Chapter 6

Chapter 66,119 wordsPublic domain

TYPES OF STORIES

XIV. INTERVIEWS, SPEECHES, COURTS

=178. Four Types of Stories.=--To the casual newspaper reader the various patterns of stories seem all but limitless. To the experienced newspaper man, however, they reduce themselves to seven or eight, and even this number may be further limited. The popular impression comes from the fact that the average reader places an automobile collision and a fire under different heads. Yet for the newspaper's purposes both may be classed under the head of accidents. For the sake of convenience in this study, therefore, we may group under four heads all the news stories that a beginner need be acquainted with in the first year or so of his work: interviews; accidents, society, and sports, to which may be added for separate treatment, rewrites, feature stories, and correspondence stories.

=179. The Interview Type.=--In the present chapter will be discussed the interview type of story, in which are included not only personal interviews, but speeches, sermons, toasts, courts, trials, meetings, conventions, banquets, official reports, and stories about current magazine articles and books. These are all grouped under one head because they derive their interest to the public from the fact that in them men and women present their opinions concerning topics of current interest, and that for newspaper purposes the method of handling interviews is much the same as for the other ten.

=180. Lead to an Interview.=--The lead to a news story of a personal interview may feature any one of the following: (1) the name of the person interviewed, (2) a direct statement from him, (3) an indirect statement, (4) the general topic of the interview, (5) the occasion, or even (6) the time. Probably it is the name of the man or a direct statement that is played up most often. If the former is featured, the lead should begin with the speaker's name and should locate the conversation in time and place. Such a lead may well include also either a direct or an indirect statement, or a general summary of the interview. Thus:

|Professor George Trumbull Ladd of Yale, in an | |interview for The Herald to-day, declared there | |never had been a time in the history of the world | |when there was a greater need for the enforcement of| |international law, nor one when international law | |was so much in the making as at present. |

If a significant statement is of most importance in the interview, the lead should begin with the statement, directly or indirectly expressed, and continue with the speaker's name, the time, place, and occasion of the interview. Thus:

|"What has happened in Mexico is an appalling | |international crime," declared Theodore Roosevelt | |last evening at his home on Sagamore Hill, Oyster | |Bay, L.I. He had been out all the afternoon in the | |woods chopping wood, and was sitting well back from | |the great log fire in the big hall filled with | |trophies of his hunting trips, as he talked of the | |recent massacre of American mining men in Chihuahua.|

|The most damnable act ever passed by Congress or | |conceived by a congressman, was the way in which | |William J. Conners of Buffalo to-day characterized | |the La Follette seamen's law. Mr. Conners is in New | |York on business connected with the Magnus Beck | |Brewing Company, of which he is president. |

=181. Statements of Local Interest.=--Almost always it is well, if possible, to lead the person interviewed to an expression of his opinion about a topic of local interest, then feature that statement,--particularly if the statement agrees with a declared policy of the paper. Usually a problem of civic, state, or national interest may be broached most easily. If the city is interested in commission government or prohibition, if the state is fighting the short ballot or the income tax question, the visitor may be asked for his opinion. If the guest happens to be a national or international personage and the nation is solving the problem of preparedness, or universal military service, or the tariff question, he may be questioned on those subjects and his opinions featured prominently in the lead. Note the following lead to an interview published by a paper opposing the policies of President Wilson:

|Declaring that the national administration's foreign| |policy has made him almost ashamed of being an | |American citizen, Henry B. Joy, of Detroit, Mich., | |president of the Packard Motor Company, a governor | |of the Aero Club of America and vice president of | |the Navy League, said yesterday that our heritage of| |national honor from the days of Washington, Lincoln,| |and McKinley is slipping through our fingers. |

=182. Inquiring about the Feature.=--Often the feature to be developed in an interview lead may be had by asking the one interviewed if he has anything he would like brought out or developed. When the interview has been granted freely, such a question is no more than a courtesy due the prominent man. But only under extraordinary circumstances should a reporter agree to submit his copy for criticism before publication. Many a good story has had all the piquancy taken out of it by giving the one interviewed an opportunity to change his mind or to see in cold print just what he said,--a fact that accounts for so many repudiated interviews. In nine cases out of ten the newspaper man has reported the distinguished visitor exactly, but the write-up looks different from what the speaker expected. Then he denies the whole thing, and the reporter is made the scapegoat, because the man quoted is a public personage and the reporter is not.

