Vocational Studies in Journalism 9780231899314

Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
Part I. Editorial Judgment by Walter B. Pitkin
I. Prelude
II. The Appraisal of News
III. How Local Interest Influences Judgments of News Value
IV. News Values as Revealed in a First-Page Make-Up
V. How Journalists Appraise Rumors
VI. Intercorrelations Between Various Standardized Non-Journalistic Tests
VII. Conclusions
Part II. Factors Making for Success in Journalism – A Study of the Careers of Five Hundred Successful Journalists by Robert Frank Barrel
I. Introduction
II. The Origin of the American Journalist
III. Entrance into the Profession
IV. The Course Upward
V. Education of the Journalist
VI. Evidences of Maladjustment
VII. The Future Journalist
Index

Citation preview

VOCATIONAL STUDIES IN JOURNALISM

VOCATIONAL STUDIES IN JOURNALISM BY

W A L T E R B. PITKIN PROFESSOR OF J O U R N A L I S M , C O L U M B I A UNIVERSITY

AND

R O B E R T F. HARREL

NEW

YORK

COLUMBIA U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS 1 93 1

COPYRIGHT 1931 COLUMBIA

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

Published October, 1931

P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S OF A H E R I C A THE

CATUQA

PREBB,

ITHACA,

NEW

YORK

PREFACE These studies are based on tests given to 173 newspaper men throughout the United States and 291 students in schools of journalism and other departments of the following institutions: Columbia University Stanford University Northwestern University University of Iowa University of Oregon University of North Dakota University of Montana University of Oklahoma University of Wisconsin University of Kansas I wish to express my hearty appreciation of the aid rendered by the professors and students in these institutions. Even more emphatically, perhaps, should I confess my pleasant surprise at the hearty cooperation from editors and reporters. The interest which the profession has shown in these tests has gone far beyond the filling out of forms. Ten years ago scarcely a trace of that lively curiosity and eagerness to learn the results would have developed. The newspaper world has been moving fast toward an intelligent interest in its own problems of personnel. All of the statistical work of the study was completed by the Columbia University Statistical Bureau under the supervision of the late Mr. Robert Mendenhall, in whose untimely death Columbia University has lost one of its most brilliant and competent experts. His cooperation and ν

VI

P R E F A C E

valuable suggestions were of the greatest value to me in completing this study. Newspaper men wish chiefly to see results. Technical methods do not concern them. So I am omitting from this report most of the longer statistical tables and descriptions of procedure which usually must fill scientific monographs. There may be a few readers who will wish to check back on our findings. All such will have the privilege of studying the original work sheets, as well as the tabulations which have been prepared by the Columbia University Statistical Bureau. This material will be preserved at the School of Journalism for several years. The following table indicates the number of students from each of the schools of journalism cooperating in this study who took the basic tests in News Value, Probability, Make-up, and News Interest. NAHE

NEWS VALUE PAKT I

NEWS VALUE PART II

PROBABILITY

MAKE-UP POSITION

MAKE-UP WOBDS

NEWS INTEREST

Columbia University

50

5°

Si

S6

S6

S3

Northwestern University

29

30

30

32

32

42

University of Oregon

42

41

45

46

46

University of North Dakota 19

19

II

University of Oklahoma

50

50

5°

Leland Stanford University 48

49

49

47

47

University of Iowa

49 23»

239

236

181

181

144

vii

PREFACE

A study such as this merely seeks to gather facts and cast them into significant form. No attempt has been made to deduce from them a theory about newspaper work or journalistic education. But I have taken the liberty, here and there, to insert a comment indicating the possible bearing of our findings upon current problems and controversies. The reader will find many significant relations between my studies of journalistic judgments and the other studies which follow in this same volume. Neither Mr. Robert F. Harrel nor myself has found the time to develop those relations. But we hope somebody else may do so. The newspaper business needs a series of thorough job analyses comparable to those which have been undertaken in several other major industries. Papers and readers alike will be better served if every employer and employee knows thoroughly just what each man must be able to do and must enjoy doing. As matters now stand, there is too much drifting and groping. WALTER B . PITKIN COLUMBIA

UNIVERSITY

July 30, 1931

CONTENTS P A R T

I.

E D I T O R I A L J U D G M E N T . BY WALTER B.PITKIN

I.

PRELUDE

II.

3

T H E A P P R A I S A L OF N E W S LOCAL

INTEREST

12

III.

HOW

INFLUENCES

IV.

N E W S V A L U E S AS R E V E A L E D IN A F I R S T - P A G E

MENTS OF N E W S V A L U E

.

.

JUDG.

.

40

MAKE-UP V. VI. VII.

PARTII.

.

67

INTERCORRELATIONS BETWEEN VARIOUS STANDARDIZED NON-JOURNALISTIC T E S T S .

76

CONCLUSIONS

88

FACTORS

JOURNALISM. I. II. III. IV.

54

H O W JOURNALISTS APPRAISE RUMORS

BY

M A K I N G ROBERT

FOR FRANK

SUCCESS

INTRODUCTION THE

O R I G I N OF THE A M E R I C A N

E N T R A N C E I N T O THE P R O F E S S I O N T H E COURSE UPWARD

V.

E D U C A T I O N OF T H E J O U R N A L I S T

VI.

E V I D E N C E S OF M A L A D J U S T M E N T

VII.

IN

HARREL

T H E FUTURE JOURNALIST

95 JOURNALIST

99 104 109 . 1 2 1 135 . 1 4 1

PART I EDITORIAL JUDGMENT BY WALTER B . PITKIN

CHAPTER I

PRELUDE A professional school trains young people for a profession. Two major problems must be solved: first, selecting only those learners who give evidence of possessing the requisite interests, ambition, native abilities, and preliminary training; and, secondly, training these competente so that they will be fit for the tasks which they will be called upon to face during their adult years. Manifestly, these two problems cannot be held apart. They fuse. For we cannot select the fit learners save on the basis of a pretty thorough knowledge of the work they will have to do. How else can we judge the competent and the incompetent? This brings us face to face with the major difficulty of the professional school today. Each profession interlocks with and depends upon innumerable trends in the sciences, the techniques, various businesses, and the industries. Even the most backward of them all, the Law, is thus influenced; while Engineering and Journalism are the most highly sensitive to every modern social and economic force. No layman can fully apprehend, still less appreciate, the profound changes in the newspaper field during the last twenty years of technical progress. Newspapers are caught in the great whirlwinds of science. Inventors continue to revolutionize methods of news gathering, the taking of pictures, the transmission of dispatches, the office methods of editing matter, and the mechanics of printing and distributing. At the same time world-wide 3

4

PRELUDE

economic changes are transforming the financial structure, policies, and procedures. Chain newspapers multiply, while independent sheets fade away. News services gain because they are more efficient both as to cost and as to time. Radio and television loom on the horizon as impending whirlwinds, in whose vortex thousands of workers may be destroyed. In one way or another each of these influences modifies all newspaper jobs. And, as the job always determines the worker, it follows that our schools of journalism are now confronted with a new, large, and appallingly difficult task. They must ascertain the new job requirements, first of all. That done, they must next find a way of selecting learners who can meet these requirements—and also a way of rejecting applicants who are manifestly incompetent. As matters now stand, every school has developed a curriculum which has been derived mainly from the personal experiences of its faculty. This means that, whatever the curriculum happens to be, it is mainly an expression of practices and principles which prevailed between 1890 and 1920. What else, indeed, could it be? And yet, what assurance have we that young people who seek employment on newspapers between 1930 and 1950 will be called upon to follow those practices or to adhere to those principles? Two ways of preparing youth for journalistic careers have been tried, singly and in combination. One is the way of broad culture, the other is the way of the city room. The former strives to give the learner a grasp of world movements, civilizations, cultures, together with all their underlying forces of geography, climate, soil, and regional economics. The latter aims to drill the learner directly and solely for the first job he is likely to get; to make him immediately valuable to his employer, and to leave all the rest of his training (if any) to chance and his own initiative.

PRELUDE

S

In the first instance, it is assumed that a journalist's work requires broad culture. In the second, it is assumed that, in order to get and hold a job as a young reporter, nothing more than a certain familiarity with city room problems and methods is demanded. How sound are these assumptions today? Will either serve as a basis for journalism training that tries to fit young people now for the jobs of tomorrow? American editors have their answer ready, and it is not pleasant reading. Schools of journalism, as a whole, have failed lamentably. Not more than one graduate in twenty measures up to the expectations of the newspaper which later employs him. To this outcome two causes have contributed heavily. First of all, the schools have attracted to their halls a horde of students intellectually unfit for the stiffer college course. Secondly, the instruction given to these inferior students is ill adapted to the requirements of a modern newspaper, be it in a large city or in a small town. Such is the essence of the indictment drawn by the special investigating committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors reported to the latter at its 1930 meeting.* Years before this condemnation was uttered, premonitory mutterings were heard up and down the land. A t first they were mistaken for the familiar sneers of old-time newspaper men who knew that no school could produce a good reporter. So far as I can ascertain, no school of journalism undertook to investigate these complaints. And that is a great pity. For, had somebody then faced the facts, matters might not have come to the present pass. As early as 1916 I began to check up on the situation in so far as it involved graduates of our own school. Whenever I heard of such being discharged, I tried to discover what was wrong. Unfortunately, many employers were loath to go on * See New York Times, April 18, 1930. The chairman of the committee was Sam W. Williams.

6

PRELUDE

record; and, as for the graduates, their stories were always ready on the tongue but could not be appraised because the employers' side was not in evidence. This much, however, can be said quite positively: the variety of causes for discharge was great, as later events proved. Incompetence figured among them, but not startlingly. It seemed worth while to begin assembling facts about the undergraduates which might, in later years, throw some light on their success or failure. To that end, I started giving to each incoming class general information and intelligence tests, as well as lesser tests in high-speed writing and reading. At that time, 1916, all those tests were far from satisfactory; and they did not improve much until around 1920, well after the now famous Army Intelligence tests had been put through many drastic revisions. From the outset, it appeared that students doing the best work in school uniformly drifted away from journalism within a few years after graduation. To complete evidence on this point, I interested Mr. C. W. Steffler in the task of tracing the exact career of every graduate except the most recent, whose histories were too short to be significant. His findings have been published by the Columbia University Press (1926) and should be scanned by any reader of this present study who wishes to gain a clear perspective of our larger problems. Among other important facts, Steffler found that, of our graduates who went into the world in the eight years ending with 1920, 80 per cent started out in newspaper offices; but, by 1926, only 38 per cent were still engaged in genuine news work. So far as Columbia is concerned, then, we find not the slightest confirmation of the recent statement of Edward M. Johnson, formerly president of the American Association of Teachers of Journalism, to the effect that "the percentage

P R E L U D E

7

of our (journalism) graduates who stay with journalism is extremely high. B u t the percentage who advance to the highest posts in journalism is in about the ratio as their total is to the number engaged in journalism."* Among the replies he received to various questions, Steffler further found "that in the great majority of cases the reporters and copyreaders consider these positions as little more than passing incidents in their careers, from which they must hasten on to what they regard as the really significant posts in the profession." Here we raise our first question. May not this attitude on the pari of reporters and copyreaders be partly the cause of unsatisfactory work? Surely a man who looks upon his job as something to be passed up as soon as possible is not in the best frame of mind for that job. His incompetence may be due to impatience, not to poor training in a school of journalism. And his impatience, in turn, may be due to many unrelated influences, which would be promptly investigated, if newspapers were served b y personnel managers as the more progressive industries and stores now are. Now, this inquiry into the careers of graduates led naturally to the question that vitally affects school methods. Was there any connection between the shift away from journalism and the scholastic ratings of those who shifted? As an approach to this problem I correlated the direction of vocational drift with the average school grades of those same graduates whom we had investigated. Then appeared what I regard as one of the most significant facts. With few exceptions the graduates whose school grades as a whole approximated "fair" had remained in newspaper work. Those whose grades ran close to "good" either rose to superior posts in newspapers or else entered work closely related to * See his annual address at the Baton Rouge meeting of the Association.

8

PRELUDE

journalism (such as work on trade journals or house organs). And those whose grades were "excellent" throughout mostly,ι deserted the newspaper offices and went into much more lucrative vocations such as advertising, printing, book publishing, magazine publishing, research work for large corporations, and so onHere we raise our second question, for thoughtful consideration by the editors who have condemned the schools of journalism. Does it not seem likely that such incompetence as editors do find among journalism graduates may be largely due to the drift of the superior graduates away from newspaper workf This question strikes me as doubly pertinent in view of the fact that, because of the length of the course and the admission requirements, the Columbia School of Journalism students surpass those of most other similar institutions. Hence, measured on the same scale of intellectual and professional attainments, the latter would show considerably lower average grades. If the brightest and best trained among them also forsake journalism early, would not those who stayed behind as reporters and copyreaders probably rank lower than our own " C grade" men? One more item before we turn to our immediate problem. It is possible that the incompetence of journalism graduates is linked with economic conditions. Here two things suggest themselves at once. Have working conditions inside the newspaper office been changing so that the beginner finds it harder than ever to earn a salary increase, with or without promotion? Are there more dead-end jobs than formerly? I know of no adequate study of these matters. But a recent survey of wages outside of New York and Chicago revealed that the average 25-year-old reporter gets $25 per week, the 35-year-old man $50, and the 45-year-old man $60. Presumably most of these have pretty steady work, as compared with masons and carpenters; but that should be checked up

PRELUDE

9

before large conclusions are drawn. On the face of the facts, journalism seems to be in the same economic class with the ministry and country school teaching. And this alone would explain most of the drift away from it. The more ambitious, the farsighted, and the intelligent would seek fame and fortune elsewhere, while the timid, the shortsighted, and the dull would remain behind. Here are circumstances and problems which loom large in the panorama of modern newspaperdom and its schools. They will not directly concern us here; but all that we shall investigate can be interpreted only in the light of that vaster social-economic situation. To that interpretation we shall return later. Our problem is the very one which has been tacitly raised by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. It presents two aspects. First, what is a newspaper man's job, when reduced to its elements? What must he do? And how well must he do each task in order to satisfy his employers? Secondly, are schools of journalism selecting and training young people so that the latter will perform their work satisfactorily? This, as you will notice, is a double-barrelled question: it touches the efficiency of entrance requirements and then the professional quality of training in classroom. As we proceed, we shall not involve ourselves in the far deeper and more perplexing question as to whether a school of journalism ought not do more than drill young people in newspaper technique. We restrict ourselves to a proposition that lies beyond all controversy. Whatever one may deem the highest ideal of journalism and its schools, certainly a graduate of a school of journalism must at least be able to do the work he is asked to do in a typical city room or on an editorial staff. Lacking these elementáis, he cannot rise to higher posts in which he might realize lofty ideals.

