s' exhibition, or a similar gathering
without playing up prominently the new styles. A clever San Francisco
reporter covering a convention of insurance agents once produced a
brilliant story on new styles in life insurance policies.

=50. Summary.=--By way of summary, then, it may be said that the only
requirements of an event or an idea to make it good story material are
that it be presented accurately and that it possess interest for a
goodly number of readers; and any fact or idea which presents a
situation or poses a problem differing, even slightly, from preceding
situations or problems encountered by the readers of a paper is sure to
possess interest. Timeliness is of vital worth, but is not a necessity.
The geographical nearness of an event adds to its value, as does the
fact that the event or the product or the result is a record breaker or
is unique in its class. Contests of all sorts invariably possess
interest, and stories of the helplessness of old persons, children, or
animals never fail to have an emotional appeal. Any news item concerning
a well-known person or place is likely to attract attention, and any
story that touches the home or business interests of the public is sure
to command interested readers. All these features are valuable, and any
one will contribute much to the worth of a story, but none is essential.
The prerequisite is that the news shall be true and shall present a new
situation or problem, or a new phase of an old situation or problem.

VI. NEWS SOURCES

=51. Second Essential of News Writing.=--As explained in the preceding
chapter, the first essential in news writing is a proper appreciation of
news and news values. The second essential is the possession of a story
to write. This chapter will discuss news sources, leaving for Chapter
III an explanation of the methods of getting stories.

=52. Gathering News.=--The prospective reporter who supposes that
newspaper men wander aimlessly up and down the streets of a city,
watching and hoping for automobiles to collide and for men to shoot
their enemies, will have his eyes opened soon after entering a news
office. He will learn that a reporter never leaves the city room without
a definite idea of where he is going. If newspapers had to police the
streets with watchers for news as the city government assigns officers
of the law, the cost of gathering news would be prohibitive.

=53. Police as News Gatherers.=--As a matter of fact, a