=183. Fairness in the Interview.=--The first aim of the interviewer, however, must always be fairness, accuracy, and absence of personal bias. No other journalistic tool can be so greatly abused or made so unfair a weapon as the interview. One should make no attempt to color a man's opinions as expressed in an interview, no matter how much one may disagree, nor should one "editorialize" on those ideas. If the paper cares to discuss their truth or saneness, it will entrust that matter to the editorial writers. This caution does not mean that a writer may not break into the paragraphs of quotation to explain the speaker's meaning or to elaborate upon a possible effect of his position. Such interruptions are regularly made and are entirely legitimate, and it will be noted in the Bryan story on page 131 that most of that article consists of such explanation and elaboration. If, however, the reporter feels that the utterances of the speaker are such that they should not go unchallenged, he should obtain and quote a reply from a local man of prominence.

=184. Coherence and Proportion.=--Next to accuracy there should be kept in view the intent to make the sequence and proportion of the ideas logical, no matter in what order or at what length they may have been given by the one interviewed. Often in conversation a man will give more time to an idea than is its due, and often the most important part of an interview will not be introduced until the last. Or, again, a person may drift away from the immediate topic and not return to it for some minutes. In all such cases it is the duty of the reporter to regroup and develop the ideas so that they shall follow each other logically in the printed interview and shall present the thought and the real spirit of what the man wanted to say.

=185. Identifying the One Interviewed.=--Probably the most used and the easiest method of gaining coherence between the lead and the body of the interview is by a paragraph of explanation regarding the person, and how he came to give the interview. It is remarkable how many readers do not remember or have never heard the name of the governor of New York or the senior senator from California or the Secretary of the Navy, and it is therefore necessary to make entirely clear the position or rank of the person and his right to be heard and believed. In the following story, note how the writer dwells on the rank of the Oxford University professor as a lecturer and so inspires the reader with confidence in his statements:

| =MODERN DRESS CALLED A JOKE= | | | |"Look at our modern dress. Both men's and women's | |costumes are, on the whole, as bad as they can be." | | | |Prof. I. B. Stoughton Holborn of Oxford University | |is in Chicago to deliver a series of lectures on art| |for the University of Chicago Lecture Association. | |In an interview Saturday afternoon he vigorously | |ridiculed modern dress. | | | |Prof. Holborn is perhaps the most widely known of | |the Oxford and Cambridge university extension | |lecturers and has the reputation of being one of the| |most successful art lecturers in the world. He is | |the hero of an adventure on the sinking Lusitania. | |He saved Avis Dolphin, a 12-year-old child who was | |being sent to England to be educated. The two women | |in whose charge Mrs. Dolphin had sent her daughters | |were lost, and Prof. Holborn has adopted the | |child.... |

=186. Handling Conversation.=--It should not be necessary to caution a newspaper man against attempting to report all a man says. "Condense as often as possible" is the interviewer's watchword,--"cut to the bone," as the reporters express it. Much of what a man says in conversation is prolix. In that part of the interview that is dull or wordy, give the pith of what is said in one or two brief sentences, then fall into direct quotation again when his words become interesting. As a rule, however, it is well as far as possible to quote his exact language all through the interview, since the interest of an interview frequently rests not only in what a man says, but in the way he says it. This does not mean a cut-and-dried story consisting of a series of questions and answers, but a succession of sparkling, personal paragraphs containing the direct statements of the speaker.

=187. Mannerisms.=--The report may be livened up greatly with bits of description portraying the speaker and his surroundings, particularly when they harmonize or contrast with his character or the ideas expressed. An excellent device for presenting the spirit of an interview--giving an atmosphere, as it were--is to interpolate at intervals in the story personal eccentricities or little mannerisms of speech of the one interviewed. Mention of pet phrases, characteristic gestures, sudden display of anger, unexplainable reticence in answering questions, etc., will sometimes be more effective than columns of what the speaker actually said. Indeed, it is often of as much importance to pay as close attention to incidentals as to the remarks of the one talking.