IO

PRELUDE

At the same time, we have approached the job analysis from an angle which, for those who may be interested in it, leads over into that larger issue of ideals and culture. The selection of news and the relative importance attributed to the selected items have been studied; and can anybody deny that these two functions rank high in all newspaper work? Or can we doubt that, through the exercise of both, an editor succeeds or fails in appealing to certain desired classes of readers and in influencing public opinion for better or for worse. When all is said and done, the chief difference between the New York Times and the Daily Graphic is not to be found in the color of paper or in the size of type or even in the views of the editorial page, but in the choice, arrangement and emphasis of news. Likewise with all other newspapers. An editor succeeds or fails according to the way he "plays the news." Need it be added that this study is merely one of a score which should be made in order to analyze the vocation as a whole? Many abilities beyond "a nose for news" and a well balanced editorial appraisal of current events are demanded. And each must be analyzed by itself. The total set of requisite abilities is much larger than the layman imagines. In Mr. Harrel's study, later in this volume, several important characteristics of successful journalists have been brought to light. For instance, a reporter on a metropolitan paper must be endowed with a certain, as yet unmeasured, fund of physical energy. He must be blessed with exceptional health, if he would maintain a quality of performance which is likely to win him promotions. He must possess sundry social knacks and graces in interviewing all sorts and conditions of men. Above all must he show rare skill in inducing people to talk freely—a trait which every great reporter has always exhibited in high degree, though often lacking in eminent editors. He must not be a single-track mind, but must easily

PRELUDE

II

develop an interest in almost any subject that bobs up in the day's news. He must be predominantly extraverted. And so on. Sooner or later somebody will study each of these many characteristics; and then we shall have a sound basis for estimating the probable success of young people in our field. The present investigation is a beginning and nothing more. Editors and journalism instructors have often observed that reporting is a young man's job. Our findings confirm this in a sense much broader than is intended by that observation. Youths and maidens between 19 and 23 years of age exhibit, in widely differing tests, essentially the same news judgment as we get from men who have been at city desks and in editorial chairs for 20 years or longer. It has usually been assumed that, while youngsters have the advantage of fresh energy and high enthusiasms, their elders make up for this by virtue of superior range of experience and maturity of judgment. But, so far as our inquiry can carry us, this does not appear to be true. In short, journalism seems to be an exception to the rule prevailing in all other professions. Certainly, were we to set up similar tests for medical students and experienced physicians, we would find the latter surpassing the learners at every point in diagnosis and operative skill. These traits parallel the newspaper man's weighing of news values, absolute importances, and probabilities. Likewise in law and engineering, in architecture and in dentistry: the older man contributes something which no youngster ever can. The implications of this strange fact strike deep into the larger problems of contemporary journalism.

CHAPTER I I

T H E APPRAISAL OF NEWS The most important set of abilities called for in reporting, copyreading, and editorial writing is that which comes into play in the appraisal of reported events and rumors. A newspaper is, first and foremost, a dispenser of news. It must find news, then sort it out, then arrange it on the printed page, and finally comment upon it editorially. If the news is exceedingly important, the paper must pursue it further along many channels and bypaths. It must proceed cautiously in giving ear to allegations and tips, weighing probabilities in the delicate scales of seasoned judgment. But it must be bold in running down leads, no matter whither they go. Our study begins, therefore, with an analysis of news appraisals. We assume, first of all, that men who have served for years as reporters, copyreaders and editors on typical American newspapers must be appraising news in a manner satisfactory to their employers ; and, if not satisfactory to the latter, then at least fairly satisfactory to most readers of their papers. So we take the standards and levels of news judgment by such professional workers as our norm. It is, of course, strictly a vocational norm. In no sense does it represent any journalistic ideal. It is simply the working standard of performances now being maintained by the newspapers. Our next inquiry turns to the appraisals of students in schools of journalism. How do these compare with experienced workers? Plainly, our educational policy must be determined largely by what we find in this comparison. If, 12

THE

APPRAISAL

OF

NEWS

13

for example, the journalism students differ greatly in their judgments from active newspaper men, we must trace those differences to their source, find their cause, and undertake to remove it before we send the young people forth. So the same set of tests has been given to two classes, newspaper men and journalism students. It might have been desirable to have subdivided the newspaper men into smaller groups according to present ranking, years of service, and the like; but, for several reasons, chiefly statistical, this could not be managed. Now as for the tests themselves. Which types of news judgments should first be tested? Here our troubles began. As many editors later remarked, and as every journalism teacher knows, a newspaper is a local institution and must select its news according to special local interests. An editor in Orlando, Florida, is not inclined to run the Chicago quotations on No. 1, Dakota red wheat, in a first-page box; nor can an Arizona editor see any good reason for his playing up a story about a consolidation of shoestring manufacturers in Connecticut. How then can a blanket test be given to editors all over the country? Must not each editor be swayed by his habits of favoring certain types of stories and wastebasketing others? It seemed likely that such local bias might be corrected in the returns, if everybody passed two independent judgments on each news item; the first judgment being concerned with the "absolute importance" of the recorded event as a factor in human affairs, and the second judgment being the one the editor naturally uses on his own paper. Thus the editor would not be forced to distort his professional habit but would supplement it with one which might throw considerable light upon his entire cultural background and even his philosophy of life.

14

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

H e r e follow t h e news items used in the first test, together w i t h t h e instructions given for t a k i n g the test. A s far as possible w e picked news items published j u s t before our test b l a n k s w e n t to press. W e wished e v e r y editor a n d student t o h a v e the entire s t o r y fresh in m e m o r y . T H E INSTRUCTIONS A S T U D Y IN N E W S VALUES

Part I Aim of Test: This test has a double aim: i , to ascertain the relation between the importance of events and their news value; and 2, to discover how, in their judgment of these matters, experienced newspaper editors differ (if at all) from various types of newspaper readers. How to Perform the Test: In Column 2, please indicate with numbers the rank of the various events named in Column 1, when judged as to their " a b s o l u t e " importance. B y this is meant their importance as factors in world politics, business, social affairs, and so on. Y o u are to ignore here the special interest of your newspaper readers. In Column 3, please indicate in the same w a y the news value of the same events. Here use your judgment in the normal manner of an editor who is allotting position and space to dispatches for the next issue of the paper. Obviously you must ignore date lines and judge all stories as breaking on the same day. W e are asking a large number of typical newspaper readers to pass judgment on the same list of events. W e shall then compare their verdict with t h a t of hundreds of newspaper editors and reporters. You may take as much time as you wish to make these ratings. But we want you to record the time in the boxes at the end of Parts I and II. Use ι to indicate the highest importance, 2 the next highest, and so on. T h e first test w a s c o m p l e t e d b y 130 n e w s p a p e r m e n a n d 236 journalism students in t h e eight institutions mentioned in t h e Preface. B e c a u s e w e are especially interested in our o w n problems a t the C o l u m b i a school, w e h a v e segregated

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

the tests of our students from those elsewhere.

This has

proved valuable already and promises to become more so. Absolute Importance

Events

News Value

H o o v e r elected President of the U . S M u s s o l i n i signs t r e a t y with V a t i c a n storing l a t t e r as a P a p a l S t a t e

re-

C o n g r e s s authorizes the building of Boulder D a m , and President Coolidge signs the bill L a r g e s t airport in the world being built a t Secaucus, N . J., as base for commercial planes in N e w Y o r k C i t y d i s t r i c t . . R e b e l l i o n against the M e x i c a n G o v e r n m e n t b r e a k s out in eight states of the country M r . a n d M r s . D w i g h t M o r r o w announce t h e e n g a g e m e n t of their d a u g h t e r A n n e t o C o l o n e l Lindbergh C o m m a n d e r B y r d goes to A n t a r c t i c a on a prolonged exploring expedition J o h n D . Rockefeller, Jr., ousts Colonel S t e w a r t f r o m control of the S t a n d a r d Oil C o m p a n y of I n d i a n a M a j o r H . 0 . D . S e g r a v e breaks world's record b y driving his new racing a u t o 231.3 miles per hour P r e s i d e n t Coolidge signs the bill authorizing the construction of 15 cruisers and 2 airplane carriers within three y e a r s . . . T H E A P P R A I S A L S AS TO A B S O L U T E I M P O R T A N C E

Here is how the three test groups rated the ten news items as to their "absolute importance."

For reasons later to be

made clear, we report the highest percentage of each group which voted for the indicated rank.

ι6

T H E

A P P R A I S A L

O F

N E W S

TABLE I N E W S ITEM

NEWSPAPER MEN Rating

Hoover's election

A L L JOURNALISM STUDENTS

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

76

ι

75

COLUMBIA STUDENTS Rating

Per cent

64

Vatican treaty

2

36

3 2

20 19

2

36

Boulder Dam authorized

6 5

23 23

5 4

22 20

5

30

Largest airport in the world

7 8 9

20 19 17

7 6 8

21 18 18

6 8

20 20

Mexican rebellion

4 5

23 23

3

27

3

28

10

57

9

24

10

42

Byrd expedition

7

24

7 6

20 19

7

28

Stewart ousted from S.O. of Indiana

7 8

21 20

8

27

8

34

Segrave breaks world auto record

9

39

9 10

39 31

9 10

36 34

Cruiser bill signed

3

29

2

25

3

24

Lindbergh engagement

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

17

Thus, 76 per cent of all newspaper men rated Hoover's election first in absolute importance, while 57 per cent of them rated Lindbergh's engagement at the bottom of the list. Several items were assigned to different positions by such large groups that each entry has been reported here. Thus the item about the world's largest airport was ranked seventh by 20 per cent of the newspaper men, eighth by 19 per cent more and ninth by another 17 per cent. As you read the ratings, keep in mind that No. 1 means the highest importance and No. 10 the least. The meaning of these columns of figures is more remarkable than a non-statistical reader might suppose. Our immediate purpose is to ascertain how close journalism students come to their elders in the profession in their ability to appraise news. What appears here? The young people judge the absolute importance of news events almost exactly as do seasoned newspaper editors and reporters. Let us verify this, item by item. About 76 per cent of the newspapermen rated Hoover's election as having the highest absolute importance. So did 64 per cent of Columbia University students. So did 75 per cent of the students in all institutions. Thirty-six per cent of the newspaper men judged the signing of the Vatican treaty to be second in absolute importance. So did 36 per cent of the Columbia students. And 20 per cent of all the students rated this item as third in importance, while 19 per cent deviated only slightly and rated it second. Twenty-three per cent of experienced newspaper men and 22 per cent of all students believed the authorization of the building of Boulder Dam to be fifth in importance; and 30 per cent of Columbia students arrived at the same conclusion.

l8

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

About an equal percentage of newspaper men and all students tested, furthermore, deviated by only one point from this rating, 23 per cent of the professional men tested ranking the Boulder Dam item as sixth in absolute importance, while 20 per cent of the students ranked it fourth. It is important at this point to note that, in cases where deviations in the ratings of events are indicated by members of any of the three groups tested, the range of these deviations is markedly slight, and the percentages of each group showing these small deviations are, in almost every instance, approximately the same. For example, newspaper men, the entire group of students tested, and the Columbia students differed slightly in their judgments as to the absolute importance of the item of the building of the largest air port in the world. Note, however, that while 20 per cent of the newspaper men tested assigned this item seventh position in its absolute importance, 19 per cent gave it eighth and 17 per cent ninth position. At the same time, while 21 per cent of all students gave the airport item seventh position, 18 per cent assigned it sixth, and 18 per cent eighth. And an equal percentage of Columbia students—20 per cent in each case—rated the airport building as sixth and eighth in importance. This general tendency is further indicated in the ratings assigned to other items. Twenty per cent of all students rate the Byrd expedition news of seventh absolute importance. And 19 per cent of them rate it sixth. Twentyone per cent of the newspaper men rate the ousting of Colonel Stewart from the Standard Oil of Indiana seventh in importance, while 20 per cent of them rate this news eighth. When 39 per cent of all students rate the importance of the Segra ve record as ninth in importance, so do 31 per cent of them rate it tenth.

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

NEWS

19

Moreover, newspaper men and students again show marked agreement in their judgment of the importance of the Segra ve record, the largest percentage of each group rating it ninth, with 39 per cent of all newspaper men, 39 per cent of all students, and 36 per cent of Columbia students assigning to the item this rank. The ratings of the absolute importance of the news of the signing of the cruiser bill show a corresponding similarity of judgment on the part of all groups, newspapermen rating it third with 29 per cent of the entire group, 25 per cent of the entire student group rating it second, and 24 per cent of Columbia students giving it third ranking in importance. There is only one outstanding difference in judgment of the absolute importance of the ten news events. While 57 per cent of the newspaper men ranked the item of Lindbergh's engagement as having the least importance of all, only 24 per cent of all students believed the item to be of ninth importance. Thirty-one per cent of all students found the Segrave record to have even less absolute importance, rating this item tenth; 42 per cent of the Columbia students, on the other hand, agreed with newspaper men in assigning tenth position to the Lindbergh engagement. They further agreed with the journalists in assigning ninth position to the Segrave record, though 34 per cent of the group ranked it tenth. We do not propose to ask why each rating came to be made as it was. But in the case of the one striking difference between professionals and students, we conjecture that the youth of Lindbergh, coupled with the fact that most of the students dally with thoughts of love and marriage, probably had much to do with the higher rating these young people gave to the engagement. The remarkable feature here is not the single difference of judgment. It is the agreement on all other points. This far

20

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

exceeds all a priori expectations. One would naturally assume that years of practical experience would somehow change men's judgments on world affairs to the point of differentiating them sharply from the appraisals of twentyyear-old youths, most of whom have never handled news problems. In my opinion, this test should be jjven again on a much larger scale. Instead of ten items, perhaps 100 should be used, in well-timed instalments, of course. And more people should take the test. As far as the present one goes, it leads us to the strange conclusion that professional experience adds nothing whatever to this type of judgment. As for the difference between Columbia students and those in eight other institutions, it appears to be trivial here. We have already commented on the differences over the Lindbergh engagement. For some reason beyond all conjecture the Columbia students did not support the Hoover item for first place so uniformly as did the other students; but still by far the largest sub-group among them assigned the story to first place. So the ranking of stories works out the same with both classes. T H E A P P R A I S A L AS TO N E W S V A L U E

How about the judgments of news value? Here we invoke the professional judgment of the newspaper workers. For they were invited to appraise the ten items just as they would at their desks. The journalism students, in like manner, were called upon to assume this professional point of view as best they could—which meant, of course, that they would reflect in that act all that they had been taught in their journalism schools. Here are the results, cast in the same form as before.

THE

APPRAISAL

OF

21

NEWS

TABLE I I ITEM

Hoover's election

NEWSPAPER MEN

A L L JOURNALISM STUDENTS

COLUMBIA STUDENTS

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

ι

go

ι

89

ι

90

Vatican treaty

28

14

24

Boulder Dam authorized

28

19 15

18 18 18

Largest airport built

59

Mexican rebellion

23

19 18 14

Lindbergh's engagement

S»

41

2

SO

Byrd expedition

19 20

14

6

22

Stewart ousted from S.O. of Ind.

