Makers Of Newspapers

( Originally Published 1913 )

THE personnel of the editorial and reportorial departments of the great metropolitan newspaper may be described generally and broadly as follows:

The official known as the editor-in-chief is in command of every department outside of the business management and the mechanical production of the paper. He is responsible for every-thing which appears, and, directly or indirectly, engages the editors or reporters. He is, theoretically, at least, the supreme authority, the court of appeal, and the court of final resort, subject only to the owners of the newspaper, who make the policy. Occasionally be is the principal owner, or one of the owners, or be directly represents the owners, in which case he is, in fact, general in command of the journalistic army under him.

The editor-in-chief usually writes the majority of the leading editorials, and either he, or his principal assistant, designates the character or subjects of the editorials, which must not be at variance with the newspaper's policy.

He personally engages the assistants, the special editors, and the heads of every department, which have to do with what appears in the news-paper, outside of the advertisements, although he may delegate much of this to subordinates.

Directly under his direction are the editorial writers, of which there are two, three, or more ; and besides them there are a number of outside editorial writers, most of them being specialists, who write upon the subjects they are familiar with, and are paid either moderate salaries or by the piece.

The editorial writers, who are on the staff, give their entire time to the paper, and furnish most of the editorials.

Next to the editor-in-chief in importance is the managing editor., who is the executive officer, and is under no one except the editor-in-chief. In some newspapers the managing editor is at the head and occupies the dual position of editor-inchief and managing editor. He may or may not be an editorial writer, but gives most of his time to the management of the editorial and reportorial departments of the newspaper.

Every large newspaper maintains several departments under the management of the following editors :

(I do not give them in the order of importance, because their positions vary, as some of the papers make a specialty of certain features, and the editors at the head of these special departments outrank those who may occupy higher positions on other papers.)

The dramatic editor, who may or may not have full charge of musical matters. He is responsible for all dramatic criticism and news which appear in his paper, writing the leaders himself, and delegating other work to his assistants, some of whom may be editors of other departments or head-reporters.

The musical editor prepares musical criticisms, and his work is similar to that of the dramatic editor.

The political editor, who writes the political editorials.

The financial editor attends to the commercial news and stock reports.

The sporting editor, nowadays, is one of the most important personages, and is responsible for the sporting page and all sporting news. He does the heavy work himself and delegates reporting to special reporters or to the regular re-porters.

The literary editor, who may do the greater part of his work outside of the office, superintends the writing of the book reviews, and is responsible for everything of a literary nature which appears in the newspaper.

The great newspaper has several telegraph or news editors, who handle the news which comes by wire. They need not be more than ordinary writers, but many of them are.

There is maintained what is known as a reading desk, which is occupied by from three to half a dozen men, whose duties are to read manuscripts of every kind, to revise and correct them, and to see that nothing at variance with the newspaper's policy or libelous appears. They need not be writers, but they must be experts at English, spelling, and punctuation, and, besides, rapid readers.

Some newspapers employ what are known as head- or heading-writers, but usually these men have other duties.

The local news is under the direction of the city editor, who probably graduated from the reportorial desk and is familiar with local conditions. He keeps an assignment book, and each day designates the work of the regular reporters. His position is one of great responsibility. He employs several assistants. All of the local news goes through his hands or those of his assistants. It is then passed to the reading desk.

On the regular staff of the great newspaper there are from a dozen to three or four times that number of reporters, most of them able to handle any kind of news, but some of them are specialists and are proficient in the writing of articles of large consequence.

The young, or " cub," reporter, is an apprentice, and most reporters begin as " cubs."

There are other special editors, but they need not be discussed here, because every great news-paper maintains special departments which cannot be described generally.

I have spoken particularly of each department, including the publishing or business side of journalism, under separate headings.

Life on the great newspaper is strenuous and hard. If a morning edition is published, few of those connected with it are through with their work until midnight or even later, many of the so-called day force working into the evening. They are usually given one day off a week.

The newspaper requires the attendance of all of its principal editors and writers until a short time before going to press, one editorial writer, at least, the city editor, one or more news and telegraph editors and desk men, and several reporters being, required to remain late, that emergencies may be met and late news taken care of.

Either the managing editor, or one designated by him, remains until the last, and personally stands over the forms of type, ordering this in and this out, as conditions and his judgment may suggest.

Let me say in closing this chapter, that many of our best literary writers served apprentice-ships upon newspapers, and owe much of their success to the strict discipline they received and to the constantly varying conditions. The news-paper is the greatest school for writers. In no other way can one get into as close touch with men and affairs. The successful journalist is brought into the very heart of action. He obtains at first hand an insight into the inner conditions of human life. I do not believe that this experience can be duplicated, or even obtained, in any other calling. I would advise the would-be journalist to begin as a reporter, that he may obtain that information and experience, most of which he cannot help using in after life, even though he may eventually discard journalism and take up literary work or business.