=188. Persons Refusing to Talk.=--In nine cases out of ten it is the reporter's duty both to keep himself out of the story and to suppress the questions by which the man interviewed has been induced to talk. But when he has failed entirely in gaining admission to one he wishes to interview, or, having gained admission, has not succeeded in making him talk, the would-be interviewer may still present a good story by narrating his foiled efforts or by quoting the questions which the great man refused to answer. One of the most brilliant examples that the present writer has seen of the foiled interview was one by Mr. John Edwin Nevin the day before Mr. William Jennings Bryan surrendered his portfolio as Secretary of State in President Wilson's cabinet. The nation was at white heat over the contents of the prospective note to Germany and the possibility of the United States being drawn into the war. Not a word of what the note contained had leaked from any source and there had been no hint of a break in the Wilson cabinet. Supposedly, all was harmony. Yet this correspondent, judging from the excited manner of the Secretary of State, the sharpness of his noncommittal replies, and his preoccupied air as he emerged from the cabinet room, scented the trouble and published the following story hours before other correspondents had their eyes opened to the history-making events occurring about them:

| =BRYAN BALKS AT GERMAN NOTE= | | | |Washington, D. C., June 8.--President Wilson at 1:15| |this afternoon announced, through Secretary Tumulty,| |that at the cabinet meeting to-day the note to | |Germany "was gone over and discussed and put in | |final shape, and it is hoped that it will go | |to-morrow," but Secretary of State Bryan is | |determined to fight for a modification right up to | |the minute that the note is cabled to Berlin. | | | |Bryan believes the United States is on record for | |arbitration and that it would be a mockery to send | |Germany a document which, he considers, savors of an| |ultimatum. Although the majority of the cabinet was | |against him to-day, he carried his persuasive powers| |from the cabinet meeting to the University Club, | |where he and his fellow members had lunch. | | | |Bryan's attitude came as a complete surprise to the | |President. In previous notes Mr. Bryan took the | |position that the United States should invite | |arbitration. He called attention to the fact that | |this country is on record as unalterably opposed to | |war and pledged to every honorable means to prevent | |it. | | | |But in every instance he has stopped short of any | |further fight when the note has been approved by the| |majority of the cabinet. And the President expected | |that he would do this to-day. In fact, before the | |cabinet meeting it was stated that the note would | |have the approval of all members of the cabinet. | | | |The first intimation that anything was wrong came | |when the Secretary did not show up at the executive | |offices with the other cabinet members. His absence | |was not at first commented upon because Count von | |Bernstorff, the German ambassador, was at the state | |department. However, it was soon ascertained that | |the ambassador was conferring with Counselor | |Lansing. | | | |Then it was rumored that Secretary Bryan had sent | |word to President Wilson that he would not stand for| |the note as framed. Inquiry at the White House | |revealed the fact that Secretary Bryan had sent word| |that he would be in his office, working on an | |important paper, and would be late. At the state | |department, Eddie Savoy, the Secretary's colored | |messenger, refused to take any cards in to Bryan. He| |said he did not know whether his chief actually | |intended attending the meeting. | | | |"He is very busy, and I cannot disturb him," Eddie | |stated. | | | |At the White House a distinct air of tension was | |manifested. All inquiries as to what Secretary Bryan| |was going to do were ignored. | | | |Finally, about 12 o'clock, Secretary Bryan left his | |office and came across the street. His face was | |flushed and his features hard set. He responded to | |inquiries addressed to him with negative shakes of | |the head. He swung into the cabinet room with the | |set stride with which he mounted the steps of the | |Baltimore platform to deliver his famous speech | |attacking Charles F. Murphy and Tammany Hall, and | |precipitating his break with Champ Clark, whose | |nomination for the presidency up to that time seemed| |assured. | | | |For more than an hour after he reached the cabinet | |room the doors were closed. Across the hall the | |President's personal messenger had erected a screen | |to keep the curious at a distance. | | | |At last the door was thrown open with a bang. First | |to emerge were Secretaries McAdoo and Redfield, who | |brushed through the crowd of newspaper | |representatives. They referred all inquiries to the | |President. Secretary of War Garrison came out alone.| |He refused to say a word regarding the note. There | |was an interval of nearly ten minutes. Then | |Secretaries Daniels and Wilson came out. Behind them| |was Attorney General Gregory, and, bringing up the | |rear, was Secretary Bryan. Bryan's face was still | |set. His turned-down collar was damp and his face | |was beaded with perspiration. | | | |"Was the note to Germany completed?" he was asked. | | | |"I cannot discuss what transpired at the cabinet | |meeting," was his sharp reply. | | | |"Can you clear up the mystery and tell us when the | |note will go forward to Berlin?" persisted | |inquirers. | | | |"That I would not care to discuss," said the | |Secretary, as he joined Secretary Lane. "I am not in| |a position to make any announcement of any sort now.| |I will tell you when the note actually has started."| | | |Ordinarily, Secretary Bryan goes from a cabinet | |meeting to his office, drinks a bottle of milk and | |eats a sandwich. To-day he entered Secretary Lane's | |carriage and, with Lane and Secretary Daniels, | |proceeded to the University Club for luncheon. | | | |It is understood that Secretary Bryan took to the | |cabinet meeting a memorandum in which he justified | |his views that the proposed note is not of a | |character that the United States should send to | |Germany. He took the position that the United | |States, in executing arbitration treaties with most | |of the countries of the world, took a direct | |position against war. As he put it, on great | |questions of national honor, the sort that make for | |welfare, arbitration is the only remedy. | | | |Secretary Bryan is understood to have urged that the| |United States could stand firmly for its rights and | |not close the doors to any explanation that | |Germany--or any other belligerent--might make. It is| |understood that Bryan pointed out that Germany had | |accepted the principles of the arbitration treaties | |as a general proposition, but failed to execute the | |treaty because of the European War breaking out. Her| |opponents enjoy the advantages under such a treaty, | |and Secretary Bryan insisted that Germany should not| |be denied the same rights.... | | | |Although Secretary Bryan will continue his efforts | |to modify the note, persons close to the President | |insist that he will fail. The President is said to | |have decided, after hearing all arguments, that the | |safest course is to remain firm in the demand that | |American rights under international law be | |preserved. And it is expected that when the note is | |finally O. K.'d by Counselor Lansing, it will be | |sent to Germany. | | | |There is speculation as to whether Secretary Bryan | |will sign the note as Secretary of State. He has | |angrily refused to take any positive position on the| |subject. If he should refuse, his retirement from | |the cabinet would be certain. Bryan's friends insist| |that he has been loyal to the President and has made| |many concessions to meet the latter's wishes. They | |believe that he will content himself with a protest | |and again bow to the will of his chief. But there | |was no way of getting any confirmation of this | |opinion from Bryan. | | | |This is the first serious friction that has | |developed in President Wilson's cabinet. Politicians| |declare it will have far-reaching effect. Bryan has | |fought consistently for arbitration principles. And | |he now considers, some of his friends think, that | |they have been ridden over rough-shod.[19]... |

