GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 400, 14 October 1884, Page 6

GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS.

(' Oban Times.') Among the many faithful and useful, but unrecognised and unhonored, servants of tbe public, the reporter for tli-. 1 . prci-sis especially distinguished. Next to the übiquitous but anonymous policeman, he is at once the best and least known public character of our acquaintance. Hundreds of thousands of persons read his articles in the newspapers day after day without ever being aware of bis existence. Beyond a small professional circle he is almost wholly uaknown ; for, nnlike most writers, he has not the privilege of attaching his name to hiz published productions. Copies of the ' Acta Diurua,' those embrjo newspapers of Home spoken of by Seneca and quoted by Tacitus, have come down to us, containing reports of cases of assault, of fires on Mount Coelius, of brawls at the Hog-in- Armour tavern, of arrests for i giving light weight, of the proceedings in the Senate, and of the pleadings at the Courts, — reports which show us that the ancient Romans were really men and women, aud not such stalely, oratorical burlesques of humanity as some dramatists and novelists would have us bmievo. But the leporters who collected these news items and indited the ' Acta Diurna ' arc lost for ever in oblivion. A library at Florence is enriched by several volumes of the Venetian ' Gazette,' the first newspaper issued in the world ; but the reporters of the ' Gazette ' have shared the fate of their Roman predecessors. A few of the names of those English rcporteis who from 1622 till 1826, labored devotedly to give the English press existence, freedom, respectability, arid position have been fortunately preserved to us ; but the majority of them are long since forgotten. A single number of the first newspaper printed in America, and published at Boston in 1690, is deposited in the State paper office in London, and the New York libraries contain specimens of the first paper regularly issued there, called the ' Boston News Letter,' and printed in 1704 by John Allan, Pudding Lane. But we have no record of the reporters of these early sheets. Obscurity and oblivion are, therefore, the legitimate inheritance of our modern reporters. With very few exceptions, they enjoy their inheritance undisturbed. The credit and fame to which they are justly entitled are divided between the newspaper for which and the editors for whom they write. Headers of newspapers remark, " The ' Herald ' says so and so this morning ;" ;< Dr Cameron has a fine article in to-day's ; Mail." In the former case the identity of the reporter is completely lost in that of the newspaper ; in the latter case, the avowed editor is presumed to write every article in his journal, oven though he may be absent in California or »t the Cape. In both eases, the fact that there ia such a person as the reporter is practically ignored. He lives to give the world the latest news at the earliest moment, and in his best possible style. He dies unknown and unregretted by those for whom he. has written every day for years; or rather, he never dies, for a new reporter rises, Phoenix-like, from his ashes, and continues his unhonored labors. He makes other men famous ; but is himself unnoticed. He is, as Macaulay says, the historian of the times ; but his own achievements are unrecorded. Every one profits by his work ; but all nvo ignorant of or do not appreciate his labors. Like tne sun, he is a universal, iadispensible, but commonly unnoticed benefactor. The organisation of the literary — aud, indeed, every other — department of . a, firstclass daily paper, like the 'Times' of London, or the ' Scotsman,' ' Herald' or ' Mail ' of this country, is as varied and complex as that of an army. The chief editor, who is usually the proprietor, or one of the proprietors, lif.s the general direction of the whole |>-»p»r. and tlu: e c p*cinl couhvl .>f tbe editorial columus. The chic £ editor h VHiely accessible to the public, and is feldom setn by the majority of his subordinates. In England, in some cases, his name is never officially known even to the emplojees of his own establishment. One of the best reporters of the 'Times' while on a visit to America, stated that he never had seen the chief editor of that paper, and addressed all his letters to :( The Editor of the ' Times ' " and not to " John .Delane, Esq.," tbe chief of the editorial sthif. In America, however, \ no such reserve is attempted, and Messrs Bennett, Raymond, and others, publicly announce themselves as the editors and proprietors of their respective journal. Kext in rank to the chief editor is the managing- or, business editor, who receives and transacts business with the public, opens and reads all letters addressed to tho. paper, decides what is and what is not in be published, arranges and assigns the duties of the reportonai staff, carefully revises, corrects, or amends the proofs or xnanuacvipis of all articles intended for publication, gives