Newspapers And Periodicals

( Originally Published 1913 )

IN the United States and Canada there are published regularly, a total of exceeding twenty-four thousand newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals. Of these about two thousand six hundred are published daily, approximately seventy-five triweekly, not far from six hundred and fifty semiweekly, over seventeen thousand weekly, about sixty every two weeks, over two hundred and eighty semimonthly, somewhat more than three thousand monthly, about seventy-five bimonthly, and about two hundred and fifty quarterly.

These newspapers and periodicals are published in about eleven thousand, six hundred and fifty towns and cities.

More than half of the great daily newspapers publish Sunday editions, and there are a few Sun-day newspapers disconnected from daily newspaper offices.

Comparatively few daily newspapers issue both morning and evening editions. The large morning newspapers publish two editions : one for out of town, the other for city circulation. The small evening newspapers issue but one edition; those of moderate size, two editions; and the great city evening newspapers publish five or six editions.

Many of the large city dailies issue weekly editions other than those published on Sunday, made up largely from what has appeared in the dailies, with preference given to miscellany and other so-called literary matter.

The Sunday newspapers contain the current news, but in addition large quantities of miscellany, special articles, and stories, including both short and serial stories. Several pages are de-voted to the household, to fashions, and to special articles, most of which are profusely illustrated.

A large proportion of the matter, other than news, is supplied by syndicate companies, of which I have spoken in another chapter.

Newspapers published less often than every week-day seldom issue more than one edition.

All daily, Sunday, and weekly newspapers carry considerable miscellany, or matter other than news, and many of them run short or serial stories and matter of special interest to women and the household.

Practically all of the weekly newspapers publish one or more stories in each issue, and devote two or more columns to short articles. But most of this matter was either printed outside of the newspaper office, or is received in the form of plates, an explanation of which has been given in other chapters.

The bulk of all telegraphic and general news, and of news other than that of local character, is furnished the newspaper from associations established for the collecting and distribution of news, although great newspapers frequently run several columns of news written for them exclusively, and coming over special wires, or as exclusive telegrams.

Practically all of the local news matter in a great daily newspaper is written by reporters connected with that paper, most of whom receive salaries, the others being known as space-writers.

I have presented the duties of reporters and space-writers in other chapters.

Magazines, and other publications carrying stories, seldom contain any news, except in the form of editorial comment, and none of these periodicals employ reporters. Their editorial staffs are made up of literary, men and women, who do very little writing for the periodicals they are connected with, but who are responsible for the contents, almost everything coming from out-side writers, and paid for by the word, column, or page.

With few exceptions, practically all of the so-called literary magazines, and those containing stories, are published monthly, most of the quarterly periodicals being reviews or of an educational character.

The periodical having the largest circulation in America, if not in the world, is published weekly, and is devoted largely to illustrated stories and to special articles.

Magazines, and periodicals other than news-papers, carry stories and miscellaneous articles and furnish the principal field for writers of literature and of acceptable material other than news. In later chapters, I have attempted to cover this class of work.

It will be seen, then, that there is very limited opportunity for literary writers to obtain much of an income from any individual newspaper, and that they must resort to the syndicate, to the magazines, and to other periodicals, which do not carry news, all of which I have spoken of in other chapters.

The great newspaper is handled by specialists, and comparatively few of its editors are familiar with more than the work of their department. They are, therefore, unable to shift readily from one line to another. They are merely specialists, ungrounded in the great science and art of journalism. Because they began as specialists, they remain special writers, or handle the work of only one department.

An intimate knowledge of every phase of news-paper work is necessary, if one would become a managing editor, or an editor-in-chief, or be able to direct the work of a great newspaper ; and this familiarity with journalism, as a whole, is obtainable only by learning and experiencing journalism as a whole, by beginning a.t the bottom as a reporter, and by mastering each round of the ladder as one moves upwards. Conditions, — both in business and in the professions,— favor the growth of the specialist, and thousands of men never meet the full of success because they began too near to the top.

In the olden days, practically every editor began his career as a printer's apprentice, and became familiar, by experience, with every department from the bottom to the top. These men, if they had sufficient ability, were able to handle every phase of newspaper work, and to direct others.

There is an unwritten law, which seems to be infallible, that no one can direct another to do what he cannot do himself.

Most of our older merchant princes began in the country store, and did every class of work, from sweeping out the store itself, to selling goods and keeping books. They were grounded in the fundamentals of business, and were masters of every detail of work. With this working, practical knowledge, they were enabled to command the work of others.

I would advise every would-be journalist to begin at the bottom, and to become familiar with the most menial work connected with the newspaper. I would even go so far as to advise him to learn to set type, and to run a printing press.

I believe that education today is altogether too highly specialized. Instead of grounding our young men in the fundamentals of business or of a profession, we begin to make them specialists at the start, and they enter life handicapped with the lack of working knowledge of the things which they are supposed to do and direct.

Experience is the world's most proficient schoolmaster. Without it, one may not hope to walk more than slowly through life. With it he may climb the mountains of success and dam up the rivers of disaster.