[19] John Edwin Nevin in _The Omaha News_, June 8, 1915.

The next morning President Wilson announced his acceptance of Mr. Bryan's resignation as Secretary of State.

=189. Value of Inference in the Foiled Interview.=--The reporter who would attain success in his profession should not fail to study with care this story by Mr. Nevin, to learn not so much what the story contains as what the person who wrote it had to know and had to be able to do before he could turn out such a piece of work. One should analyze it to see how startlingly few new facts the correspondent had in his possession at the time he was writing, and how he played up those lonesome details with a premonition of coming events that was uncanny. Above all, the prospective reporter should observe with what rare judgment and accuracy the writer noted in Mr. Bryan's demeanor a few distinctive incidents which were at once both trivial and yet laden with suggestions of events to come. To produce this story the writer had to know not only a man, but men. A cub would have got nothing; this man scooped the best correspondents of the nation.

=190. Series of Interviews.=--In a story containing a number of interviews, let the lead feature the consensus of opinion expressed in the interviews. Then follow in the body with the individual quotations, each man's name being placed prominently at the beginning of the paragraph containing his interview, so that in a rapid reading of the story the eye may catch readily the change from the words of one man to another. When there is a large number of such interviews, the name may even be set in display type at the beginning of the paragraph. If, however, the persons interviewed are not at all prominent, but their statements are worth while, the quotations may be given successively and the names buried within the paragraph.