all important reports attractive headings, and, in s-hort, embraces in his multifarious duties a complete supervision of Che entire establishment. Ranking after the managing editor are the assistant editors or editorial writers, who write out the editorials selected, and often from notes dictated by the oditor-iuvehief. The assistant editors arc goiipia^y highly educated men and very ab^c. writers. The editor whose p,p^eiiu\ avUcles gained for x\\e 1 Tim.cs ' the synonym of '■'■ The Thuttdcver;" was one of those assistants, ami he bad to be carefully cnun.vned with facts aud dates before he would begin writing. This done, however, the words, the illustrations, the logic, the ihetoric were liis own. And un rivalled. The assistant 'editors are not at all rc^no>nsible iov the statements made, or the opinions expressed in their avticleo, an/A jire not al» lowed, thwefore, to. claim the oredit or discredit qx their authorship. On the ' Times ' if an editorial writer publicly acknowledges th«thc has written an editorial, lie is immediately discharged. Two of the assistivp^ editors have special duties, - one b,e^g the, financial editor, with charge of the raoncy articles \ and. th,c Gather the rau>ical and dramatic critic. The sub-editors, who are practically the assistants of tha manaping editor, ard next in ov l er, and comprise the ni^bl editor, who receives and arranges the latest telegraphic and other reports, and has charge of the paper after 11 o'clock p.m. ; the news (or scissor?) editor, who look,s qvot lhe domestic, exchanges, marks impurtant articles for tho ncjtiQQ vt tho chief editor, and clips ai) interesting ntv.ys items either for publication or for his carefully indea&d. scrap-book ; the foreign- news cd^tov, who goes through the dame, yc^tine in the foreign exrKy.i^esjfche shipping-news editor, ■vv'uu ojitccts and arranges the niarinejceuorts ) the military and naval editors, \vh*c> attend to the miscellaneous matte's oi their respective departments, nucl revise all articles connected, n'ith the army ciml navy : the commercial editor, who writes u|i the city, commercial and market reports ; the city editor, who collects city items, and is properly the head of the reporters' corps ; the translators, who inspect the French, Spanish, German, American, and atticr foreign papers, nrcj translate all noticeable articles ; and lastly, the biographical editor, who keeps ','the sketches of: lives of all the distin* guishe'd contemporaries in, j;eadiuea<* . for instant use, in oaao an obituary is hastily demanded, or some new success makes the biography of a hero or statesman of interest to the public, The remainder of the literary attaches of a newspaper are included iinder the generic names of reporters for the press, but arc usually divided into foreign, domestic and special correspon dents, find local reporters. The regular foreign correspondents are stationed at the capitals of foreign countries, and are generally hangers-on of ihe legations, ssmetimes . with, but oftener without, an official position. The domestic correspondents are regularly appointed to the home capitals and larger cities. Besides these, there are occasional correspondents in every city and 'town in tho country, who write when they have anything of interest to transmit, and are paid accordingly. The suecial correspondents are not stationary, but are liable to be sent off at any time to any place, at a moment's notice. They travel with, and the doiugs of, any distinguished personages, such as the jf rince of Wales, etc. ' They report important trials

j ill distant Conrts, or describe processions, I parades, or remarkable funerals in other cities. Tbe reporters with special departments rank after the special reporters, and are the law, the day and night police, the fire, and the common council reporiers/whose titles sufficiently indicate the work they have '. to perform. Last of all are the local reportei'3, whose provinca embraces everything of interest about their district, from a pub- '--'■ lie meeting to a dogfight. Certain of these- >: local reporters are detailed for special work each day, by^their chief, and are employed as ■ special correspondents when necessary. Besides all thess, there are telegraphic cori respondents for the Associated Press. I ■ '■' • J If the reader will take up any of our lead- : ing journals, he can at once trace the labors . of every one of these species of journalism, i from the chief editor down to the local re- '■"'■ \ porter. He will see the distinction between ; , i the telegrams from regular or special cor- ! respondents and those of the Associated Press , the letters from foreign and provincial capitals ; the clippings of the sub-editors ; '. the work of the translators and biographers; the money, commercial, market^ fire,musical, police, law, dramatic, shorthand and common council reports., the editorial articles inspired by the chief and written by the assistant editors, and the evident marks of combination and arrangement of tile managing ■ editor throughout