r
paper, ink, machinery, telegraph and telephone messages, and similar
expenses. Rarely has the cashier served an apprenticeship in the
editorial department, but he knows thoroughly the business of
bookkeeping, money changing, banking, and similar work, which is all
that is required in his position.

PART II

THE NEWS STORY

THE NEWS STORY

V. WHAT NEWS IS

=34. Essentials of News Writing.=--To write successful news stories,
four requisites are necessary: the power to estimate news values
properly, the stories to write, the ability to work rapidly, and the
power to present facts accurately and interestingly.

=35. The "Nose for News."=--Recognition of news values is put first in
the tabulation of requirements for successful writing because without a
"nose for news"--without the ability to recognize a story when one sees
it--a reporter cannot hope to succeed. Editorial rooms all over the
United States are full of stories of would-be reporters who have failed
because they have not been able to recognize news. The following is a
genuine first paragraph of a country correspondent's letter to a village
weekly in Tennessee:

|There is no news in this settlement to speak of. We|
|did hear of a man whose head was blown off by a |
|boiler explosion, but we didn't have time to learn |
|his name. Anyhow he didn't have any kinfolk in this|
|country, so it don't much matter. |

Then follow the usual dull items about Henry Hawkins Sundaying in
Adamsville and Tom Anderson autoing with a new girl.

=36. Need of Knowing News.=--The fault with this correspondent was that
he did not know a good story. He lacked an intuitive knowledge of news
values, and he had not been trained to recognize available news
possibilities. A clear understanding of what news is, and an analysis of
its more or less elusive qualities, is necessary, therefore, before one
may attempt a search for it or may dare the writing of a newspaper
story.

=37. Definition of News.=--In its final analysis, news may be defined as
any accurate fact or idea that will interest a large number of readers;
and of two stories the accurate one that interests the greater number of
people is the better. The student should examine this definition with
care as there is more in it than at first appears. Strangeness,
abnormality, unexpectedness, nearness of the events, all add to the
interest of a story, but none is essent