=191. Leads for Speeches.=--In comparison with handling an interview, a report of a speech is an easy task. In the case of the sermon or the lecture, typewritten copies are almost always available and the thoughts are presented in orderly sequence. So if the reporter has followed the advice given in Part II, Chapter VII, and taken longhand notes of a speech, or has not been so engrossed in mere note-taking that he has been unable to follow the trend of the speaker's thought, he will experience comparatively little trouble in writing up the speech. He may begin in any one of a half-dozen or more ways. He may feature: (1) the speaker's theme; (2) the title of the address, which may or may not be the theme; (3) a sentence or a paragraph of forceful direct quotation; (4) an indirect quotation of one or more dynamic statements; (5) the speaker's name; (6) the occasion of the speech; or (7) the time or the place of delivery. Any one of these may be played up according to its importance in the address.

=192. Featuring a Single Sentence.=--Of the seven or eight different kinds of lead, a quotation of a single sentence or a single paragraph is happiest if one can be found that will give the keynote of the speech or will harmonize with a declared policy of the paper. Thus:

|"The devil has gone out of fashion. After a long and| |honorable career as truant officer, he has finally | |been buried with his fathers. That is why twentieth | |century men and women don't attend church." Such was| |Dr. Amos Buckwin's explanation yesterday of the | |church-going problem. |

=193. Random Statements.=--Emphasis should be laid on the value of playing up in the lead even a random statement if it chances to agree with a specific policy or campaign to which the paper has committed itself. In a non-political address or sermon an unwary statement touching national, state, or city politics makes an excellent feature if it favors the policies of the paper. Its worth lies in the fact that it is manifestly unprejudiced and advanced by the speaker with no ulterior motive. On the other hand, such a statement may well be ignored if opposed to the paper's political or civic views. For example, note in the following lead a feature played up solely because the paper was Democratic in its politics:

|"I was a student in one of the classes taught by | |Woodrow Wilson. Anyone who has ever seen the lower | |part of his facial anatomy knows that when he says | |'no' he does not mean 'yes,'" said Bishop Theodore | |Henderson at the Methodist Church yesterday morning.| | | |It was not a political sermon. Aside from what | |political significance the above quotation might | |have, there was nothing political about his | |discourse. He brought it out in referring to the | |President doing away with the inaugural ball in | |1915, which he nearly classed as a drunken orgy run | |by politicians. He was emphasizing the President's | |"no," that his family would not be present even if | |he himself had to attend. |

As in this story, however, the writer must be careful always to make clear the precise relation of the featured quotation to the speech as a whole.

=194. Indirect Quotation.=--The chief reason for quoting indirectly in the lead a single statement of a speaker is the need of shifting an important point to the very first.

|That an inordinate indulgence in mere amusement is | |softening the fiber of the American nation and | |sapping its vitality, was the statement of Allen A. | |Pendel, president of the Southwest Press Company, at| |the monthly meeting of the Crust Breakers, Saturday.|

=195. Title Featured.=--The use of the subject of the speech as a feature is advisable when it is particularly happy or when it expresses the theme of the address.

|"The National Importance of Woman's Health" was the | |subject of Dr. A. T. Schofield's lecture at the | |Institute of Hygiene, Wednesday. |

|Taking as his subject, "The Tragedy of the | |Unprepared," the Rev. Otis Colleman delivered a | |powerful attack in Grace Church Sunday against | |unpreparedness in one's personal life and in the | |home, the state, and the nation. |

=196. Theme Featured.=--The theme may be featured when a single-sentence quotation cannot readily be found and the subject does not indicate the nature of the address.

=197. Summary Lead.=--Oftentimes the theme lead shades into a summarizing lead and the two become one of indirect quotation. Long summarizing leads of speeches are to be avoided as a rule, since they are liable to become overloaded and cumbersome. When using this lead, the writer must be particularly careful to see that the individual clauses are relatively short and simple in structure and that the relation of each to the other and to the sentence as a whole is absolutely clear.

|Stating that the public schools are the greatest | |instrument for the development of socialism in this | |country, that the socialists must get control of the| |courts, that the party is not developing as rapidly | |at present as it did a few years ago, and that the | |opportunity that exists in this country for the | |individual has been largely to blame for the slow | |development of the Socialist party in America, John | |C. Kennedy, Socialist speaker and member of the | |Chicago common council, spoke on "The Outlook for | |Socialism in America" at the Social Democratic | |picnic held in Pabst Park on Sunday. |