19 20 20

14 16

8

18

Segrave breaks world auto record

19

IS

Cruiser bill signed

6 7 8

18 18 18

10 9

3

33 19

12

9 10

24 26 26

16

4

20

22

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

Here we begin to see marked divergencies between the experienced journalists and the young people. There is exceedingly high agreement among all three groups with regard to the first six items. On Hoover's election and Lindbergh's engagement there is virtual unanimity. But when we scrutinize the last four items in the table, discord arises. Newspaper men look upon the Byrd expedition far less favorably than do the students. But probably some allowance must be made here for the fact that the primary news about Byrd, being owned by the New York Times, was not available to most editors; so they had to "play it down" in their own columns and did the same in this test. Far greater is the divergency between professional and learner over the story of the ousting of Stewart. Here indubitably the years of experience show their mettle. The newspaper men rate the event much higher as news than do the students. Indeed the low rating which the Columbia students assign to it is rather puzzling. They place it two positions below the Byrd expedition; yet it seems clear that in most American cities far more people would be keenly interested in a serious fight within the Rockefeller oil group than in anything going on at the South Pole. Again the newspaper men displayed better judgment than the students in their rating of the passing of the cruiser bill; and, whether one agrees with that opinion or not, the fact remains that the veterans and the cubs differed considerably in their scoring. In spite of these contrarieties, the agreements among the three groups exceed the disagreements. All give an overwhelming majority for rating the Hoover story first in news value. All give a sizable vote for the Lindbergh engagement as the second best; and in each group the vote here ranks second to the Hoover vote. The largest percentage of each

THE

APPRAISAL

OF

NEWS

23

group agrees on the rankings of the airport item. Columbia students agree with newspapermen in ranking the Mexican rebellion, while the largest percentage of all students deviates by only one position. And there is a deviation of only one position by all students and also by Columbia in rating the Vatican treaty item. These differences of judgment as between newspaper men and students are not so great as differences among newspaper men or differences among students. This same fact appears in another form in the newspapers themselves. Editors differed among themselves in the position and space they allotted to these same stories when they appeared. Often, to be sure, their differences can be traced to the demands of local stories for space; but in other cases nothing but personal differences in appraisal explains the matter. Translate the differences of judgment into action, and you have different arrangements and space allotments of the stories on the printed page. Now, this would amount to surprisingly little, from the reader's point of view, in almost every instance. An editor who rates a news item second in news value may give it the left-hand column on the front page, while another editor who rates it fourth may give it the center column. It is doubtful whether such a difference in handling would ever win or lose a single reader; and it is still less likely that any editor would lose his job as a result of either placement. Vocationally, then, journalism students the country over seem to do about as well as experienced editors and reporters in estimating the absolute importance and the news value of events. As for the difference between journalism students outside of Columbia and those within it, in these same abilities it is trifling.

24

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

NEWS

A T E S T IN P R O B A B I L I T I E S

There is, of course, a peculiar difficulty in testing newspaper men and journalism students with news stories that have lately appeared. Their judgments may be powerfully influenced by the amount of space and character of editorial comments which they have observed as they have read the newspapers. While striving to form an independent personal opinion, each man may unconsciously echo the judgment of his favorite journal. One way of avoiding this would be to invent episodes so far removed from reality that they would have to be judged on their own merits. The test we next consider did just this. In my opinion it is the weakest of the entire series of inquiries, chiefly because the items in the list were not well devised. Too many of them are wildly improbable, while at least one of them, apparently, failed to disclose its real importance. In spite of all this, the results are striking. Here are the events to be judged. The following events are fictitious, but are to be judged as if they came in to you over the wire with full confirmation. Please rate them as you did the events in Part I. Events Boston, Apr. 1. At a meeting of the owners of all the major league baseball clubs of the U. S., it was voted to discontinue professional baseball. Reasons for this unusual action were not disclosed, but it is rumored t h a t the game is rapidly losing its hold on the younger generation Los Angeles, Apr. 1. Charlie Chaplin opened his series of Shakespearian tragedies last night in his own theatre. He made his debut as a serious actor by playing the role of Hamlet with extraordinary penetration and poignancy

Absolute Importance

News Value

THE

APPRAISAL

OF

Events (continued) Cape Town, S. Α., Apr. 1. Professor Winkler Tiddle, of the University of Johannesburg, has produced a living hybrid by crossing a female gorilla with a male Zulu Clearwater, Fla., Apr. 1. Heinrich Croop, a p o t a t o farmer, rescued two negro children from drowning Rome, Apr. 1. Out of recognition of Italy's having recognized the Papal State, the Pope this morning agreed with Mussolini to aid I t a l y in event of war by forbidding Catholics in all lands to serve in a n y a r m y fighting Italians London, Apr. 1. Lloyd George's eldest son this morning married three women. Each marriage was duly solemnized by D e a n Inge, who declares t h a t polygamy is the only way of protecting and being just to England's 6,ooo,ooo surplus women Washington, Apr. 1. T h e U. S. P a t e n t Office today sold to junk dealers the last ten truck loads of models of old inventions. Among t h e m were the original folding gold toothpick, and an automatic woodcarving machine designed to turn out cigar store Indians. . Miami, Fla., Apr. 1. The i 8 t h annual convention of the Society of American Atheists opened here this morning. Delegates listened to an impassioned address by Mrs. Aimee McPherson on " M o r a l s and Religion"

NEWS

Absolute Importance

25 News Value

26

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

Events (continued)

NEWS

Absolute Importance

News Value

Philadelphia, Apr. 1. A committee of chemists, representing the Standard Oil C o m p a n y and the U. S. Dept. of the Interior, report this morning that, as a result of rapid changes taking place in the petroleum found all over North and South America, none of it will be useful for gasoline hereafter Washington, Apr, 1. T h e Mexican G o v ernment this morning formally petitioned the U. S. Government for permission to join the Union. President Portes Gil and the Mexican Congress assert that civil liberties and economic prosperity will best be furthered b y this step; and that, as all the intelligent citizens of Mexico hold this view, the petition should be granted by the United States

In Table III (page 27), look first at the ratings of absolute importance. Mexico's petition to join the Union receives a heavy vote from the two student groups for first place; and from the newspaper men it gets a 37 per cent vote for first place and another equal one for second. This represents a remarkably high agreement all around. The deterioration of the petroleum reserves comes in a close second, in the combined vote of the three groups. But the newspaper men—41 per cent of them all—give it the highest rank. In this they are conspicuously wiser than the students, I think. And yet the agreement here is far more remarkable than the differences.

THE

APPRAISAL

OF N E W S

27

T A B L E III T h e r a t i n g s in absolute importance g i v e n b y largest n u m b e r of each g r o u p t a k i n g the test. N u m b e r 1 is high, n u m b e r 10 low. ITEM

NEWSPAPER M E N

Rating Baseball

A L L STUDENTS

COLUMBIA

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

29

5th 6th

25 23

5th

41

8th 7th

28

7th 8th

33 31

5th 6th

32

Charley Chaplin

7th

34

GorillaZulu

5th 4th

23 21

5th

22

6th 5th 4th

27 22 20

Negro rescue

10th

57

10th

53

10th

54

Catholics forbidden t o fight

3d

37

3d

36

3d 2d ist

35 24 27

Polygamy

5th

31

5th

24 22

4th

24

4th

24

Inventions

8th

31

9th

31

9th 8th

33 24

MacPherson

9th

33

8th 7th

24 22

6th 7th 9th

24 20

Petroleum

ist

41

2d

34

2d

29

Mexico

ist ad

37 37

ist

60

I et

50

20

28

THE

APPRAISAL

OF

NEWS

T A B L E IV T h e ratings in news value given b y largest number of each group t a k i n g the test. N u n b e r ι is high, number 10 low. ITEM

NEWSPAPER M E N

A L L STUDENTS

COLUMBIA

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Pecent

3d

26 22

2d

27

4 th

27

2d Charley Chaplin

8th 7th

30 28

7 th

22

7th Sth

31 22

GorillaZulu

6th Sth

22 18

8th 7th

18

8th

24

Negro rescue

ioth

74

ioth

S6

ioth

56

Catholics forbidden to fight

2d 3d 4th

19 20 19

3d

19

3d

24

Polygamy

Sth

27

4th

22

ist

24

Inventions

9th

49

9th

36

9th

31

MacPherson

7th 8th

29 26

7th

18

7th

22

Petroleum

ist

29

3d

20

3d

20

Mexico

ist

41

ist

56

ist

36

Baseball

17

The Pope's forbidding Catholics to take up arms against Italy is rated third by all three groups.

But many Columbia

students place it first, and others second.

Agreement once

more, on the whole. T o m y own astonishment, all three groups merged the fourth, fifth and sixth rankings.

virtually

That is, the

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

29

discontinuing of professional baseball, the crossing of a gorilla with a Zulu, and the adoption of polygamy b y Lloyd George's son each received each of these ratings; so that their scores overlap heavily. B y a small margin the base ball story rates lowest, that is, nearest to sixth place. It never occurred to me, however, that anybody would rank the Zulugorilla episode as low in absolute importance as the passing of baseball ; but many did, both among the newspaper men and among the students. Charlie Chaplin as Hamlet is placed in seventh place b y a large group within each of the three voting classes; and the only deviation of importance here is in two sub-groups of students who drop the comedian's debut to eighth place. T h e disposal of Patent Office models receives most votes for eighth place, but also heavy votes for the ninth. A slight but real difference develops in ranking the Aimee McPherson episode. T h e journalists push it down to ninth place—and rightly, I think—while the students scatter their judgments badly, all the w a y from sixth to ninth place. This also is puzzling. W h y should anybody take so seriously an evangelist's address before atheists? T h e tenth place calls for no comment. T h e rescue of two negro children plainly belongs there, and there it was placed. B u t the percentage of students so rating it is much smaller than should have been expected. A s 53 per cent of them so placed it, the remaining 47 per cent must have given it some higher rank. Here again the differences of opinion are slight as contrasted to the agreements. We find only one important appraisal b y newspaper men which marks them off sharply from the two student groups; and that is the rating of the episode about the failing petroleum reserves. The news-

30

T H E

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

paper men appreciated the larger significance of this more clearly than the younger people. And yet, even here, they rate it only one place higher in absolute importance than do the students. *

*

*

*

*

How were these same items arrayed as to their news value? Should we not expect strange divergencies in men's efforts to appraise such wildly fantastic events from the practical point of view of an editor? I think so; and, on the whole, this is what we find here and there. And yet the three groups think alike concerning the first, seventh, ninth and tenth best news stories here. Here their agreement is closer than anywhere else thus far. As to the value of the other six events, though, they do drift apart. They do so least in the case of the story about Catholics being forbidden to fight. Here the major groups of newspaper men are three, 19 per cent favoring second place, 20 per cent third place, and 19 per cent fourth place. The two student groups agree in ranking the story third best as news. Even here, then, the students agree with one of the newspaper groups; and their judgment is intermediate with respect to the other two. The widest variation of judgment appears in the rating of the story about Dean Inge and Lloyd George's son officially supporting polygamy in England. The newspaper men ranked this fifth, the entire group of journalism students fourth, but the Columbia men first. The latter scored it equal to the story of Mexico applying for admission to the Union. In view of the newspaper men's rating the discontinuance of professional baseball second or third, I suspect the Columbia students can put up a pretty strong case against the veterans here, on the score that the polygamy story surpasses the baseball story in three essentials, basic

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

NEWS

31

human interest, absolute importance, and novelty. But we shall not go into that debate here. If we accept the professional appraisal as our vocational norm, as we have been doing, it must be admitted that, in this case, the Columbia students fall far short of it, while students elsewhere do not. A spread of four places appears in the Chaplin story and also in the gorilla-Zulu hybrid: and, oddly enough, each spread is between the fifth and eighth places. The newspaper men put Chaplin in the seventh and eighth places, while at the other extreme 2 2 per cent of the Columbia men exalt him to fifth. Certainly the veterans can point the finger of scorn at this last rating; it is very hard to defend on any basis. Likewise in the gorilla-Zulu story, the newspaper men give it fifth and sixth places, while the Columbia group assigns it to the eighth. This latter rank is one step below the lecture of Aimee McPherson before the atheists. How that evaluation can be defended, I cannot guess. It seems to be a very serious editorial mistake. The colossal implications of a successful hybridization of human beings and anthropoids would appear instantly to hundreds of thousands of newspaper readers who would not even remember Aimee. The entire group of journalism students did virtually the same as the Columbia men; they gave Aimee seventh place and divided the hybrid story between seventh and eighth. It is hard to resist inferring from all this that journalism students everywhere probably tend to overrate the merely sensational and to underrate the scientifically important in the news. A special study of this problem ought to be made. This same distortion of judgment seems to crop out in the story about the failing petroleum reserves. The newspaper men put this first, on a parity with the Mexico story. But all journalism students gave their largest block vote to it for

32

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

NEWS

third place. Apparently they failed to appreciate the prodigious consequences of a gasoline failure. That requires a certain insight into economics and engineering. These marked deviations in the rating of essentially important fictitious events, when considered in the light of a singular lack of differences in rating recent actual events, strongly suggests that most journalism students are unduly influenced in their opinions by what they see in the papers. This is not at all strange, of course. They are learning journalism largely by example—which is inevitable. So, when they find a story spread all over the front page of their morning paper, they are duly impressed with its importance; and they do not pause to differentiate between its absolute importance and its prima facie news value. Every reader does the same, more or less. Habitual reading of a paper cannot fail to build up a system of values that is largely unconscious. Now, persuade the same reader to evaluate a set of stories which he has never seen and which are very strange, even to the point of being fantastic; and you compel him to think afresh. His old habits still sway him a little, so he will now judge somewhat by analogy whenever possible. But the more fantastic the episode, the harder that method will prove. Here the solid experience of the older newspaper men emerges. They appraise impossible wild stories much closer to their genuine values than do the students. We shall comment on this fact later. T H E RELATION BETWEEN ABSOLUTE IMPORTANCE AND N E W S V A L U E

We now come to the most important phase of our first test. Its significance was not at all apparent in the test forms we sent out; so a word or two about it is now in order. One of the commonest criticisms of American newspapers centers on the quality of the news which they feature. Silly

T H E

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

33

trifles crowd out worth-while stories; sordid crimes loom large, while dull but enormously important events are crowded into obscure corners. At this point the critics divide. Some allege that the newspaper men are merely giving their readers what they want, while others declare that the newspaper men do not know what is significant and what isn't. The former group set up a half-apology for the profession; they accept the remark of one of America's shrewdest and richest newspaper owners that "the average reader knows only three things: his name, his address, and who his parents are supposed to be." The second group denies this, maintaining usually two other propositions: first of all, most American readers nowadays are pretty well educated, worldly wise, and eager for genuine news; but, secondly, newspaper men are seldom well educated, almost never cultured, and therefore are debasing their papers. Can such criticisms be met? Can the facts which provoke them be objectively ascertained, so that the whole affair can be settled once and for all time? Yes, if anybody cares to spend the time and money such an enterprise demands. Many issues run together in a blur here. The labor of isolating each is great. We have tried to pick out one fairly simple problem and to solve it experimentally. Here it is. To what extent do journalists' judgments of news value agree with their judgments of the absolute importance of news items? Do journalism students' judgments of news value and absolute importance resemble those of the journalists ? And if not, in what respects do they differ f This, it seems to me, is a key problem of modern journalism and of journalistic education. It goes straight to the heart of the editor's central technique, the selecting and proportioning of news. How does he, as a man of experience and understanding, appraise that news as a factor in world

