In many cities correspondents have been so hampered by such conditions that they have permitted their outside work to lapse entirely, thu.s leaving an easy oj^ening^ for any energetic man. Often correspondents who are too ham])cred by salaried jobs to attend to business will be glad to turn their corre>])on- dence over to some one else — for a consideration or for friend- ship, as the case may be. In such an instance the correspondent simj)ly writes to his paper recommending the new man as his successor. In not one case in a thousand will the recommen- dation be disregarded, for the ])aper knows of no one else to call on and if the correspondent has been fairl\- efficient his recom- mendation is good. Another good way to get a string of papers is simply to "show" them. If you have some news }(H1 think they want, ofTer it to them. If the ])ai)er has no correspondent in your city, or if it has a correspondent who has become lax in his work, you will get an order if your story appeals to the editor. If the paper has a correspondent who is active. }-ou will be ignored, lie probably has (pieried the same item. If he hasn't, they will wait a while to give him a chance. If he doesn't come through^ probably you will get the order, though some papers believe, in Invaltv to their corresj)ondents and will reter (picries from strangers to their regular man. Here is where that eternal vi^^ilanco iiioltn comes in af^aiii. \\'henever you have a story that ouj^ht to inttrest some other eity, c|uery the papers tliere (juiek. I'o facilitate just that matter. a directory of all the ne\vs])apers in the country whieli are likely to i)urchase news by telei^raph has been appemlcd to this book. TESTING OUT THE PAPERS. In doint^ this, you are testinj^ out the pai)ers you have or desire to acquire. Remember the sort of stories you have fpicricd them ; remember what the}' have ordered and what they have ignored. If they ignore a story, do not offer them another of the same kind ; if they order, ofifer them all you find in that line. There are other reasons for not orderin.i; a story, however, than because the paper does not want it. J'erha])s the Asso- ciated Press has carried it. Perhaps an afternoon paper has had it. Perhaps news is running so heavily there is no room except for "must" stuff. In the latter case the editor may have many good stories he would like to run but absolutel}' can't. So don't draw an absolute conclusion on the first test. Try them two or three times, if you have reason t<^ tliink they ought to like the class of story you offer. In doing this you are likely to run afoul of some grouchy editors who like to be considered watchdogs of the paper's treasury and wdll reverse tolls on you. lUit if you take the pains to get acquainted with the folks around the telegrai)h (offices, who ninety-nine times of a hundred are tip-top men. they will not charge you with the refused message; they will simj)ly "bust" it — declare it null, as though not sent. This is not a violation of the new law forbidding franks. The telegraph com- pany does not frank a message for you ; it simi)ly >ends it collect and the other party declines to pay. In querying, make yt jjossible without impairing lucidity, .\lways number them. Tiie editor then will order by number. Thi^ will facilitate work and 2:i save the i)ai)cr lolls. Always put at the end of the query the number of words you think the story is worth. Suppose there is a big^ bank failure. V<»u wire your ])ai)er as follows: Record — Xcw York. o (i^ivini;- the name ) National bank fails : deposits ten million — r)(H». Jones. If your paper wants the whole story it will answer: Jones, Chicago; Send 5. Record. Thereupon you will tile the entire story as soon as possible. If the editor is in a hurry for it, his message will read: **Rush 5.'' if he is in an extremely urgent hurr}- for it, he will wire : "Double rush .")." Whenever you receive a rush or double rush order, make all possible haste in complying. If the editor thinks the story is not worth as much as you have offered he will tell you how much he wants. His message will read like this : Jones, Chicago ; o(M) of 5. Record. Ujion rccci])l of which, cut the story down to the size he protect, however. If your ])a])er digs up something in its own town and wires you to look u]) some matters pertaining to it in >">ur town, that is their business exclusively. As a matter of hon..r you must not tip it oft' to any other paper whatsoever, no matter how much money you might make from it. if you do not hap- pen to be squeamish regarding the honor ((ue^lion. i)rotect il as 25 a matter of safety to yourself. A paper undoubtedly would discharge you for giving away its news. When you