=198. Speaker's Name Featured.=--The speaker's name comes first, of course, only when he is sufficiently prominent locally or nationally to justify featuring him.

|Billy Sunday made the devil tuck his tail between | |his legs and skedaddle Friday night. |

|Justice Charles E. Hughes, of the Supreme Court of | |the United States, came to New York yesterday as the| |guest of the New York State Bar Association, which | |is holding its thirty-ninth annual meeting in this | |city. In the evening at the Astor Hotel he delivered| |a scholarly address before that body on the topic, | |"Some Aspects of the Development of American Law." | |Then he shook hands with several hundreds of the | |members of the association and their friends, turned| |around and went right back again to the seclusion of| |the Supreme Court Chamber in Washington. |

=199. Featuring the Occasion.=--Featuring the occasion of a speech or the auspices under which it was given is justifiable only when the speech and the speaker are of minor importance.

|Before the first hobo congress ever held in the | |world William Eads Howe, millionaire president of | |the convention, spoke Monday on the need of closer | |union among passengers on the T. P. and W. |

=200. Featuring Time and Place.=--Only rarely is the time or the place featured. But either may be played up when sufficiently important.

|Speaking from the door of Col. Henry Cook's chicken | |house on Ansley Road to an audience of 250 colored | |brethren in a neighboring barn, the Rev. Ezekiel | |Butler, colored, began in a pouring rain Sunday | |night the first service of the annual Holly Springs | |open-air meetings. |

=201. Featuring Several Details.=--When the speaker, the subject, the occasion, and the place are all important, it may be needful to make a long summarizing lead of several paragraphs, explaining all these features in detail. In such a case a quarter- or a half-column may be required before one can get to the address itself. The following story of President Wilson's first campaign speech for reëlection, delivered at Pittsburgh on January 29, 1916, is an illustration:

=WILSON BEGINS CAMPAIGN= _Name first_

_Occasion_

|He opened here to-day the most momentous | |speech-making tour perhaps made by a President | |within a generation with an appeal to keep national | |preparedness out of partisan politics and to give it| |no place as a possible campaign issue. |

_Effect on Audience_

|The nonpartisanship urged by the President was | |reflected in Pittsburg's greeting to the executive. |

_Circumstances and Place_

|A Republican ex-Congressman, James Francis Burke, | |presided at the meeting under the auspices of the | |chamber of commerce in Soldiers' Memorial Hall. | |"Preparedness is a matter of patriotism, not of | |party," he said. |

_Story backtracks here_

_Audience_

|Pittsburg's welcome to the President and Mrs. Wilson| |was warm, but not demonstrative. When the | |speechmaking began, Memorial Hall was packed with an| |audience of 4,500, while on the steps and plaza | |outside some 8,000 or 10,000 men and women surged, | |unable to get admission, but eager to get a glimpse | |of the executive and his bride. |

_Reception by Audience_

|When the presidential party, Mrs. Wilson in front, | |filed on the platform there was a demonstration, | |brief but spontaneous, the first lady of the land | |drawing as prolonged applause as her husband on his | |appearance. |

_Attitude of Audience_

|The audience was an intent one. Its pose was one of | |keen attention to the President's utterances. |

_Applause_

|Occasionally a particularly facile phrase, such as | |when the President spoke of the need of "spiritual | |efficiency" as a basis for military efficiency, | |started the hand-clapping and gusts of applause | |swept through the hall. |

_General Effect of the Visit_

|For Pennsylvania, Republican stronghold, which gave | |Roosevelt a plurality of 51,000 over Wilson in 1912,| |the reception accorded the President is regarded as | |quite satisfactory. Downtown in the business | |district there was hardly a ripple. |

_Inquisitive Crowds_

|But in the neighborhood of the Hotel Schenley, out | |by the Carnegie Institute, a large crowd turned out | |a few hours after the President's arrival and kept | |their glances on the seventh floor, which was banked| |in roses and orchids. |

_Beginning of the Speech_

|"As your servant and representative, I should come | |and report to you on our public affairs," the | |President began. "It is the duty of every public man| |to hold frank counsel with the people he | |represents."[20] ... |

[20] Arthur M. Evans in _The Chicago Herald_, January 30, 1916.