34

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

N E W S

affairs? And how does he, as a worker at a desk, estimate that same news when considered as the raw material of a story to be published within a few hours? Nobody except a recluse scholar would suppose that these two types of judgment could, in practice, work out identically. If nothing else prevented that, two simple circumstances would: first, the fact that a newspaper is a local institution which must give front-page attention to the affairs which directly concern its readers; and, secondly, the fact that in most large cities different newspapers aim to win different classes of readers and, to that end, variously emphasize the chief categories of happenings. In spite of this, the two types of judgment must be expected to show certain resemblances, along with these inevitable differences. And the question is, just what are those resemblances? Every teacher of journalism should know the answer to that question. For it must serve as a basis of educational policy. The young student ought to understand clearly just how and at what points he must surrender his opinion as to the absolute importance of a news event when he weighs it as a piece of printing. The whole future of the human race may be transformed by Mr. Einstein's latest presentation of the identity of electricity, magnetism and gravitation, all reduced to homogeneous equations; but does this absolute importance warrant two columns on the first page, when that means shifting the story of a big hold-up in Main Street to some inconspicuous spot? There, in a phrase, is the hourly problem of the editor. In slightly different form it becomes the reporter's problem, as well as the copyreader's. So we must give it grave attention. Now let us see how those who took our first test developed their double standard of appraisal. In the following table the intercorrelation between the two judgments, item by item as well as group by group, appears. It may not be amiss

T H E

A P P R A I S A L

O F

35

N E W S

to explain how the figures have been reached. Take the first case as our example. Suppose that every newspaper man had rated Hoover's election as the first event in absolute importance and also as having the highest news value. That would have been a perfect intercorrelation. It would then have been scored as unity, i.ooooooo in the table. If, on the other hand, not a TABLE V Showing intercorrelations between absolute importance and news value of all ten items of News Value Test, Part I, by groups taking the test NEWS EVENT

Hoover elected Vatican treaty Boulder Dam Largest airport Mexican rebellion Lindbergh engagement Byrd expedition Stewart ousted Segrave record Coolidge authorizes cruiser bill

NEWSPAPER MEN ALL STUDENTS

22(5

•5 .3926 .2874 •3015 •4115 . 0804 .3198 .3108 . 2190

•7584 •3831 •40S9 •335° • 2474 • 1137 .1777 •3 2 °5 . 2392

. 2910

.3642

COLUMBIA

•S369 .4718 •4754 •3077 - . 104s (sic) •OS9S • 2156 .4024 . 2907 •4895

single newspaper man had thus rated it in the two scales of judgment, but all had scored it first in one scale and last in the other, there would have been no intercorrelation whatsoever; and this would have been scored as zero, or o.ooooo. Between these two extremes, you see, an immense variety of partial agreements may occur. These are expressed quantitatively in the table. As you read the percentages, 6imply keep in mind that as a given number approaches i.ooooo, it represents a very high agreement between the groups' two orders of judging the news events; and, as it approaches o.ooooo, it indicates a very low agreement.

36

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

NEWS

Add each column and take the average of all ten percentages, and we find a startling likeness in the general trend among all three groups in the test. Newspaper men and the entire group of journalism students show the same degree of agreement between their two judgments, namely about .33, while the Columbia students show about .31. Look at the items, one by one, though, and many striking variations appear. Some accord with reasonable expectation, while others puzzle us a little. Only one figure stands out as indicating a very high agreement between absolute importance and news value; and that is the relation between the two judgments about Hoover's election as expressed by journalism students outside of Columbia. Evidently these young people entertained a considerably higher opinion of the news value of that event than the other two groups; for all three groups agreed closely in ranking it first in absolute importance. This fact does not appear on the face of the returns in the previous tables; for the latter merely present the largest number of persons within each group voting for the given rating. Y o u will see that 89 per cent of the journalism students put the Hoover election first in news value. Hence the other 11 per cent must have rated it second or third, while many newspaper men who did not put it first must have scored it fourth, fifth, or even lower. On two items the newspaper men show a difference between absolute importance and news value that is conspicuously greater than that shown by either of the two student groups. These items are the Boulder Dam and the cruiser bill events. And on two other items, the Mexican rebellion and the Byrd expedition, we see the reverse: the students differ in their judgments here much more than the newspaper men. In construing these instances, you must bear in mind that the difference in judgment may express two opposite

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

NEWS

37

responses. That is, a man may hold the absolute importance of an event to be much greater in its own scale than its news value in the second scale; or he may hold the absolute importance to be much less. In either case a wide divergence appears which is recorded quantitatively in the percentage of intercorrelation. In the table these two types of diverging opinion are summed up; hence we cannot discern in its figures either single type. Time has not permitted a segregation of the types. But this probably should be undertaken; for we ought to know in which stories the trend is to rate absolute importance higher than news value and in which the opposite tendency occurs. T h e tremendous differences of opinion concerning the Mexican rebellion call for a brief separate investigation. There is something wrong somewhere when newspaper men agree to the extent of .4115 concerning absolute importance and news value, while Columbia students sink to — .1045, and all other students to .2474. I i is very clear that the newspaper men are much closer to a sound judgment here than the young people. But why should the latter be so deeply confused? Suggestions are welcome here. What does the table of intercorrelations mean with respect to our vocational-professional problems? First of all, if the random selection of events we made for the test proves fairly representative of the run of the news, then we may fairly infer that in general journalism students relate absolute importance and news value in about the same way that experienced journalists do at least six times out of ten: and about twice out of ten times they relate the same in a manner radically different from that approved by the seasoned professionals. This indicates either that drill in the relation between news value and absolute importance is inadequate or else

38

THE

APPRAISAL

OF

NEWS

that an understanding of it can be gained only after years of practice. How decide which is the case? We should have to experiment in drilling students, first of all; then we might test them together with a large group of newspaper workers. Perhaps such specially trained students would match the professionals. And possibly they would deviate still more! There are some reasons for suspecting that the latter might occur. Be that as it may, three facts stand out pretty clearly. First, students do not differ enormously from experienced professionals in this respect, but they do differ more than in any other respect as yet investigated. Secondly, Columbia students show, in six out of the ten events, a conspicuously higher intercorrelation than appears among other journalism students. Indeed, their high intercorrelations have raised the average of all students considerably. Thirdly, the Columbia men also surpass the newspaper workers in seven out of the ten intercorrelations. That is to say, the Columbia students ascribe high news value to events which they deem of high absolute importance with greater regularity than do any other students or professional men. Without a further inquiry, it is impossible to say just what this indicates. Perhaps the Columbia students err in a professional sense: they may be overtrained in an academic way and inclined to belittle the news value of events which are intrinsically of slight import. If we accept as our professional norm the judgments of the newspaper men, we shall have difficulty in escaping this conclusion. On the other hand, it is far from unlikely that the Columbia students are better trained for future newspaper requirements than for present. The trend is indubitably toward stressing the absolute importance of events in the news values, with the single exception of the tabloids. The New York dailies have advanced far in this tendency during the past decade;

THE

A P P R A I S A L

OF

NEWS

39

and we must bear in mind that students who come to Columbia do so largely because they wish to get on New York papers. Here again we encounter a curious fact which ought to be probed further. I cannot avoid the suspicion that newspaper editors and reporters exhibit, in our test, a surprisingly low intercorrelation. Granted that no newspaper, not even the highest of the "highbrows," could ever allot position and space to news strictly on the basis of its absolute importance, it would seem that an intercorrelation of at least .5000 ought to yield a much more popular page than one between .2000 and .4000 such as we find in our test. But we have no extensive measurements of this complex act of judgment, so my own conjecture may not square with the facts.

CHAPTER

III

HOW LOCAL INTEREST INFLUENCES JUDGMENTS OF NEWS VALUE As was said a moment ago, every newspaper man from the rawest cub up to the owner knows that, because his news paper serves a single community, it must play up local news and also such foreign news as particularly interests its readers. The focus and the pattern of the day's events shift accordingly from town to town, the world over. Over against this we find various opposite tendencies, especially within the larger news services, which, being international and not local, assume a correspondingly broader attitude. Both the Associated Press and the United Press pursue, more or less persistently, the policy of featuring the five biggest news personalities. It is this which has made it so easy for Mussolini's publicity bureau to flood the United States with all sorts of stories about the Duce, even when behind the stories there lies either no news at all or petty news. Every time Mussolini has opened his mouth, a report is flashed to America. It has long been my opinion that few Americans care a continental for that sort of so-called "world news." They have many more important things to think about closer at home. Furthermore, the shrewder of them discount everything that appears on the ground that it is presumably some political propaganda. If this opinion is correct, it would follow that experienced newspaper editors, accustomed to select news which their readers prefer, would somehow reflect that public indifference. Their own local interest, so it 40

LOCAL

INTEREST

AND

NEWS

VALUE

41

seemed, ought t o influence a d v e r s e l y their rating of M u s solini items. In the hope of learning something about t h a t situation, I inserted in the peculiar report.

following

large

four-part

news test a

T o m a k e sure t h a t it received careful con-

sideration, this was reprinted t h r o u g h o u t the four sub-tests, w i t h a slight change of wording.

T o m a k e still surer t h a t it

would be precisely weighed, the item w a s related t o the most important running topic in t h e world news, namely

the

L o n d o n n a v a l conference. A t the last moment, it occurred t o me t h a t something significant might come out of t h e test if this item, alone a m o n g t w e n t y other familiar recent dispatches, be made false in some highly important respect.

M y thought was

t h a t the reactions of editors and reporters to this error m i g h t reveal the degree of their own a c t i v e interest in the n a v a l conference and M u s s o l i n i — a n d hence, in a more general fashion, the extent to which their local news interests limited their interest in, and acquaintance with, current international news.

Here is the test. A T E S T IN N E W S I N T E R E S T

Its aim: We wish to discover the relative values which newspapermen, students in schools of journalism, and newspaper readers set upon news items. How to perform the test: Here are four groups of six news items each which appeared in daily newspapers throughout the country on four successive days. Y o u are to rate each group separately. Method of rating: Write the numeral 1 at the right hand of the news story in Group I which you regard as having the most news interest. Write 2 opposite the next most interesting story, and so on, writing 6 opposite the story which you find the least interesting. Rate the items in Groups II, III, and I V in exactly the same way.

42

LOCAL

INTEREST

AND NEWS

VALUE

Note to newspaper men and students of journalism Here is the final test of a series presented in the course of a s u r v e y of the field of journalism which has been conducted during the past y e a r a t C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y . In rating the news items in the enclosed folder, please consider them f r o m the news editors' point of v i e w . M a k e a n y comments y o u wish in the space below. GROUP I

i . Washington. T h e cause of the fire which threatened serious damage to the Capitol building remained in d o u b t t o d a y . T h e blaze m a y h a v e been started b y a lighted cigarette or from spontaneous combustion in some of the painting materials used in the studio room on the roof. 2. S.S. " Kenilworth Castle." T h e Prince of Wales, bound for S o u t h A f r i c a to resume his hunting trip broken off last year b y K i n g George's illness, encountered a h e a v y storm on the B a y of B i s c a y and spent most of his time in the cabin. 3 . Lincoln, Neb. Friends of General John J. Pershing announced t o d a y a m o v e m e n t t o " d r a f t " him t o run against George W . Norris in the Republican senatorial primaries on A u g u s t 19. 4.

The Hague. E n g l a n d , France, and I t a l y proposed a t the H a g u e Conference t o d a y t h a t all claims of the former allied nations for reparations from A u s t r i a be wiped out. 5. Philadelphia. A f t e r the marriage of Nelson A . Rockefeller, son of John D . Rockefeller, Jr., t o Miss M a r y T o d h u n t e r C l a r k of Philadelphia, next summer, the y o u n g couple will reside 011 the Rockefeller estate at Pocantico Hills in a home which the y o u n g man's father will build for them. 6. Rome. T h e m o v e to reduce world navies encountered a serious setback this afternoon when Mussolini declared before an immense throng in R o m e t h a t I t a l y would ignore w h a t e v e r agreement the other n a v a l powers might reach unless they allowed I t a l y to maintain a submarine force slightly larger than t h a t of France.

RATING

LOCAL

INTEREST

AND

NEWS

VALUE

GROUP II RATING

i . Los Angeles. The first rain in four months falls today in this parched region. It began at six o'clock this morning. 2. S. S. "City of New York." The " C i t y of New Y o r k " starts its sea journey to Little America and the Byrd expedition at 2:30 p.m. today, when Captain F. C. Melville gives orders to get under way. 3.

New London, Conn. Five bottles of liquor stolen from the captured rum runner "Flor Del M a r " by coast guardsmen have been found on the destroyer Shaw, which yesterday returned to its base here from a six-day cruise of coastal waters.

4. Rome. Premier Mussolini announces before a large gathering that Italy will disregard any naval agreement among other powers which does not permit Italy to maintain a larger submarine force than that of France. 5. The Hague. In separate treaty negotiations between Germany and the United States for the payment of debts to America, the United States accepts full faith and credit of Germany as the only security for the fulfillment of German obligations. 6.

New York. Thirty-three institutions will share $6,000,000 in grants from the Hubert estate, selected by a committee whose members were former President Calvin Coolidge, former Governor Alfred E. Smith and Julius Rosenwald, the Chicago philanthropist.

43

44

LOCAL

I N T E R E S T

AND

NEWS

VALU

GROUP III ι.

Washington. Eddie Savoy, the negro messenger who has served Secretaries of State since the days of Hamilton Fish, was the proud recipient today of a diamond and platinum stickpin from the Japanese Delegates to the London Naval Conference as an expression of appreciation for his services when they recently visited the State Department.

2. Cambridge, Mass. Reduction of Harvard's intercollegiate athletic contests to a single game in each of the major sports is proposed by President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard in his annual report to the board of overseers made public today. 3.

New York. When the George Washington of the United States Lines arrived yesterday at Hoboken from the Channel, it became known that the vessel had been equipped with a miniature brewery which operates only when the liner is out at sea.

4. Baltimore. Discovery of a substance that will eliminate carbon monoxide, the fatal gas of the automobile exhaust, was claimed here today for Dr. J. C. W. Frazer, the Β. H. Baker Professor of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University. 5. Rome. A huge crowd acclaimed the announcement of Premier Mussolini that Italy will come to no naval agreement which does not permit her to maintain a larger submarine force than that of France. 6. Washington. Increased tariff protection for wool products was approved today by the Senate over the opposition of the coalition of Democrats and insurgent Republicans.

L O C A L

I N T E R E S T GROUP

AND

N E W S

V A L U E

45

IV RATING

i . St. Petersburg, Fla. Adrift for 30 hours in their open launch, Mr. and Mrs. John Levett of Tampa were rescued from Tampa Bay late today by coast guardsmen. 2. Washington. General John J. Pershing in a telegram to Mark Woods, of Lincoln, Nebraska, today told him he would not run for Senator against Norrie. 3. Washington. An overwhelmingly dry House burst into frequent applause when Representative Beedy of Maine defended the Coast Guard in the killing of three rum runners off the Rhode Island Coast during the holidays. 4. Rome. Premier Mussolini boldly announced that Italy will insist on the privilege of maintaining a submarine force slightly larger than that of France before coming to any agreement with other naval powers. 5. Washington. President Hoover's name figured in testimony before the Senate Lobby Commission today, when W. H. Baldwin of New York, publicity agent for the American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages, took the stand in the investigation regarding "confidential"memoranda written into the records. 6. S.S. "Western" off the Coast of Martinique. Mont Pelee is in violent eruption. Lava is flowing down the mountain side at 2 A.M. today.