have a good, live competitor in your city as a corresi)on(lcnt, it is good policy to work with him. In that case you can respect each other's papers ; that is. do not query his papers and he will not query yours. You can exchange news and thus lighten your labors. You will run much less chance of getting scooped and drawing a lecture. For be it known, a correspondent never gets praise or reward for sending an exclus- ive, unless it be a slight advance in rate of payment, but he always gets a calling down if he gets scooped. It's one of the queer things about the newspaper business. All your brilliant things are taken as a matter of course ; no headliners for you, as in the case with a brilliant ball player, no hoist in salary, unless you threaten to cjuit if you don't get it. But if you get scooped just once, you are likely to get fired. Another thing that is almost certain to draw a dismissal is to send a paper a story that gets it into a libel suit or a damage suit. Be very careful w^hat you write. It is seldom that a libelous sentence will add to the value of your story. It may be true, but at that, it is not worth your while to take a chance. While such a sentence will be noticed if it is printed, no one will miss it if it is not printed, for no one but you knows of it. RATES OF REMUNERATION. The rates of payment of the large newspapers in Xew York, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Detroit, Cincinnati, Buffalo, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Colum- ' bus, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Rochester, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Omaha, Seattle, Providence, and Port- land, Oregon, vary but little. Certain large cities I have omitted from this list because, for what reason I do not know, their rates of payment are noticeably lower than those of the papers in the cities mentioned. Probably it is due to local conditions. 2G ]\Iany medium sized cities T have not mentioned because I am iU>t certain of their axera^e rates; some medium si/.etl cities liaxe l)een included because I (U) know their rates arc as i^ood as those of New ^'o^k and Ihica^o papers. A few of the ver\- i)est jxiikts ha\e a mininuim of r.o cents an item, this applyini;- to cvervtliiuL;; up to rj.") words. At l.jO words To cents is the rate, which stands for everythini^ u|) to noo words, wlien it becomes a dollar. I'or ."inn words the\- pay two dollars and for lon^c^er stories, the payiuent is by the column. r^Iost of the _<;"(^od pa])ers have a mininuun of '.\~t cents, which is not raised imtil the l-")(> word mark is reached. For l.") easy to w rite and eas\- to .leather if you take pains ic make an acciiiaintanee amoni;- the leaders in your city of tlie hu>ine>s whicli the paper represents. Tliey pay ])y the inch. They use items of actual news cual importance that turns u]) on the day of going to i)ress. COMPOSITION. While this book d-.e- not essay to teach composili<»n. it being assumed that anyone who aspires to be a newspaper cor- respondent has some knowledge of I'Jigli-h. a few i)oints in 29 which nc\vsi)ai)er stories (Hffer from other compositions are in order. Always state in your first sentence, and make the sentence as short as possible, the predominant fact of your story. If a fact(M-}- burns, do not bc^in by sayini;-; '"In a spectacular blaze which started at midnii^ht and raged for three hours, neces- sitating the presence of almost the entire fire fighting force of the city to get it under control, the plant of Smith, Jones and company was entirely destroyed last night.'' Write it like this: "'J1ie big stove manufacturing plant of Smith, Jones and company was entirely destroyed bv fire last midnight. The loss is $r)00,0()0." Then, having told the all important thing that ha])pcned. go on with your details. That rule a])j)]ics, no matter how l)ig or how little your story. , Don't use flowery language. Don't use long or compli- cated sentences. Don't use long paragraphs. Don't use a long word when }-ou can think of a short one meaning the same thing, unless you are paid space rates. Tn that case there is |)rorit in the use of long words. In the newspa])er \<^cal)ulary there are no such words as "lady" and "gentleman." An adult is either a man or a woman. That is al)out the only universal rule remaining of the severe code of twenty years ago which made a trained newspaper man at home in any ofiicc he might enter. Nowadays rules are different in every office, owing to the fact that so many men "get into" the business instead of growing up in it and learning its ways. !