Y.F.C. Leadership Lectures

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 50, 28 May 1948, Page 6

Y.F.C. Leadership Lectures

Preparing Material For Publication

(By D. C. Stevens, Editor, “Bay of Plenty Beacon”)

Though I intend to deal briefly with my subject in general terms, the greater part of this talk will be devoted to trying to give you some hints on getting copy ready for newspapers and so designing it that it has the best possible ’chance of publication. But before I get in to that specialised angle, I want to give you some simple hints that will make it a lot easier for any printer of any sort of publication to handle your copy. First, the paper should be approximately the size of the copy carrier on a Linotype machine—about 7 inches by 5 inches, or half sheets from an ordinary writing pad. Writing or typing should be on ONE SIDE ONLY and liberally spaced. Sheets should be numbered and the title page, giving subject matter and contributor’s name, separate. To some of you those things might seem so obvious as to be quite unworthy of mention, but failure to observe those few simple rules gets more copy rejected than actual bad grammar.

A sub-editor in a hurry can correct grammatical errors. He can adjust wrong punctuation. But he hasn’t time to pore over cramped, confusing writing that crawls uncontrolled over both sides of sheets of dirty paper of all sorts of odd sizes. So he tosses it aside for further perusal when he gets the chance. “Clean” copy, because it is quick and easy to handle, riearly always gets first consideration, whether it be from a newspaper editor or sub, or from any other kind of publisher. Now, having got our copy cleanly typed or hand-written on paper of approximately the correct size for the machines to take, let us take a look at the actual material itself. From now on, I’m speaking as a newspaper man of long experience in dailies where the news culling is drastic, to people who want publicity about their activities to get into the paper. Right here let it be clearly understood that the papers want those items. My paper in particular does. But newspaper men often haven’t the time to lick slipshod copy into shape. If you’ll resolve to follow a few simple rules I’ll give you, your material will go through without very much “blue pencilling.” First things first. Let your first sentence bite right into the vitals of your story. If Bill Jones collapsed on the floor and died after the chairman hit him with a bottle just after the minutes were read, don’t say:

“The monthly meeting of the Waikikamukau Y.F.C. was held on 21st inst., the president Mr Sam Smith being in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Then, Mr Bill Jones made a remark to which the chairman took exception, whereupon Mr Smith struck Mr Jones with a bottle and the latter, sinking slowly to the floor, expired. A doctor later pronounced life extinct.” Get down to brass tacks: “Bashed over the head with a beer bottle by the chairman, Mr Sam Smith, at.the Waikikamukau Y.F.C. meeting last night, Mr Bill Jones collapsed and died. Doctor I. B. Damd was called, but Jones was dead before he arrived. The argument started when etc. etc. . .” The point I want to make is that every nut has a kernel, and every story has a point. That main point should be your starting point. At every meeting of every organisation minutes are, or should be, read and confirmed. We have neither space nor setting time to spend on telling people the obvious. But We do want our readers to know the decisions you make. We want you to feel that the importance of the Young Farmers’ movement in the national economy is realised by your local newspaper and that you have its backing. Moreover, it is my earnest aim to raise the standard of the paper as

a newspaper and keep it as high as I can. I’m always looking for copy, but I want it to be copy that is informative and interesting. The best material from a news point of view, is that which is clear, concise, and to the point. It needs no fancy trimmings.

Please never feel slighted if your copy is “butchered” a bit. It is not always possible to carry everything in full detail. But it is a good newspaper’s aim to try to give as fair a share of the available space as possible to every organisation in its district, and to every topic of interest.

Most people will agree that full co-operation between local organisations and local newspapers is a big factor in the progress of any community. Certainly, intelligent publicity is a. major factor in the progress of any movement.

But there is often an unfortunate reluctance amongst officers of local organisations to contribute to the news columns of a local paper. There seems to be a feeling that to submit a paragraph for publication needs all the training and study that goes to make a professional journalist. It is often harder to get quite prominent public men to write two sentences than to get them to talk for two hours.

That feeling of shyness of the Press is something that could quite easily be broken down if contributors would remember that the professional journalist is there to help the public to get to know the things that should be publicly known. He is there to help anyone with a worthwhile story to tell to tell it. But he isn’t psychic. He has to have facts to work on. And the people best qualified to give him the facts about their organisations are the officers of those organisations.

Appoint your own Press correspondent. His'is an important office. He is your propagandist, and the amount of publicity you get will be directly related to his appreciation of the possibilities of co-operation with the Press. From the newspaper itself he will get every help and encouragement, if he will seek editorial advice and follow it'when he gets it.

One last point: News is not news if it is old. A paragraph the day a thing happened is worth a column two weeks after. By then everyone knows about it, if it has any news value; and if it has not, they don’t care, anyway.

So here’s the whole thing in a nutshell: Serve it hot; give it point; write is clearly; chop out the unnecessary trimmings; and check everything by the “public interest” test.