The falsity in the Mussolini item was so great that, to any reader who had been following either the naval conference reports or Italian news with the slightest interest, it should have instantly appeared as preposterous. As I phrased it, Mussolini publicly declared that Italy demanded

46

LOCAL

I N T E R E S T

AND

NEWS

V A L U E

a fleet of submarines larger than that of France, as the price of signing a pact at the naval conference. Now, the most that Italy has ever demanded has been naval parity with France. Even that has been viewed, from the opening of the conference, as an impossible demand. A t no time could Mussolini have gone the length of clamoring for a submarine fleet superior to France's. Nor has any news dispatch asserted anything so wild. Now, what happened? Something that I had never anticipated. Out of all the 173 newspaper men and 291 journalism students, not a single individual detected the absurd falsity of the Mussolini report. And, still more oddly, this report won first place on the first of the four days on which it was supposed to appear. All three groups so rated it by sizable majorities. Twenty editors commented on the item, all adversely, but without for a moment suspecting its nature. They did, however, clearly reveal the attitude and policy which should have been expected : thus some of their remarks : " A woeful and tiresome repetition." "Mussolini as a news leader has become something of a fad—the cult of the A.P. and U.P " "This iron man stuff must have a new gag once in a while to compete with other first-page features." " I rate Mussolini low because he has figured so much in the news as the maker of bombastic speeches which our people have learned to regard as mere bow-wow." "If Mussolini made a speech in Rome daring any ten nations to fight, I would use it to fill in between the Weak Women and the Goat Gland advertisements." "Although foreign news is steadily gaining in importance, the Mussolini story is not the big one in any of the instances listed."

L O C A L

I N T E R E S T

AND

N E W S

V A L U E

47

And so on. But not even these critics of Mussolini copy once hinted that they did not recall any such yarn, or that the Duce couldn't have said what the report made him say. How shall we interpret the bewildering fact that 56 per cent of all the newspaper men, 66 per cent of all journalism students outside of Columbia, and 62 per cent of the Columbia students appraised this false and absurd report as the one having highest news value on the first of the four days? Shall we take the easiest way and condemn them all as ignoramuses? (Some noted citizens who give information tests do that.) Or shall we be a shade more charitable and pronounce tham all hopelessly provincial? Or is a third interpretation at hand? I am sure that the last is true. American readers, particularly while they are scanning their newspapers, have little or no solid basis for a genuine interest in Mussolini. Except in neighborhoods where many Italians Uve, the Duce falls into the same class with Queen Marie of Rumania and Ras Tafari of Abyssinia: " a big gun in one of those little countries somewhere in the Near East—or is it the Balkans?" The average man has, of course, heard much more about him than about the other "big guns." But hearing is not enough to create the sort of interest that leads to knowledge. Indeed, the more one hears of things which fail to intrigue him, the more stubbornly one turns away from the noise. Editors, seeking to furnish their readers with interesting news, have therefore no reason to keep them posted daily on the doings of the Duce. Now, for years, Italian propagandists overfed these same editors with all sorts of stuff about Mussolini; and, so long as it contained more than a chemical trace of "human interest," some of it was printed. But in recent months much less has found its way onto front pages, and for the excellent reason—alluded to by several of the editors taking this test—that the American public is "fed up."

48

L O C A L

I N T E R E S T

AND

N E W S

V A L U E

But, if this is true, how did all the editors and students rate the story highest in news value for the first day? Simply because the gist of the report concerned the naval conference quite as much as Mussolini. Everybody knew that the action or proposal of any great nation or any leader in such affecting proceedings at London must be first-page copy. And, in a general way, most journalists also knew that the hostility between Italy and France was going to prove a stumbling block at the conference, long before the latter opened. In a word, our editors and reporters have plainly been ignoring dispatches from Italy, especially those about Mussolini. And they have done so because their readers do not care for such copy, unless it contains something vitally affecting them or has exceedingly high "human interest." Therefore nobody was able to detect the absurdity in this faked report. Mussolini has cried "Wolf! Wolf!" several hundred times too often. Probably I might have inserted a crazy whopper about him without its being spotted. Making every allowance on this basis, however, there still remains the much more startling unfamiliarity with the basic circumstances of the naval conference. It is rather astonishing that not a single journalist, as he read my item four times, did not recall that the one issue between France and Italy was naval parity, and that Italy was not demanding superiority in any category. I refuse the hazard of explaining this. But I insist that journalism students have made fully as good a showing here as the veterans. * * * * * Now let us return to the larger questions. In the four sets of news reports we mingled local, national and international events. We have also blended in sundry personal stories along with the impersonal. In appraising all these, each editor is strongly influenced by his habits of judging

LOCAL

INTEREST

AND NEWS

VALUE

49

items of local interest for his own paper; bid the journalism students are not, save in a few rare instances which do not affect our statistics. Furthermore, the editors taking the test were located in every part of the United States and working on all sorts of papers from the tabloids up to the New York Times. What would the expectation be as to the spread of opinions? If the local interests of Americans all over the country differ very greatly, we should expect that the editors would scatter their votes widely on most items; hence, as the statistician would say, the distribution would be multimodal. That is, there would be no very large vote for any one item, but everyone or nearly everyone would approximate its arithmetical quota, namely 16.66 per cent of the total voters.* Or perhaps the editors might violate the rules of the games and vote two ways; once strictly as local workers and again as if they were operating a national news service which must transcend neighborhood preferences. What appears in the four tables of votes? On the whole, strongly marked preferential ratings by groups much larger than 16.66 per cent of their own class. Local interests have by no means blurred the picture. At the same time, many editors have supplemented their formal scorings with extensive comments in which they indicate the changes they would make in the order of stories to satisfy certain local conditions. For example: "If section interest rules, the Los Angeles rain item would have first place in Southern California." " T h e dry applause is rated high (by me) in Group IV because prohibition is a most widely discussed issue . . . and, in addition, Davenport (Iowa) is a wet town where any pro* Were the opposite trend completely realized, each item would receive a 100 per cent vote for one and only one rating.

SO

LOCAL

I N T E R E S T

AND

NEWS

VALUE

hibition news is important because of the general desire for a change in the law." "I assume that I am rating these items for papers like the New York Times and not for the Journal." "I have rated the items in order of their relative importance in St. Loins. Other stories would have major importance elsewhere." "The Pershing story was of greater interest here (Council Bluffs, Iowa) than some others because of our proximity to Nebraska." And so on, by the scores. In other words, most editors are quite competent to shift their point of view and perspective on stories according to their local appeal. (If they were not, what a hard time they would have in changing jobs!) Powerful as local interests rightly are in their daily appraisals, no stupendous act of will nor flight of the imagination is required to judge the usual runs of news from a national point of view, as the men on the syndicates and press services always must do. I said that local interests have not blurred the picture. This does not mean that no trace of them appears. They have affected the ratings in a peculiar manner which I am unable to analyze without further tests. It is this: In each group of six items we find two or three positions to which no story has been assigned by a sufficient number of voters to appear as a scoring group. In Group I, the second and fifth positions are vacant. In Group II, the third and fourth are vacant. In Group III, the fourth and fifth are vacant. In Group IV, the second, third and fifth are vacant. As a result of this, there is a doubling up on the positions for which votes in block were cast. Thus, in Group I, two items are ranked first and two more sixth; in Group II the same happens; in Group III two are put sixth, while there is

LOCAL

INTEREST

AND

NEWS

VALUE

51

a partial doubling on both second and third; and in Group IV, we find two firsts, two fourths, and two sixths. It can hardly be doubted that all this has been caused in part by a simple difficulty in close grading. To that extent it does blur the picture a little. And this same difficulty may, in some measure, root in the editor's troubles in reconciling his local interests with his wider judgment. I am led to suspect this by a rather striking difference between the editors' appraisals and the students'. The students have assigned all stories to distinct and separate positions in almost every instance here. In only three cases do we find vacant positions. The students, as we saw in the earlier tests on hypothetical news stories, seem not to differ much from experienced men in their basic principles of judgment; but they do differ in their experience, being almost entirely untrained in choosing news according to local interests. In our first news value test, we found that editors and students, when asked to estimate the absolute importance of events, judge almost exactly alike; but, when told to judge news values, they deviate considerably on certain stories requiring a larger background of experience, while keeping pretty close together on all others. In this larger and much more difficult test the difference between veteran and learner stands out still more sharply. The groups agree most nearly in their gross judgments; that is to say, in deciding on the best and the worst of six stories. ID Group I all three groups put the Mussolini fake first, while the newspaper men and the Columbia students also cast heavy votes for the White House office building fire in that rank. In the first place for Group IV all three groups again agree on the Hoover lobby story. Likewise at the bottom of the scale : in all four groups the three groups put the same stories in sixth rank.

52

L O C A L

I N T E R E S T

A N D

N E W S

V A L U E

But the ratings between first and sixth vary widely by groups. And here the group differences are least in the first set of test events, but even there quite large. The other three sets show the widest spread of judgments. What is equally important is the fairly close resemblance between the two student groups. While they differ, especially in the third set of events, on the whole they are much more alike than either one is like the newspaper men. TABLE

VI

Indicating the ratings in news value given by the largest number of each class taking the test. (There are four groups of items in this test.) GROUP I NEWSPAPER

ALL JOURNALISM

MEN

STUDENTS

ITEM

I.

2. 3· 45· 6.

Washington fire Prince of Wales Gen. Pershing Austria Rockefeller, Jr. Mussolini

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

ist

¡o

3d

28

6th

24 33 22 47 56

5th 6th 4th 2d 6th ist

40 40 45 38 47 66

3d 4th 6th ist

COLUMBIA STUDENTS Rating

Per cent

ist 3d 5th

30 28 42

4th 2d 6th ist

51 38 49 62

GROUP

II

6th

46

6th

56

6th

62

5th

26

4th

31

4th

32

6th

23

5th

31

ist 4· Mussolini 5· German debts 2d to U.S. 6. Hubert estate ist

27 24

2d ist

33 50

5th 4th 2d ist

26 25 32 47

32

3d

31

2d 3d

28 28

Los Angeles rain 2. Byrd expedition 3· Rum runner I.

LOCAL

INTEREST T A B L E

AND

V I —

GROUP

ITEM

I.

2. 3· 4· 5· 6.

I.

2. 3· 4· 5· 6.

NEWS

VALUE

S3

Continued III

NEWSPAPER

A L L JOURNALISM

MEN

STUDENTS

COLUMBIA STUDENTS

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

6th

Si

6th

41

6th

42

3d

26

4th

29

3d

28

5th 3d 4th

23 22 22

3d

28

4th

23

ι et ist

26 40

2d ist

36 47

44 39 41 32 45 36

6th 4th 2d 3d ist 6th

44 38 46 37 42 40

Negro messenger Harvard athletics Miniature brewery Chemistry discovery Mussolini Tariff on wool

2d

21

2d 3d ist 6th

46 46 24 23

John Levitt Gen. Pershing Coast guard Mussolini Hoover-Lobby Mount Pelee

6th 4th ist 6th ist 4th

GROUP

IV

39 27 31 21 31 22

6th 4th 2d 3d ist 6th

CHAPTER I V

NEWS VALUES AS R E V E A L E D IN A MAKE-UP

FIRST-PAGE

A test in first-page make-up was submitted to the same students and editors. T h e y were informed that its sole purpose was to discover the values which newspapermen set upon stories. N o attempt was made to achieve an artistic layout. The following important stories, selected from first page stories appearing in daily papers, were listed, as having come in on the same day. I t was ruled that there was space for only ten of them on the first page of a newspaper. A large sheet was enclosed with each test, on which each person rating his judgment was to indicate the position and space which he would allot to the ten stories he selected. He was to mark in the space b y columns, half-columns and quartercolumns, and to indicate runovers wherever necessary. One hundred and eleven newspaper men from all over the country and 181 journalism students, including 56 students of the School of Journalism of Columbia University, completed the test. M a n y others did part of it, or else misunderstood the rules of the game and hence could not be scored. Here are the fifteen important stories, of which ten were to be selected for front-page news b y all persons submitting to the test. ι . Washington. Harry F. Sinclair must serve three months in a "common jail" and pay a fine of $500 as a result of a decision by the United States Supreme Court today, affirming his conviction in the lower courts on a charge of contempt, 54

FIRST-PAGE

UAKE-UP

SS

growing out of his refusal to answer questions put to him b y the Senate committee in its investigation of the Teapot Dome oil lease. 2. Washington. Washington's diplomatic, official, and society circles saw the opening gun of a social war today in an announcement by Vice-President Curtis that he would decline to accept the ruling of Frank B. Kellogg just before he retired as Secretary of State that Mrs. Dolly Curtis Gann, the VicePresident's sister, would be scaled after the wives of foreign Ambassadors and Ministers at official dinners and other functions. 3. New Orleans. Manacled and under heavy guard, Captain John T. Randall and the crew of the British schooner " I ' m Alone," which was sunk Friday, as a rum-runner, off the Louisana coast by Coast Guard patrol boats, were brought here today on the " D e x t e r " and the "Walcott," which had captured them when their vessel went down. 4. Lansing. B y a unanimous vote today, the State Senate passed the Watson bill, repealing, in effect, the inclusion of violators of the prohibition law in the statute which makes life imprisonment mandatory for fourth offenders. 5. Baltimore. T w o convicts in the state prison here have invented a new type of hydraulic power plant for which the government has granted them a patent. The inventors are Frank L. Aller, a member of the Norris murder gang, and Raymond R. Scott, serving eight years for highway robbery. 6. New York. Plans to end the competitive search for oil in the Western Hemisphere crystallized yesterday in a binding compact by which the principal producers are obliged to limit production in the current year to the average output of 1928. 7. Chicago. "Scarface" Al Capone of Chicago and Miami, Fla., became involved in serious trouble with the Federal Government today when a warrant was served upon him charging contempt of court, which, if successfully established, can send him to jail for one year, involving also a fine of $1,000. 8. New York. Tightening of the strings of the country's credit supply, a development foreshadowed last week, but not considered seriously by speculators in the stock market, brought

56

F I R S T - P A G E

M A K E - U P

about yesterday one of the sharpest declines in securities that has ever taken place on the Exchange. 9. Hamburg. With four of her half-finished decks and her superstructure destroyed by fire and the greater part of her giant hold filled with water and wreckage, the 46,000 ton North German Lloyd liner "Europa," one of the two sister ships with which German merchant shipping hoped to win the blue ribbon of the Atlantic, lies tonight moored to building docks, a temporarily defeated ocean leviathan. 10. Hartford. Mrs. Harry E. Adams, whose husband, the meteorologist in charge of the weather bureau here, died yesterday, was held on a charge of murder following an alleged confession that she had administered an overdose of chloroform to him. 11. Paris. With a suddenness that shocked all France, Ambassador Myron T. Herrick, the most beloved envoy whom the United States ever sent to this country, died at the embassy this evening. 12. Washington. Henry J. Allen, former Governor of Kansas, who was publicity director of the Hoover presidential campaign, will be appointed Senator from that state, as successor to Vice-President Curtis, his political foe of many years. 13. Chefoo. Nationalist forces clashed with anti-Nationalists this morning fifteen miles west of Chefoo, precipitating the first battle of the new Shantung uprising. 14. Columbus. Patrick E. McDermott, slayer of Don R. Mellett, the Canton (Ohio) editor, and Mike Jaco, a Cleveland killer, two of the five convicts who escaped from the Ohio penitentiary early this morning were captured tonight near Upper Arlington, a suburb, after 18 hours of freedom. 15. Los Angeles. Edward L. Doheny, Jr., the oil man's 36year-old son, who figured in the Teapot Dome investigation of 1924 as the messenger who carried the "little black bag" containing $100,000 to former Secretary Albert B. Fall, was shot to death in a bedroom in his Beverly Hills mansion shortly before midnight last night by his secretary and companion, Hugh Plunkett. The latter then killed himself by firing a bullet through his brain.