^o just write ])lain. simple English and let the editors and copy readers apply the rules of their ]')apcrs. The appended (Hieclory of newsjiapers contain^ tlic names of all in cities of loo.ooo or more ])oi)ulation with which it is liki'Iy that a correspondent can do business protitabl}'. There are a good man\' more in smaller cities but they arc in the 30 market for state corresijoiidcnce only. 'I'lie best wav U) learii their needs, desires, manner o( treating corresijondents, rates of payments, etc.. is to test ihem out. There are some cities of considerably more than 1 population that are not enumerated here. That is because they are in a state in which the ne\vspai)ers of the larj^est city have complete domination and contn^l of the held, such as Mas- sachusetts, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Under such circum- stances the papers of small cities are almost strictly local. There are some very small cities in the list. This is be- cause they are the most important factors in their portion (A the world. A city of 25,000 population in the Montana, Idalio. ^^'yoming section of the United States is of as much consequence thereabouts as a city of a million would be in Xew Ycrk. Illinois or Pennsylvania. But it is not intended that a correspondent in the middle west should understand that he can sell news to lUitte and Boise, or to Seattle or San Francisco, unless it is an item in which the city queried is direct!}^ concerned. Those cities are inserted in this list for the l^enefit of cr)rres])ondents of the far northwest. Let the same rule apply in other parts of the country. Your greatest business will be with the papers ri.^ht next door to you. The matter you sell at a distance will have to be something- directly aiTecting the city to which it is offered. In regard to the telegraph companies, the j)apers gener- ally permit the correspondents to cIk^osc their own. 'idiere are a few who still order e\'erything cxclusi\ ely b>' W estern Union because they -liave no Postal loojis in their ottice.-. Among them arc the Cincinnati Enciuirer, Washington Post. Chicago Journal, Cincinnati Times-Star. Pittsburg Dispatch. Xew York Press, Boston journal. Kansas City Journal. Xew York Telegraph and Brooklyn Times. There is no paper that I know of that (orders exclusively by Postal Telegraph. ICarly 31 in llJll I made a com])laint to both telegraph companies be- cause they were i)ermitting- operators to act as newspaper correspondents. This is very unfair competition because a cor- respondent cannot file a message without it being at the mercv of other newspapers if a telegraph operator is acting as a cor- resi)ondent for them. The Western Union i^ut a stop to the ])ractice, but llie Postal, in spite of re])eated protests, neg- lected to do so. 1 mention this in order that correspondents ma\- be able to (hscriminate as to their best interests. 32 DIRECTORY OF NEWSPAPERS. In this dirccinry of newspapers the cities of more than 200,000 population are .^iven first, in tlie order of greatness. l)ecause it is wiili the papers in the larp^est cities that nine- tenths of the correspondence is done. 'Idle smaller cities are arrans^ed alphabetically. Their paj)ers are L^dven simply as a convenience to correspondents who may happen to turn up some news directly atYectini;- some small citv and desire to otYer it there. S<^me well known papers arc omitted from this list because the writer cannot conscientiously advise corres|)on{lents to file matter to them. Either their rates are low, or they are lax in their book keeping-, or they treat correspondents as a i)est rather than as an aid to their business. These thiniL^s have been learned from experience. The papers marked with the star are the very best for a correspondent to have. They pay the best rates and order the most stuff. There is no criticism whatever on those not so marked. They may be gold mines for state correspondents, but they order sparingly of general news, either because they depend upon the big news services for it or because they have arrangements wdth some certain bureau in a big city to supply them with all they need and thus save the telegraph tolls en- tailed by receiving queries from many correspondents. The names of afternoon papers are inserted for the same reason that the names of papers in small cities are used — f'»r emergency. With the exception of the few^ marked with the star, it is useless to try to sell them general news. The coupling of morning and afternoon papers signifies that they are published by the same company. New York City (Population 4,776,000) Morning Aftcrn<^on *Times Mail *Press Globe * World ^Evening World ^American ^^Journal '^Herald Telegram -Sun ^'-'Evening Sun Tribune ^''Brooklyn Eagle (Sun. mrninL;) Courier l'ji(|nircr TinK-s ( Sunday mornini; i • C\)ninicrcial