merican glances over his newspaper while
he sips his breakfast coffee or while he clings to a strap on the way to
his office, he reads only the stories that catch his interest--and he
reads down the column in any one story only so long as his interest is
maintained. Hence the ideal news story is one which will catch the
reader's attention by its beginning and hold his interest to the very
end. This is the principle of all newspaper writing.

The interest depends, in a large measure, on the way the facts are
presented. True, certain facts are in themselves more interesting to a
casual reader than others, but just as truly other less interesting
facts may be made as interesting through the reporter's skill. The most
interesting of stories may lose its interest if poorly presented, and
facts of the most commonplace nature may be made attractive enough to
hold the reader to the last word. The aim of every reporter and of every
editor is to make every story so attractive and interesting that the
most casual reader cannot resist reading it.

In the old days news stories were written in the logical order of events
just like any other narrative, but constant change has brought about a
new form, as different and individual as any other form of expression.
Unlike any other imaginable piece of writing, the news story discloses
its most interesting facts first. It does not lead the reader up to a
startling bit of news by a tantalizing suspense in an effort to build up
a surprise for him; it tells its most thrilling content first and trusts
to his interest to lead him on through the details that should logically
precede the real news. Therefore every editor admonishes his reporters
"to give the gist of the news first and the details later."

There are other reasons for this peculiar reversal of the logical order
of narrative. Few readers have time to read the whole of every story,
and yet they want to get the news--in the shortest possible time.
Therefore the newspaper very kindly tells the important part of each
story at the beginning. Then if the reader cares to hear the details he
can read the rest of the story; but he gets the news, anyway. Again, if
the exigencies of making up the stories into a paper of mechanically
limited space require that a story be cut down, the editor may slash off
a paragraph or two at the end without depriving the story of its
interest. Imagine the difficulty of cutting down a story that is told in
i