Œfje iïtormngôtbe H>un 1 3 2 POSITION or POSITION OF POSITION OF FOUBTH SIXTH SECOND IHPOQTANCE IMPORTANCE IMPORTANCE

4

D

6 7 Ô POSMONOF POSITION OF POSITION OF FIRST THIRD FIFTH IMPORTANCE IMPORTANCE IMPORTANCE

EACH o r THESE COLUMNS WAS CONSIDERED T O CONTAIN 1000 WORDS

F I R S T - P A G E

M A K E - U P

The first-page sheet enclosed with the Make-up Test, on which students and editors were to allocate both space and position to the ten events which they selected, was of the same size as that of an ordinary daily newspaper. It was divided into eight columns, in each of which would appear theoretically iooo words of newspaper copy. In judging the relative important positions assigned to various events, we scored only the six most important positions actually used. There were two good reasons for our doing so. First, the statistical labor of scoring all ten would have been very heavy. Secondly, the six best positions are much less open to controversy than the four poorest out of ten. Hence our final comparative scores gain in accuracy. The following diagram indicates these six positions according to their relative importance. A news item appearing in the top part of Column 8, or both Columns 7 and 8, occupied the position of first importance on the front page. News appearing in the upper part of Column 1, or Columns ι and 2, was of second importance. Items allocated the first part of Column 7, or Columns 6 and 7, held the third most important position on the page. Those occupying space in the upper parts of the second, or second and third columns, were of fourth importance in front page position. News items appearing in the top part of Column 6, or Columns 5 and 6, were of fifth relative importance. And events having the least important position were placed in the upper part of Column 3, or Columns 3 and 4. We realize, of course, that this valuation of position is partly arbitrary. But, as far as possible, we have conformed to the usual professional appraisal. Several editors called our attention to the fact that, in practice, these place values are often changed by typography, white space, boxes, and

F I R S T - P A G E M A K E - U P

59

TABLE VII Indicates the various positions assigned by all three groups taking the Test in First-Page Make-up to the six items selected for important positions on the first page of a newspaper. The most important position is number i, the least, number 6. N e w s Items

I.

2.

Herrick's death Stock market crash

Groups

Positions I

2

4 -Per Cent

5

Newspaper men Students Columbia

38 72 73

26 12

5

2

2 I

Newspaper men All students Columbia

8 7

12 29

3· Murder of Newspaper men Doheny's All students Columbia son

3

7

I

—

16

44

12

14 17 7

7 7 7

3

6 5 3

—

4· Gann Social Newspaper men war All Students Columbia

I I

5· " I ' m Alone" Newspaper men case All Students Columbia

2

2

I

3 5

4 3

9 3

27

23

6.

Sinclair jailed

Newspaper men All Students Columbia

3 3

2 I

18

25

3

II

3

2 —

3

—

3 9 7

6

—

6

7

8 I

6

I 6

I

9

—

8

—

2

I

I

7 7

6 3 7

20

2

7 3

3 3

3 3 9

4 3

3 3 7

7 7 7

I I I

7

12 12

S

8

5

pictures. To be sure! But it is quite possible to rule these out of the reckoning, as we do. The agreement between editors and journalism students in general is remarkable. No less so are the violent disagreements of the Columbia students on the third item. Aside from this single item, however, we find no appreciable dif-

6o

F I R S T - P A G E

M A K E - U P

ference between the judgments of veterans and cubs. This agrees with our other tests in judgments of news value. In interpreting our results, we take into consideration the fact that some newspapers place the most important news of the day in the top left-hand column (which we regard as the position of second importance) rather than in the upper right hand column. This difference in policy may account for the relatively slight disagreements in judgment in assigning front page position to the news items of the death of Herrick, the murder of Doheny's son, and the jailing of Sinclair. Students and newspaper men agreed that the following stories deserved important positions on the front page: the death of Ambassador Herrick; the murder of Doheny's son; the social war over Mrs. Gann; the sinking of the ' I'm Alone"; and the break in the stock market. A startling fact comes out here; the only event assigned to front page position which is of genuine absolute importance in contemporary affairs is the collapse of the stock market. The news of the sinking of the "I'm Alone," of course, might have had wide significance in international affairs—especially in the relations between Great Britain and the United States. Its absolute importance, however, could not compare in ultimate significance with that of the stock crash. Obviously both newspaper men and students of journalism know that the news value of an event is seldom in direct proportion to its absolute importance. And what newspaper readers best like to read about all too often includes news of the most meager significance, such as these other items selected by all groups for front page position : the murder of the son of the oil man; the silly battle over social position of a Vice President's sister; the death of an ambassador to France. All these events are trivial in comparison, for example, with important plans to end the competitive search for oil, or the

F IRSΤ- ΡAG Ε Μ ΑΚE- UΡ

6l

passing of the Watson Bill repealing a law which demanded life imprisonment for fourth offenders of the prohibition law, making punishment for this offense as great as that for manslaughter. Each group showed a marked consensus of opinion in regard to the news value of one event only—the death of Ambassador Herrick. While 38 per cent of the newspaper men assigned first position to the item, so did 72 per cent of all journalism students, and 73 per cent of Columbia students. And the percentage assigning to this event either first or second position on the front page is much greater in every case—for 74 per cent of all newspaper men agreed that the event deserved either the right or left-hand upper column on the front page, while 84 per cent of all students and 80 per cent of Columbia students arrived at the same decision. In no other case do we find so notable a coincidence in judgment—either within each single group or among all groups. Twelve per cent of the experienced journalists assigned second position on the front page to the news of the market crash. So did 29 per cent of all students, and 44 per cent of Columbia students. Fourteen per cent of the newspaper men allocated the same position to the murder of Doheny's son. So did 17 per cent of all students. Here, however, Columbia students showed marked disagreement. For 28 per cent of the entire group was evenly divided in its opinion as to whether the news of the murder should receive second third, fifth, or sixth position. The only other marked devia-, tion in judgment between journalists and students is in assigning position to the Gann social war. Twenty per cent of newspaper men allocate the news to fourth position, while only 7 per cent of all students give it the same place. And again Columbia Students disagree, 9 per cent of the group assigning the news to sixth position.

62

F I R S T - P A G E

M A K E - U P

With these exceptions, however, we find throughout the tabulated results of the Test in First-Page Make-up that when a large percentage of professional newspaper men agree on the news value of these events, so do most students. And when there is a marked disagreement among the journalists as to the allocation of position to news item, there is likewise a great difference of opinion in the judgments of students. We are again forced to the conclusion that training and long professional experience have notably little to do with the problem of selecting and placing important news on the front page. Our preliminary conclusions in regard to the marked agreement in judgment between experienced journalists and students as to the news value of current events are further emphasized by a comparison of the space allotted to the various events by all groups submitting to the Test in FirstPage Make-up. The three following tables indicate the allocation of words by the largest percentage of each group to the events listed in this test. Table Number VIII shows the judgments of newspaper men as to the allocation of space; Table Number I X , those of all students, and Table Number X , those of Columbia students. There is in each case a very remarkable correspondence in judgment in this test among all three groups. We find further general agreement in the number of words allocated to the 15 events of the Test in First-Page Make-up by each of the three groups tested. The largest percentage of each group selects the following events as worthy of 1000 words on the front page: the death of Herrick; the collapse of the stock market; the jailing of Sinclair; and the murder of Doheny's son. Furthermore, there is a notable correspondence in the percentages of these groups so allocating words to the events. For 40 per cent of all

F I R S T - P A G E T A B L E NEWSPAPER

M A K E - U P

63

VILI MEN

ITEM

NUMBER OF W O R D S

PER CENT OF G R O U P

Herrick's death

1000

40

75°

Stock market collapse Sinclair to jail Murder of Doheny's son

1000 1000 1000 800 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 250

Gann social war Lansing case 'I'm A l o n e " case Burning of " E u r o p a " Oil search Allen becomes Senator Al Capone M c D e r m o t t case Adams murder Convict invention Chinese war T A B L E ALL

JOURNALISM

N E W S ITEM

Herrick's death Stock market crash Murder of Doheny's son Sinclair to jail

26 23

31 30

26 22 20 18 14

12 II II

S

I X

N U M B E R OF W O R D S

1000 1000 1000 1000

" I ' m A l o n e " case

1000 500

Gann social war

1000 500

75°

PER C 45 34 33

29 20 18 18 16 16 17

75°

16

750

15

500 Chinese war

33

STUDENTS

750

Search for oil

I I 38

75°

500

12 7 7

64

F I R S T - P A G E

M A K E - U P

T A B L E I X (Continued) NEWS ITEM

NUMBER OF WORDS

Al Capone Lansing case Burning of " E u r o p a " Convict invention McDermott case Allen becomes Senator Adams murder

PER CENT

500

26

500 1000

16

S 00 500

13 14 I I I I

500

I I

500

5

500

TABLE X COLUMBIA NEWS ITEM

STUDENTS NUMBER OF WORDS

PER CENT

Herrick's death

I 100 1000

26

Stock market collapse Sinclair to jail Murder of Doheny's son 'I'm Alone" case

1000 1000

37 33

1000

21

Allen becomes Senator Lansing case Gann social war Search for oil Adams murder Chinese war McDermott slaying Al Capone 'Europa" burning Convict invention

1000 600

19

16

1000

16 I2

1000

8

500

8

75° 75°

21

500

8

75° 75°

7 S 3

650 500 500 500

10

19 19 IO

journalists assign 1000 words to the death of Herrick, while 45 per cent of all students and 19 per cent of Columbia students arrive at the same decision. Moreover, 26 per cent of the Columbia students believe the news of Herrick's death deserves 1100 words of front page copy, and so vote, making

FIRST-PAGE

MAKE-UP

65

a total of 45 per cent of this group whose judgment nearly corresponds with that of the other two groups. When 38 per cent of the newspaper men devote 1000 words to the market collapse, so do 34 per cent of all students, and 37 per cent of Columbia students. Thirty-three per cent of the professional journalists allocate 1000 words to the jailing of Sinclair; and so do 29 per cent of all students and 33 per cent of Columbia students. Twenty-six per cent of the newspaper men tested believe that the news of the murder of Doheny's son justifies 1000 words of front page copy; and 33 per cent of all students and 21 per cent of Columbia students arrive at the same decision. The largest percentage of the group of newspaper men devote no more than 500 words of front-page space to the remaining news items listed in our test. Here the experienced journalists show a deviation in judgment from the students assigning space to the same events. For example, 31 per cent of the newspaper men agree that the news of the Gann social war is worth no more than 500 words on the front page. The students, however, are not so sure. So 17 per cent of them give the incident 500 words, 16 per cent decide it justifies 750 words, and another 16 per cent would allocate a full column to the trivial but gossipy news. For almost the first time, then, we discover a more marked unanimity of opinion in the professional group than we do in the student groups. But the percentage of newspaper men arriving at the same conclusions as to the space which should be allotted to these events is by no means as large as we should expect it to be. For while 26 per cent of the journalists would devote 500 words to the news of the "I'm Alone" case, 74 per cent differed variously in their judgments. And as we continue down the list, noting further the word estimates arrived at by the group of newspaper men, we discover that the percentage of agreement becomes smaller and smaller, until

66

FIRST-PAGE

MAKE-UP

finally we note that only 5 per cent of the entire group agreed on the front-page space to be given to the news of the Chinese war. Here again the judgments of the two student groups show amazing likeness. Here again we have confirmation of our early conclusions as to the value of experience and training in some of the important features of newspaper work. In too many cases, we have all too little evidence of the existence of a science of news editing. Much depends on the local conditions influencing the selection of news events. But it is all too obvious that editing a newspaper involves quite as much guess work as it does specialized knowledge and unique skill in the profession of giving the public the news it wants. The buyer of commodities has never been adequately studied. And with good reason. For here are involved the most difficult and subtle of all scientific problems—the knowledge and understanding of the workings of the human mind.

CHAPTER

V

HOW JOURNALISTS APPRAISE RUMORS The aim of the following test was to measure roughly the skill of newspaper men and of students in the art of appraising rumors with speed and sound judgment. The newspaper man continually hears of many big and important "news breaks," whose accuracy must be carefully judged and whose probability must be cautiously estimated before news of these events may be released for publication. Here, more than in any other field of newspaper work, we should expect the experienced journalist to have an enormous advantage in shrewdness of judgment over the immature and entirely inexperienced student. His age, his practical experience, his wide and diversified knowledge, and his varied contacts in many fields of interest to newspaper readers should make his estimates of the probability of news reports being wellfounded far more sound than the personal judgments of journalism students. Here is the test : IMPORTANT IF T R U E

A STUDY IN PROBABILITIES Aim of this Test: Every newspaper man must appraise rumors with speed and sound judgment. Hints of big stories float in upon him continually, to be rejected as impossible, or approached warily as improbable. A large part of a man's "news sense" consists of his capacity to estimate the probability of a rumor being well-founded. The following test aims to measure roughly your skill in this difficult art. After hundreds of tests have been analyzed, a better one will be prepared.