San Francisco (il6,000) *Kxaminer News Call P.ullelin Chronicle Post Milwaukee (373,000) Free Press Sentinel Sentinel Xcws [ournal Fveninj^- Wisconsin Enquirer Cincinnati (363,000) "Times -Star Post Newark, N. J. (347,000) Star Star Xews Times-Democrat Picavune New Orleans (339,000) Item (Sunday mornini^) States (Sunday nK^rninn^) News Washington (331,000) Post Herald Star (Sunday morninof) Times (Sunday aflernor Kansas City (330,000) Including- Kansas City, Kas. *Star Journal Star Tost (Sundrn- niorninc;') Los Angeles (319,000) Examiner Herald Times l^xprcss Record 35 Minneapolis (301,000) Tril)iiiic Tribune Journal (Sunday morning) Xcws (Sunday morning) Seattle (237,000) I'ost Intcllii^cnccr Tinic^ (Sunday morning) Star Indianapolis (233,000) *Star Xe\v> Sun Providence (224,000) Journal llulletin 'rri])une News Louisville (223,000) Herald Courier-Journal Post Rochester, N. Y. (218,000) Herald I'ost Express Democrat-Chronicle Union-Advertiser St. Paul (214,000) Pioneer Press Dispatch News (Sunday morning) Portland, Oregon (207,000) Oregonian Oregon Journal (Sun. morn.) Telegram Albany, N. Y. Argus Journal Knickerbocker-Press Times-l'nion Atlanta, Ga. Constitution (Georgian Jcnirnal Augusta, Ga. C'lironicle Herald (Sunday morning) 3(> / Aberdeen, S. D. American Xews Austin, Texas. Statesman 'I'rihinu' Birmingham, Ala. (Sunday morning) Age- He raid Ledger Xews Burlington, la. 1 ia\vke\e Gazette Bridgeport, Conn. Telegram ( Xo Sunday) I'ost Boise, Idaho. Idaho Statesman C^ipital Xews Butte, Mont. Miner Xews (Sunday Intcr-Mountain Columbus, Ohio. morning) State Journal Dispatch X'^ews Citizen • Cedar Rapids, la. Republican Gazette Chattanooga, Tenn. Times X e w s Charlotte, N. C. Observer Xews (Sunday Chronicle Charleston, S. C. morning Xews Columbia, S. C. State ivecord Duluth, Minn. Xews-Tribune Herald 37 Dallas, Texas. Xews riiiies-l lerald (Sun. morn.) Des Moines, la. Ivegislcr and Leader ("ai)ital Tribune Xews (."Sunday morning) Davenport, la. Democrat- Leader (Sun. morn.) Dubuque, la. Times-Journal .Times-Journal ^relejTfrapli-I lerald Denver, Colo, Xews Times Ixepuhlican Post Elmira, N. Y. Advertiser (Xo Sunday) Star-( iazette Evansville, Ind. Courier Journal- Xews Press Fort Wayne, Ind. Journal-riazelte Xews Sentinel Fort Worth, Texas. Kccord .^tar-Teleii'ram (Sun. morn.) Fargo, N. D. Xexvs l-'orum and Kepuhliean Grand Rapids, Mich. Herald Xews Press Galveston, Texas. W^^vs rril)une Guthrie. Okla. nklahotiia State Capital I eader :j8 Houston, Texas. l*<)St 1 lino L'hronick- (Sunday ni'iriiini^t Hartford, Conn. L'oiirant (NO Sunda\ ) rimes I N.St Helena, Mont. Indepeiidenl Montana Kccrd Knoxville, Tenn. junrnal-TrihtUK' Sentinel Lincoln, Neb. Xel)raska Slate journal Star iSnndax m«irnin,L,M Xews Leavenworth, Kas. d^imes i'ost Little Rock, Ark. Arkansas (iazette Memphis, Tenn. Commercial Api)eal Xews Scimitar Press Muskogee, Okla. Plienix Idmes-Democral Macon, Ga. l\dei;"raph Xews Montgomery, Ala. Adxertiser Journal Nashville, Tenn. d'ennesseean Hanner Norfolk, Va. Landmark \irginian-Pilut Ledi^er-Dispatch 39 Omaha, Neb. W'orld-Mcriild Xews Oklahoma City, Okla. ( )klahunian Times Oklahoma Xews Ogden, Utah. Standard Standard Peoria, 111. I lerald-Tran.script Star (Sunda\- ni.»rnin<;-) Portland, Me. ICastern Ar.L^us iXo Sunday) Express I'ress Reading, Pa. Times Eagle Telegram Richmond, Va. I imes- Dispatch X'irginian journal Xews- Leader Roanoke, Va. Times Reno, Nevada. Xe\ada State Journal (ia/ctle Syracuse, N. Y. I'dst Standard ( Xo Sunday) Herald (Sunday morning) journal Scranton, Pa. Tribune Kepuhliran Trutli South Bend, Ind. Tribune St. Joseph, Mo. ( la/rttc Xews Tress 40 Springfield, M^§s./.\ [ : -•{'.*• :.; :*. Inion L'liion KcpuMioan News Sacramento, Cal. Star San Antonio, Texas. l^.\j)rcss I'i.i^lit (Snn(la\- morning) Spokane, Wash. Tnlaiid Iloralil Inland Herald Press Chronicle Salt Lake City, Utah. llcrald Ixcpuhlican Tele.qram Tribune Savannah, Ga. \i\\- Press Sioux City, la. Journal Journal Tribune News Sioux Falls, S. D. Press Ari^us- Leader Troy, N. Y. j\ec(»rd Rec(»rd Standard Times Press Toledo, Ohio. Times News- Pee Plade Terre Haute, Ind. Tribune ... ] j_ ' Tacoma, Wash. Ledcfer Tribune News Times Topeka, Kas. Capital ^^tatc j.mrnal Trenton, N. J. True American Times State Gazette Utica, N. Y. Press Observer Herald Dispatch Worcester, Mass. Telegram Gazette Post Wichita, Kas. I*La;.!^le Peacon Wheeling, W. Va. Intelli.qoncer News (Sunday mornincr) Rei;ister Tele,qraj)li Wilmington, Del. News Journal l^\er\' I''\enine" 42 ^^ .■^■v ■:--.'^T.^:r^:,-i:,' % 00: r^. ■^ •*/ ^ T-" •■TV- ■'■ ■>>,>!?»■ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW 19 19H JAN 28 1916 FEB 20 J924 MAR 1 8 1978 ^w^~^8 11111111111 ill CQ3EQ37Q57