=202. Body of the Story.=--In writing the body of the story, the first thing to strive for is proper coherence with the lead. This caution is worth particular heed when the lead contains a single-sentence quotation, an indirect question, or a paragraph of direct statement from somewhere in the body of the speech. Few things are more incongruous in a story than a clever epigrammatic lead and a succession of quoted statements following, none of which exhibits a definite bearing on the lead. Oftentimes this incongruity is produced by the reporter's attempt to follow the precise order adopted by the speaker. Such an order, however, should be manifestly impossible in a news report when the writer has dug out for use in the lead a lone sentence or paragraph from the middle of the speech. Rather, one should continue such a lead with a paragraph or so of development, then follow with paragraphs of direct quotation which originally may or may not have preceded the idea featured in the lead.

=203. Accuracy.=--The second consideration must be the same accuracy and fairness that was emphasized in the discussion of the interview. Some reporters, for instance, take the liberty of putting within quotation marks, as though quoted directly, whole paragraphs that they know are not given verbatim, their grounds for the liberty being that they know they are reporting the speaker with entire accuracy, and the use of "quotes" gives the story greater emphasis and intimacy of appeal. This liberty is to be condemned. When a reporter puts quotation marks about a phrase or clause, he declares to his readers that the other man, not he, is responsible for the statement exactly as printed. And even though a man may think he is reporting a speaker with absolute precision, there is always the possibility that he may have misunderstood. Indeed, it is just these chance misunderstandings that trip reporters and frequently necessitate speakers' denying published accounts of their lectures. Only what one has taken down verbatim should be put within quotation marks. All else should be reported indirectly with an unwavering determination to convey the real spirit of the lecture or sermon, not to play up an isolated or random subtopic that has little bearing on the speech as a whole. Any reporter can find in any lecture statements which, taken without the accompanying qualifications, may be adroitly warped to make the story good and the speaker ridiculous in the eyes of the reading public.

=204. Speech Story as a Whole.=--The story as a whole should be a little speech in itself. Whole topics may be omitted. Others that possibly occupied pages of manuscript and took several minutes to present may be cut down to a single sentence. Still others may be presented in full. But the quotation marks and the cohering phrases, such as "said he," "continued the speaker," "Mr. Wilson said in part," etc., should be carefully inserted so as to make it entirely clear to the reader when the statements are a condensation of the speaker's remarks and when they are direct quotations. Such connecting phrases, however, should be placed in unemphatic positions within the paragraph and should have their form so varied as not to attract undue attention. And as in the interview, the report as a whole should be livened up at intervals with phrases and paragraphs calling attention to characteristic gestures, facial expressions, and individual eccentricities of the speaker's person, manner, or dress.

=205. Series of Speeches.=--When reporting a series of speeches, as at a banquet, convention, political picnic, or a holiday celebration, it generally is the best policy to play up at length the strongest address, or else the speech of the most important personage, then summarize the remaining talks in a paragraph or so at the end of the story. If all are of about equal importance, the lead may feature the general trend of thought of the different speakers or else some single startling statement setting forth the character and spirit of the meeting. The story may then proceed with summarizing quotations or indirect statements of the individual speakers, giving each space according to the value of his address. Where the body of the story is made up of direct and indirect quotations from several speeches, the speaker's name should come first in the paragraph in which he is quoted, so that the eye of the reader running rapidly down the column may catch readily that portion of the story given to each person quoted.

=206. Banquets, Conventions, etc.=--Not always, however, are speeches important, or even delivered, on these social, political, and holiday occasions. If not, the reporter must devote his attention to the occasion, to any unusual incidents or events, or to the persons attending. In reporting banquets, it may be the persons present, the novelty of the favors, the originality of the menu, or the occasion itself that must be featured. In conventions it may be the purpose or expected results, certain effects on national or state legislation, or any departures or new ideas in evidence. In reporting conventions of milliners, tailors, jewelers, and the like, one can always find excellent features in the incoming styles. The public is greedy for stories of advance styles. In political picnics the feature is practically always the speeches, though sometimes there are athletic contests that provide good copy and may be presented in accordance with