67

68

A P P R A I S A L

OF

H U M O R S

Method of rating: Write the numeral ι at the right hand of the rumor which you regard as the most highly probable; 2 opposite the rumor next most probable, and so on. If you have any comments to make, either on the soundness of this test or on some point in the rumors, please write them in at the bottom of next page. Take as much time as you please for this test up to two hours. Do not discuss the problems with anybody else. We want your personal judgment and nothing else. The Report Cambridge, Mass. Mrs. R u t h B r y a n Owen has enrolled as a graduate student in biology at Harvard University Bucharest. E n v o y s extraordinary representing Jugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria and Greece met here t o d a y and signed articles of Confederation which consolidate their nations into the United States of the Balkans New York. T h e Rockefeller Institute has discovered a cancer cure which succeeds with all patients except those in whom organic cancer is far advanced New York. John D . Rockefeller, Jr., admitted to reporters that he paid the largest individual income tax in the country for 1928 Mexico City. Col. Lindbergh this morning announced that he would never fly again. He stated that aviation has no future, commercially or otherwise, and that he is going to join a Stock Exchange House Schenectady, Ν. Y. The General Electric Co. has just purchased from D r . Emil Swigg, professor of radiodynamics of the University of Berlin, a straight-line broadcaster-receiver which can be manufactured to sell at retail for $14. It weighs 2 lbs., 3 oz. T h e broadcaster weighs 2 lbs., 1 oz. and the receiver 2 oz. T h e mechanism, which has been undergoing secret tests for six years, narrows the broadcast waves to a vertical ray only 4 feet wide and 18 feet broad. I t s working range is about 325 miles Washington. This morning the President signed the bill passed last week by Congress repealing the surtax on all personal incomes

APPRAISAL

OF

HUMORS

69

London. The British Cabinet, at a meeting last night, unanimously decided not to compete with the United States in the building of cruisers Detroit. Federal Prohibition agents raided a rum runners' base near Grosse Pointe at 2 λ. m. last night and seized a million dollars' worth of whiskey and wines. As they were about to leave, one raider noticed a trap door in the floor. This was forced open and a subcellar disclosed. In it the agents found Scarface Capone, Edsel Ford, and six unknown men in the act of dividing a huge sum of money. Capone indignantly produced a receipt for $210,000 in payment for a fleet of Fordson tractors and insisted that this represented the money the raiders seized. All parties are being held without bail Northampton, Mass. Mr. Lucey, the cobbler who has been a life-long friend of Calvin Coolidge, declares that Mr. Coolidge told him that he did not choose to run again for the Presidency because he was bitterly disillusioned as to the motives and methods of politicians and bored to extinction by the stupid formalities and pettiness of Washington society T h e largest percentage of all groups agreed t h a t the discovery of a cure for cancer w a s the most probable of all ten e v e n t s Usted in this s t u d y — 3 4 per cent of the newspaper men, 36 per cent of all students, and 55 per cent of C o l u m b i a students arriving a t this conclusion. A smaller percentage of each group, on the other h a n d , believed that the announcem e n t of John D . Rockefeller, Jr.'s income t a x was the most p r o b a b l e — 2 0 per cent of all newspaper men, 27 per cent of all students, a n d 31 per cent of Columbia students so estim a t i n g the probability of this story. A n d while 16 per cent of the newspaper men rated this same item as third in proba b i l i t y , 23 per cent of all students and 26 per cent of C o l u m bia students d e v i a t e d b y only one point a n d rated the e v e n t second. W e find f u r t h e r agreement a m o n g the groups in the rating of the probability of Lindbergh's leaving aviation. The

70

A P P R A I S A L

OF

TABLE

RUMORS XI

H e r e is h o w t h o s e w h o t o o k t h e t e s t r a t e d t h e e v e n t s as t o their probable occurrence. I n the rating, number ι indicates t h e e v e n t w h i c h is j u d g e d as m o s t p r o b a b l e , a n d n u m b e r 10 t h e least likely. ITEM

NEWSPAPERMEN Rating

Per cent

A L L STUDENTS Rating

COLUMBIA

Per cent

Rating

Per cent

ist 3d 4th

13 13 I2

3d 5th 6th

20

Ruth Bryan Owen

6th

U . S . of t h e Balkans

6th 7th 4th

17 15 15

5th 7 th 4th

15 15 14

5th 4th 6th

17 IS IS

C a n c e r cure

ist

34

ist 2d

36 27

ist

55

I n c o m e t a x of R o c k e f e l l e r Jr.

ist

20 i6

ist 2d

27

3d

ist 2d

31 26

ioth 9th

36 35

ioth 9th

30

9th ioth

31

4th

18

5th 4th 2d

17 16 16

4th

22

2d 3d 4th 5th

14 15 14 15

3d 4th 5th 6th

14 14 12

2d 4th

22 22

7th 8th

19 16

7th 8th

19 18

7th 9th 5th

20

ioth 9th

44 34

ioth 9th

30 24

ioth

44

5th 8th

16 IS

4th 6th

IS 14

3d 6th

20 20

Lindbergh leaves aviation Broadcasterreceiver Surtax on personal i n c o m e repealed E n d of B r i t ish c r u i s e r competition Rum-runners' base Coolidge

23

23 40

17 17

42

17 17 i"

A P P R A I S A L OF R U M O R S

71

largest percentage of each group rated this rumor tenth in probability, by a vote of 36 per cent of newspaper men, 40 per cent of all students, and 31 per cent of Columbia students. And when 3 s per cent of the newspaper men rate the item ninth, so do 30 per cent of all students and 42 per cent of Columbia students. In even so technical a story as the rumor of the manufacture of a straight-line broadcaster-receiver, we again find this amazing coincidence of judgment on the part of the largest percentages of all groups voting—with 18 per cent of the newspaper men, 16 per cent of all students, and 22 per cent of Columbia students rating the item fourth in probability. And again when we note the deviation of 17 per cent of all students from this rating, we find that they deviate by one point only and rate the item fifth. Newspaper men rate the establishment of the United States of the Balkans as fourth, seventh, and sixth in probability by percentages of 15, 15, and 17 respectively. And all students estimate the probability of this event as fourth, seventh, and fifth, by the respective percentages of 14, 15, and 15, while Columbia students by almost equal percentages of 15, 15, and 17, estimate the probability of the event to be sixth, fourth, and fifth respectively. It is notable, then, that when newspaper men differ in some degree in their judgments as to the probability of a rumor, students differ in almost the same degree by almost exactly the same percentages of the group voting. We note this same tendency in the rating of the rumor of the repeal of the personal income tax, for an almost equal percentage of newspaper men rate the probability of this event anywhere from second to fifth (with 14 per cent rating it second, 15 per cent third, 14 per cent fourth, and 15 per cent fifth), all students estimate its probability from third to sixth, with an almost equal range—14 per cent placing the event third in probability, 14 per cent

72

A P P R A I S A L

OF

RUMORS

fourth, i2 per cent fifth, and 17 per cent sixth. Columbia University students show the same tendency, 22 per cent of the group rating the event as second in probability, and the same percentage estimating it as fourth. Nineteen per cent of all newspaper men rate the news of the end of British cruiser compeition with the United States as seventh in probability. So do 19 per cent of all students. So do 20 per cent of Columbia students. Again, when 16 per cent of all newspaper men deviate in their ratings of the same event, and estimate its probability to be eighth, so do 18 per cent of all students, while 17 per cent of Columbia students differ by only one point and rate the event ninth. The rumor of the establishment of the rum-runners' base receives a rating of tenth in probability by the largest percentage of each group, with 44 per cent of all newspaper men, 30 per cent of all students, and 44 per cent of Columbia students arriving at the same conclusion. And when 34 per cent of all newspaper men believe instead that the probability of this item should be rated as ninth, so do 24 per cent of all students. The only news rumor of all ten Usted about which there was marked disagreement among all groups is the story of the reason for Coolidge's refusal to run again for the Presidency. Here 16 per cent of the newspaper men rated the item as fifth in probability, while 15 per cent of all the students rated it fourth, and 20 percent of the Columbia students rated it third. Differences in judgment within each group are here more noticeable and of a wider range than they are in the ratings of other events. For another 15 per cent of all newspaper men rate the probability of the rumor eighth, while 14 per cent of all students rate it as sixth, and 20 per cent of Columbia students rate it as sixth. Again we note the astonishing fact that in even so difficult a test of judgment as the rating of rumors, students and

APPRAISAL

OF

RUMORS

73

experienced journalists arrive at very nearly identical conclusions. Does experience count? Does training help? Is the newspaper man's wider knowledge of more value to him in the appraisal of news rumors than the student's more circumscribed grasp of facts and their significance? Or is the appraisal of possible news breaks and big stories largely a matter of "hunch" and purely personal judgment? The results of our Study in Probabilities would seem to indicate as much. We find no startling deviations of judgment between experienced journalists and young, inexperienced students. And within each group we find almost the same amount and kind of difference of opinions. The value of training in journalism seems here altogether dubious. One man's hunch seems about as good as that of another, regardless of how much he knows and how long he has been in harness. All this becomes the more striking when we consider that, in the opinion of some of the greatest mathematical experts in the theory of probability, any given probability is nothing more than "a measure of our ignorance." That is, each man who estimates the likelihood of an event does so in terms of what he happens to know about all the factors involved in its occurrence. T o an organic chemist the chances that a cure for cancer may be found in an arsenic derivative are one thing: to you and me quite another. T o a foreign news editor the chances that the Balkan States have just joined in a close federation would be calculated in terms of hundreds of facts quite unknown to most other people. T o a radio fan the news from Schenectady that a $14.00 straightline broadcaster-receiver will soon be on the market has a degree of probability altogether different from my own estimate. And so on. The more one knows about a subject, the more precisely does he compute contingencies and out-

74

APPRAISAL

OF

RUMORS

comes within its field. T o one who knows absolutely nothing about it, all events must be equally probable. Now, here is the strange fact. Our experienced editors and reporters, taken as groups, show virtually the same distribution of judgments here as do our young students. This can mean only one thing: The experienced journalists are not much better informed about the subjects mentioned in this test than are the inexperienced undergraduates. (Of course, a few journalists in the group are vastly better informed on some special topic; one on foreign affairs, another on income tax developments, and so on.) In other words, neither the veterans of the press nor the embryo cubs, as a class, are specialists in European politics, cancer research, radio, internal revenue laws, naval affairs, or the personal psychology of Mrs. Owen, Colonel Lindbergh, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Mr. Lucey, or Mr. Coolidge. We have gathered no evidence as yet which will throw light on the still more significant question as to how far and in what manner (if at all) newspaper workers and students differ from ordinary newspaper readers in this particular ability. Nor have we been able to graze another highly interesting aspect, namely the extent to which both the seasoned journalists and the students have based their probability judgments solely upon what they have read in the newspapers. With considerable labor, this could be ascertained, within reasonable limits of error, simply by calling upon each person to state his reasons for his judgment. It would not be very hard to run down the sources of such explanations, so long as we were dealing with assertions like those in our tests. And it would be well worth our while to do that; for there is a real danger that newspaper men, just because they have to read newspapers copiously, read and trust other sources of information but little. A vicious circle

APPRAISAL

OF

RUMORS

75

may be concealed here; the blind may be teaching the blind how to see. Our test, so far as it goes, indicates unequivocally that journalism students are almost precisely as competent in estimating news probabilities as experienced workers are. This may be variously interpreted. It may be taken to signify that the students now admitted to schools of journalism possess whatever set of mental traits is involved in sizing up supposed occurrences as well as anybody working on a newspaper has to, in order to hold his job. Or it may be construed to mean that anybody whose intelligence and general information approximates those of a college freshman judges probabilities well enough to serve as a newspaper editor or reporter. T o check up on this second supposition, we should have to compare the judgments of journalism students with large groups of collegiate and non-collegiate persons of the same general age. Until that is done, we cannot go further than assert that journalism students seem to appraise events as to their likelihood quite as well as professionals do; hence they are vocationally fit in this respect.

CHAPTER V I

INTERCORRELATIONS BETWEEN

VARIOUS

STANDARDIZED NON-JOURNALISTIC TESTS Where do journalism students and newspaper workers stand in some of the tests which have been more or less standardized and which throw some light upon traits useful in reporting and editing? And how significant are the intercorrelations between such tests taken in pairs? We have made a good beginning with four tests which seem to have diagnostic value in the appraising of journalism students. These are: ι.

The Thorndike Word Knowledge test

2.

The Kennon Literary Vocabulary test

3.

The Strong Vocational Interest test

4.

The Columbia Junior Journalism Proofreading test

The Thorndike Test of Word Knowledge was given to the students in order to make an objective test of the scope and accuracy of their vocabularies. We have described the results and the significance of the students' ratings in these tests on page 87. Four alternative forms of this test are available—Forms A, B, C, and D—and may be obtained through the Bureau of Publications of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. As the instruction sheet states, discussing the reliability of the tests, "If a precise measure of an individual is desired, two or more forms of the test should be used, preferably on different days. For measures of a class as a whole, one form is adequate." 76

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

77

T E S T S

In testing the vocabularies of the students of journalism, we distributed alternate forms of the Thorndike Test to alternate students, recording on each paper the time which each student required in order to complete the test. No student was allowed more than thirty minutes. Each test includes 100 words for which five possible synonyms are printed opposite each word. The student is instructed to "find the other word in the Une which means the same or most nearly the same." He is then to write the number of this word at the right side of the page. Here is a sample of the method used: A. beast

ι afraid 4 animal

2 words s bird

3 large

B. baby

1 cradle 4 youth

2 mother 5 girl

C. raise

1 lift up 4 bread

2 drag 3 sun 5 deluge

D. blind

iman 2 cannot see 4 unhappy 5 eyes

3 little child

3 game

4 3 1 2

The average score made by able college graduates who took the Thorndike Test of Word Knowledge is 88, and, as we see in Table X I I , the students of journalism compared very favorably with this group in its own scores. To some of the students of journalism we gave a much more difficult vocabulary test than the Thorndike Test of Word Knowledge—the Kennon Test of Literary Vocabulary including 100 words, available in Forms A and Β through Teachers College, Bureau of Publications, Columbia University. We allowed a maximum of thirty minutes for the completion of this test, whose general method is the same as that

78

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

T E S T S

of the Thorndike Test. Because of the f a r greater difficulty of the test, the scores of most students were low. T h e following sample shows the general scope of the K e n n o n Test, whose alternate forms were distributed to alternate students as before. Look at the first word in line i. Find the other word in the line which means the same or most nearly the same. Write its number on the line at the right side of the page. Do the same in lines 2, 3, 4, etc. Lines A, B , C, and D are correctly done. A. blithe

ι shining 2 baleful 3 joyous 4 unsteady s reckless

3

B . steed

1 war horse 3 pegasus

1

C. elfin

ι oval 2 dwarf 3 hideous 4 mournful 5 olden

2 armor 4 pony

5 sword

2

D. squire 1 yeoman 2 page 3 vassal 4 attendant 5 ruler savannah

1 frozen marsh 2 morass island 4 high plateau

apologue

1 banality 4 synonym

4

3 coral s treeless plain

2 enigma 3 foreword 5 moral fable

leprechaun 1 prehistoric animal 2 mushroom 3 tomb 4 person with leprosy corbie

1 fairy basket

2 charm 3 raven 5 pet lamb

nadir

1 wealthy official 2 lowest point 3 horizon 4 balsam 5 beak

immolate

1 perpetuate 4 disparage

corages

1 hearts 2 carrion crows 3 wicker boats 4 beaks

2 transfix s disdain

5 sprite 4 large

3 sacrifice.

5 plumage

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

T E S T S

paynim

ι river god 4 massacre

3 pagan

gloss

ι edition 4 mystery

ravin

1 spoil 2 delirium 4 wound 5 skein

caravel

1 carved stone 4 fast ship

caitiff

ι Mohammedan ruler 2 street hawker 3 camel driver 4 bully 5 coward

2 nymph 5 wizard

79

2 print 3 interpretation 5 stanza 3 ill omen

2 camel train 5 folksong

3 inn

Each student was requested to fill out the Vocational Interest Blank, devised by Professor Edward K . Strong, Jr., of the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, California. A s the test is described, " I t is possible with a fair degree of accuracy to determine b y this test whether one would like certain occupations or not. T h e test is not one of intelligence or school work. It measures the extent to which one's interests agree or disagree with those of successful men in a given profession." T h e test includes eight parts, as described below : Part I includes a list of one hundred occupations. T h e student is requested to indicate opposite each occupation listed whether he would like, be indifferent to, or dislike that kind of work. He is to disregard salary, social standing, possibility of future advancement, etc. Part II lists fifty-four amusements which he is to check in the same manner as he did the occupations in Part I. Part I I I includes thirty-nine school subjects opposite which he is to indicate his interest as before. In Part I V he is to list his preferences among forty-four kinds of activities, such as repairing a clock, opening a conversation with a stranger, having regular hours for work, developing systems, and so on.

