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Show "ISM Newspaperman Stuff: Add Things I Never Knew Till Now: In 1812 a newspaperman named Nathanlal Raunsavelt was taken into custody for refusing to divulge the source of his information about the secret activities of some politicos. . . . lie was threatened and cajoled but stood firm. . . . Thus was established the principle of tha reporter'! duty to protect his news source. . . . The first American newspaper news-paper was discontinued by authorities authori-ties because It published some gossip gos-sip about the family troubles of the King of France. Hcywood Broun was a skilled exponent ex-ponent of the rapier retort. He directed di-rected some of his most devastating arguments against Huey Long. . . . He once accused Huey of '.'murdering '.'murder-ing the truth." Long promptly shrieked for a retraction. . . . Broun replied: "Huey says that he never murdered the truth. That's because he never gets near enough to do 1 any bodily harm." Along similar lines there's tht classic about the small town gazette ga-zette which conducted a vigorous ; campaign against the town council. . . . One of their yarns was headlined: "Half the Town Council Are Crooks." . . . The outraged politicos demanded an apology, and the editor promised prom-ised to run one. . . . Next day the dally carried this headline: "Half the Town Council Are Not Crooks." , About a century ago the press was in Its Mother Hubbard stage. . . . Namby-pambyism was rampant. Editors Ed-itors took a lorgnette view of the news. This sidelight illustrates their ultra fuddy-duddy attitude: One gazette ga-zette front-paged an apology to its subscribers because a reporter had used the word "trousers" in a yarn when he should have used the word "unmentionables" 1 Tiffs among newsboys nowadays belong in the taffy-pull category when compared with the journalistic slug-fests during the James Gordon Bennett era . . . Bennett was physically phys-ically assaulted a half-dozen times by opposition editors who had been clawed by his barbed-wire editorials. editori-als. . . . But Bennett refused to dilute di-lute his potent attacks against competitors. com-petitors. He merely reported the brawls on his gazette's front page and reaped added circulation. . . . The anti-Bennett journalistic barrage bar-rage also blasted his family. The slanderers finally drove his wife and children out of the country. They moved to Europe and made infrequent infre-quent visits to America, while Bennett Ben-nett continued his free-swinging style of journalism. Joseph Pulitzer's N. T. World set journalistic standards few newspapers newspa-pers have equalled. Yet Pulitzer arrived ar-rived in America a poor, friendless, semi-illiterate immigrant. He spent all his spare time educating himself. him-self. . . . His enlightened opinions on the subject of newspapers are always worth absorbing. . . . Frix-ample: Frix-ample: "What is everybody's business busi-ness is nobody's business except the journalist's. It is his by adoption. adop-tion. But for his care every reform would be stillborn. He holds officials of-ficials to their duties. He exposes secret schemes of plunder. He promotes pro-motes every hopeful plan of progress. prog-ress. Without him public opinion would be shapeless and dumb. Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do It, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and mockery." mock-ery." Hollywood has depicted foreign correspondents as overgrown Rover Boys. ... It has created the impression impres-sion that these newsboys have a glamorous occupation. Actually they have a difficult, perilous task with few rewards. . . . O. D. Gallagher, a British correspondent, dodged bombs and bullets, and traveled 100,-000 100,-000 miles In three years for his news stories, which readers forget five minutes after reading. This is the wisest counsel for colyumists we have come across: "Get around town find out what people are talking about. Give your readers a little daily jolt on something some-thing they are gabbing about at home, perhaps, and can gab about some more. Controversial stuff so they can argue. The big idea is this: Make half of them happy and half of them sore." Reporters aren't as bard-boiled bard-boiled as the legends would have you believe. . . . When President Presi-dent Wilson made his gruelling cross-country tour (in an effort to gain the support of Americans Ameri-cans for his world peace plans) he was broken in body but not in spirit. . . . Reporters who accompanied ac-companied him were aware that he was sacrificing his life for his ideals. ... As Wilson made his final stirring plea for world peace, newsmen listening to his eloquent address openly wept. |