all. and giving consistency . to all these varied departments. He can thus understand and without difficulty, the complicated, but necessary organisation of a daily newspaper, aa far as the literary department is concerned ; and we can assure ; him that the business and mechanical de- ■■ partments arc equally systematised, and their work as thoroughly classified, subdivided and regulated. , : The history of the newspaper press, and of ■ those who originated and established it, is hot within the province of thia sketch. Those interested in the subject will find almost all the accessible information concerning it in " Hunt's Fourth Estate: a contribution to ' the History of Newspapers," or in Andrew's ... later, more complete and authentic, arid better arrangad "History of the firitieh Press," — books which crn be obtained at any of our public libraries. We propose to treat only of the modern reporter for the press, who ' „ is almost peculiar to England and America. In France, the e.litors of newspapers are universally regarded as gentlemen, and have a better recognised social position than in any ■' other country. This arises partly from the ••■■-- fact that the French press is a recognised . „ Government organ, and its editors .share its'- '\ ' official character ; and partly from the fact ;' that the French newspaper writers 'are 'not :- anonymous, but each prints his name at the .^i end of his articles, and is ready to account, ' y for his statements in any manner the ag-,, J grieved person may prefer fioni a suit at .the courts of law to a duel in the Boiß de ' Boulogne. The French papers have no re- r porters of any note, however. Their local , ; news is very brief, and its publication very, much delayed. Paris general^ receives its ' first information upon local topics from 1 the';" 1 London papers. Reports of fires, murdeis,. '■■ robberies, aud other interesting items, §odeac, ,j to our reporters, reach the French, papers through the police authorities, and are published whenever and in whatever form they - choose. The proceedings of the Chamber of f Deputies and the Senate arc furnished to the : press by an official Government reporter. The '. speeches of distinguished orators are printed from the M.S. Iv a word, France exercises ai vigorous Government censorship of the press, ; and enterprising and original reporters, are!, > therefore impossible, for perfect freedom of, ( the press ie absolutely neccsßary to accuratereliable, and complete reports. In othw- ' European countries the same state of matter*": exists as in France ; although in Russia and; ; (Germany there are a few •xcellent news* . papers and admirable reporter*. " ' Only here and in America— where| the preiss ' is considered the safeguard of liberty, 'the'"'" organ of the people, the terror of evil-doers, tho praise of them that do well, the mirror ©c the age and times, and the familiar history* of the country — d«es the newspaper reporter' fully develope his peculiar characteristics* ;' Here, especially, the reporter is in his element • aud displays his greatest powers. The/ differences between • a American and an,,English reporter are, in brief, the difEe.ten.css between America and England, or, between ' th 'New York Herald' andtha 'London Times'^ The English reporters are better paid • t^asix.' ~ the American, reporters, do,much less. .'flrork,.. and when employed on the leading dailies of,. London, receive pensions when incapacitated: for further service either by 'age or by in-' juries received in the discharge ; of theic d uties. The American, are generally! much younger.mei.vtttan those of this country,;, for as they grow old, they either rise' 'to. editqriaj. dignities, or relinquish the uqt&totfoi? tijiid pencil for more lucrative' a'TocatiOTi&i The reporters connected with the? press this country are usually -men of more, iini3hes education and, grater literary ajbiljty, .than those of tho Auicr!cat»._ press." : No- regiM* American reporter ever macic suchf h splendU? reputation as JDr Russell o| tke 'Times j'.p? Woods, by his' repo,y« of the. Heenau, ( qn4 Sayers prize figh.!;;. oij Archibald. Forbes, '/b^, his feats o% rapid news- transmission', 'This superior, Ijterary merit of ' our 1 reporters is aidecij by and in part accounts for— tlpv&. I superior '.standing and influence of thefiist;class British newspapers. Most r of . piur literary men have been newspaper ViitcSrs^for instance, Dickens and Thackeray/ 1^ 0 havo enlisted as reporters, and taken .their places in the gallery , at Vavliament; ;o;r ; th;eir desks at the police courts. ,, But the. reporter, for the press* «o,t only represents the'character--istics i\f the eountiy, .but;aiso J ''ttaos'e'oi : 'tlse-• ne\;ri^pav,e^ to which he beloiigs. ;Thos :the= 'reporte-vs of tliis newspaper :arjß reparkabjle far audacity', enterprise., independence ; thoseof another paper lor ec^itricity'of^e'S-s^ style, and opinion ; those of .a thikVfor their gentlemanly an,d reserved deportment, their industry, $u3 the fairness of their articles, r