8o

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

T E S T S

In Part V, the Peculiarities of People, the student is to record his feelings of like, dislike, or indifference to fifty-three different kinds of people: e.g., progressive people, optimists, negroes, independents in politics, Socialists, and so on. The Columbia Junior Journalism test has been used in several forms, all having the same pattern. A page of 500 or more words of text is filled with exactly 100 errors in punctuation, spelling, face, font, and style, as well as short pied passages. The usual standardized time for finishing the test is 10 minutes, or approximately 5 times as long as should be required to read the text straight through uncritically. It may be that the speed thus set is somewhat too great. But I doubt it, after many years of trying it out. Proof is that, when 20 minutes have been allowed, the score improves surprisingly little. Furthermore, it is absurd to allot 20 minutes for such a task, when done on a professional basis. And we are interested exclusively in the vocational norm. Let us first look at each single test and see how students in general compare with journalism students. Then let us see how the Columbia journalism students deviate from journalism students at large. The Thorndike Word Knowledge test has been given to thousands of college students and other adults by scores of investigators; hence the results have substantial meaning for us. Thorndike reports that able college students show an average score of 88 here. Now, we tested 216 students in journalism and found their average score to be almost precisely this—which is quite significant in view of the wide geographical spread of the groups. The exact score was 88.73, thus placing the journalists in eight universities in the top collegiate class, so far as word knowledge goes. This, of course, is in harmony with all natural expectations: a student interested in reporting and editing should manifest both a superior interest in and ability with words.

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

TEST8

8l

The difference between the Columbia students and all others is considerable. The 162 students in the seven other universities scored an average of 87.61—which is an insignificant shade below that of all able college graduates. The Columbia students—54 of them—scored 92.09. I doubt whether this is enough of a difference to mean much in vocational appraisals ; but it surely indicates a superior knowledge of words. And it is reflected in a similiar superiority of the Columbia students in each of the other tests. Far more striking are the scores in the Strong Vocational Interest test. In construing these you must bear in mind that a high score indicates that the person's interests resemble those of the median man in the occupational group tested. It does not indicate any resemblance to a superior man in that group. This, of course, is the most useful measurement if we seek the general probabilities of success somewhere within the field of journalism, rather than a special probability of success, say, as managing editor or as ownereditor. We seek here the trend of interests in the entire class of newspaper workers; and this is disclosed most broadly by the set of interests displayed either by the largest group within the class (the mode) or else by the group midway between the two extreme sets of interests (the median). We obtained records from 264 journalism students and 13S newspaper men. The median score of the latter was 355. That of the students was 187.24. The 54 Columbia journalists scored a median of 245.54, while all other students scored 172.26. Plainly, these figures are packed with significance; for the group differences are far larger than anybody could have anticipated. A low score indicates deviation from the professional median; but the deviation itself may be toward the interests of an inferior man or toward those of a superior one. So far as our tests go, we cannot construe the deviation positively; further information about the individuals is

82

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

T E S T S

indispensable. B u t we can assert with positiveness that the group of 264 journalism students deviates 168 points from the median score of 135 editors and reporters; while the Columbia students deviate only 110 points from the latter. B o t h deviations are enormous. I find it hard to resist the inference that age counts heavily here. Y o u n g men and women naturally manifest sundry interests which have long since died out in toilers of forty and fifty years. B u t before we discount the results too heavily, on this account, we must recall that several careful investigators have found vocational interests becoming sharp and fixed in superior adolescents. If, then, as seems highly probable, people having pronounced vocational preferences and ambitions are likely to develop fairly early a set of interests characteristic of the chosen career, we might expect these to neutralize somewhat the influences of adolescence. In any event, we are left with most of the original perplexity on our hands. Professor Strong, to whom we referred the problem of the difference between the Columbia students and all others, says: " I would expect that the students in the School of Journalism at Columbia University would be much more likely to find journalism of interest to them and consequently continue in that work and moreover likely to succeed than students of journalism from all over the country who score on the average [73 points] lower." (I insert the correct pointage difference in his statement.) Other possible explanations of the difference are : ι . College students in journalism are an intellectually select class. Practising journalists as a whole are selected on a wholly different basis from that which regulates admission to universities. This may be reflected in the difference of interests. 2. Among the 135 newspaper men who took the test there were not a few older than fifty years. Their interests

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

T E S T S

83

were largely the product of an early education which differed radically from present schooling. Hence a statistical comparison of the two generations may be somewhat confused. 3. Columbia journalists work on a full-time professional school basis, whereas nearly all other students tested pursue only special courses in journalism as a part of elective college work. Hence, among the latter there must be many whose interests will eventually lead them away from newspaper work; hence they cannot be expected to conform to the professional median score. Much might be gained by testing newspaper men in age groups and in a few sharply defined sub-vocational groups. I would like to see carefully segregated the interests of workers in the second, third, fourth, and fifth decades of life. And I would feel much surer of conclusions if there were available also separated records of the interests of metropolitan newspaper men, the workers on large-city papers, and the small-town journalists; and, finally, the interests of veteran reporters as a group, desk men as a group, managers as a group, and so on. The more narrowly we inspect the labors of such groups, the greater the difference in requisite abilities appears. So it is probable that there would be found a corresponding difference in interests. There is no such job as "journalism" any more than there is the job of engineering. Within the field of printing and publishing we find almost as many distinct tasks as in the engineering fields. This forces us to the conclusion that we cannot appraise the journalism student in terms of general vocational interests. For there may not be any such. It is not beyond the bounds of reason to conjecture that the interests of a man who loves reporting and has acquired skill at it may be in no wise similar to the interests of a man who is keen to manage a newspaper and has made good at it.

84

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

T E S T S

Least important of the four tests now being discussed is the Kennon Literary Vocabulary. But it does serve one good purpose: quite unmistakably it proves that literary erudition is not a natural interest nor a marked attainment of journalism students. And that is worth establishing. For many young persons enter journalism under the impression that it is a branch of literature. It has been found that the average score of college students and English teachers in the Literary Vocabulary tests is 48. Journalism students outside of Columbia score only 34.9, while the Columbia group scores 42.47 at it. The two groups combined average 39.38. Thus all journalism students fall considerably below other college students and English teachers; but the Columbia journalists make a distinctly better showing than others. You will recall that, in the Thorndike Word Knowledge test, which is based upon words in common use, the Columbia students outranked by a considerable margin the ablest college students. But here we find them falling below the average college students and English teachers in their grasp of "fancy" words, such as appear in early English and in poetry. This, I take it, is another phase of the same broad trend which has cropped out in other investigations: men who go in for newspaper work usually lack interest in ancient and purely cultural matters, just as they dislike mathematics. Of this, more later. The proofreading test is a perennial surprise. For ten years I have been giving it to Columbia students. The average of more than 1,000 cases discloses the same thing which we find in the present instances. Journalism students are remarkably poor at it. There has not been time to sum up and analyze all of these 1,000 extensive records in detail ; so we cannot say which kinds of proofreading errors occur most frequently. But this is hardly necessary, when we con-

NON-JOURNALISTIC

TESTS

85

sider that, in tests containing 100 items to be corrected, the Columbia students have averaged only 29.6 corrections. (Our present group which took the other tests herein described did slightly better with 31.57 right corrections out of 100 possible.) Here is the test in part: PROOFREADING

TEST

The strange pranks of a stranger caused some trouble 4 miles from Worthington, Neb., last night, A man according to The Worthingtonien stood in the middle between tracks near where they cross the Missisippi River and waving the wellknown stop signal as an express train from the city approached it. The enginere (He happens to be Jo. T. Sullivan, an indian.) stopped the train and the train crew; all of whom expected, to be informed that a wreck had been avertted, ran forward to meet the stranger, who walked with dignity toward the coaches. " W h a t s the matter," breathlessly asked the first trainman, Judge Scanlan as he neared the stranger. The stranger vouchsafed not. Would the trainman open his mouth until he met the conductor, at thestepsof the forward coach. The con asked the same question; i.e., as to the cause of the trouble. " I wanted the train to stop righ there at the City Hall for the 4th of July, as I wanted to get on and tour the southwest," said the man. "There's no station here among the scrub-oakes," said the conductor, who hadn't time to get angry. " T r u e , " replied the stranger, " B u t there should be fifty % of one. I am J. P. Morgan, and when I want a train to stop it's got to stop, see According to the Scripture, or even the Railway Commission, it will stop, see." Pushing aside the conductor, he climbed aboard the last coach, who began to see the drift of affairs. Then he went on to t a l k : — He said he was red, black and blue from walking 55576 miles A s I said, the student was allowed 10 minutes to spot and mark typographical errors. In no case was he required to use the correct proofreading mark to indicate the correction; this was clearly explained at the beginning of each class test.

86

N O N - J O U R N A L I S T I C

T E S T S

Hence he was not slowed down by pondering over strange signs and symbols. He was scored correct when he wrote any notation revealing that he spotted the error unmistakably. Now, at an average rate of reading plain news stories, the average adult should be able to cover around 4 words per second; or 2,400 words in 10 minutes. He should read through some 500 words in 125 seconds, thus leaving him 475 seconds in the 10-minute period for marking errors. To catch all of the 100 errors on the page, then, he would have theoretically 4.75 seconds to mark each. If you will time yourself with a watch you will discover that this is quite long enough for all save the unusual typographical errors. But all Columbia students between 1920 and 1930 were able, on the average, to detect and mark only 29.6 errors in 10 minutes; or about one error every 20 seconds. Until this year's test made with other schools, I had supposed that there must be some peculiar defect in our own students. But it now appears that other journalism schools are filled with learners like our own—only a shade worse in proofreading. Our present students averaged 31.57 corrections while those in all other schools caught only 24.63. This latter score is partly due to a misunderstanding as to the distinction between proofreading and copyreading in the test; hence I cannot regard it as a significant except by way of confirming the Columbia findings. In any event, it is amazing how bad all the students are, no matter whence they came or where they now study journalism. Something is profoundly wrong with their elementary training in spelling, punctuation, and English. For this the journalism schools cannot be held responsible, as the students come to them in a state of magnificent ignorance. In part the proofreading test also measures the speed and accuracy of reading; in so far as it does, it reveals all that many other investigators have been finding of late. Ability

NON-JOURNALISTIC

TESTS

87

to read fast and well seems to be at its peak in the later years of grammar school; thereafter it deteriorates fast, so that by the end of college days, most students are poor masters of the printed page. Would that we had space and time here to discuss this lamentable defect at great length. T A B L E

XII

INTERCORRELATIONS A L L STUDENTS

TESTS

COLUMBIA

(N)

.6710 .4161 •3538 .2533 .2122 .1174

T h o r n d i k e and Lit. V o c . Proof r. and Lit. V o c . T h o r n d i k e and Proofread. T h o r n d i k e and V o c . Int. L i t . V o c . and V o c . Int. P r o o f r e a d , and V o c . I n t .

(91) (90) (238) (216) (85) (264)

•6357 •39 30 .4250 •1233 . 1604 • 1599

A V E R A G E S C O R E S ON T E S T S TESTS

A L L STUDENTS

(N) Thorndike Proofreading V o c a t i o n a l interest Literary vocabulary

88.73 24.63 187.24 39 38

(216) (264) (264) (91)

COLUMBIA (N)

92.09 (54) 3 1 - 5 7 (54) 245·46 (54) 4 2 . 4 7 (53)

NOTE: The median score for 135 newspaper men taking Vocational Interest test is 355. 75 per cent of distribution, 153 and above. Average score for able college graduates in Thorndike Word Knowledge test is 88. Average score for college students and teachers of English taking Kennon Literary Vocabulary test is 48.

CHAPTER V I I

CONCLUSIONS We have been studying men's judgments. For these are the key acts in any professional, technical and scientific work. The physician's judgment in deciding whether his patient has cancer or a toothache ; the lawyer's judgment as to the merits of a client's cause; the engineer's judgment as to the best site at which a hydroelectric plant may be erected— it is on these psychic episodes that the career of civilization depends, from moment to moment. This is why a thoroughgoing inquiry into the vocational standards and actual abilities of journalism workers, present and future, must begin with this exceedingly difficult aspect. So far as we have been able to push research, what appears? Several startling facts. Young people in colleges and journalism schools show virtually the same news judgment as do editors and reporters with years of training and experience. When called upon to estimate the larger importance of events, quite apart from their fitness for first-page publication, the young people judge such events almost exactly as the veterans of the press do. Students at the beginning of their journalism courses do not differ in this respect from students about to graduate; hence the journalism schools can take no credit for this achievement. Variations of judgment among newspaper men are greater than variations between all newspaper men and all students. Likewise with the judgments among students. 88

C O N C L U S I O N S

89

Journalism students relate absolute importance to news value in nearly the same way as do experienced newspaper workers at least six times out of every ten. Twice out of ten, they differ radically from the experienced men. Columbia Journalism students attribute high news value to events they regard as having great absolute importance more consistently than do either the other college students or the experienced newspaper men. Neither students nor newspaper men detect gross errors in foreign news which has no obvious significance to ordinary American readers, as the Mussolini item demonstrates. Neither students nor newspaper men show signs of confused judgment as a result of any special local interest; they take the point of view of a particular paper or town without thereby blurring their general appraisals. In selecting and arranging news items for the first page of a newspaper, journalism students proceed almost exactly as do experienced workers. In estimating the probability of the truth or falsity of rumors, students score almost exactly as do newspaper workers. If, as some mathematicians assert, such estimates are merely "measures of one's ignorance of the subject," it follows that students and newspaper men are about equally well (or ill) informed on the topics used in our tests. Journalism students equal superior college graduates in their knowledge of words. Columbia students in journalism surpass others somewhat in this respect. Journalism students differ enormously from typical newspaper workers in their personal interests that tend to reveal their vocational tendencies and aptitudes. And Columbia Journalism students differ from it less than other students.

90

C O N C L U S I O N S

Journalism students fall markedly below the average college student in grasp of the literary vocabulary of English. Columbia students outrank others by several points here. Journalism students everywhere read proof exceedingly badly; and probably this incompetence is due in large measure to the almost universally prevalent decay in reading habits among high school and college students. Very little positive relation between skill in proofreading and vocational interests generally can be found. Hence it would appear that a low score in a proofreading test will probably not indicate that the student is unlikely to succeed in journalism. The intercorrelation between knowledge of ordinary English words and vocational interests in general is quite low; which suggests strongly (without quite proving anything!) that it is hazardous to give much weight to a budding journalist's vocabulary as an index of his fitness to become an editor. What do these facts imply? To draw a practical lesson from them, one must know a great deal about the newspaper business. Above all, one must understand just how it differs from the professions of medicine, engineering, and law. These are based upon some sort of scientific analysis of facts ; progress in them consists of applying discoveries and inferences to human affairs, thereby altering the latter. But the newspaper man does nothing of the sort. He is charged with the gathering of reports about current events and with the reduction of these to the briefest and clearest statement possible within the short time at his disposal. Speed is the essence of his task, and, as a very close second to speed, accuracy; after speed and accuracy, the interesting touch! Where the doctor takes a week to reflect upon the diagnosis of an ailment, and the engineer spends months over a survey, and the lawyer reads up cases for a year in order to state his

CONCLUSIONS

91

contentions most powerfully before a higher court, the newspaper editor completes the cycle of his duties within a few hours each day; and when he has put his paper to bed, his job is done once and for all time. Who buys his paper? Everyman. The newspaper alone reaches every family in the land in which there is a literate person. So long as owner and editor aim to maintain the largest circulation they can reach, just so long must the editor himself and every man under him work to the end of satisfying the mass of readers. That means, in some sense, that newspaper workers must keep steadfastly to the point of view of the average man, his wife, and his children. But in order to do this, need our aspirant to journalistic fame spend years in academic study? Manifestly not ! The average man does not get his own interests from school. They are in the main elemental—animal, if you prefer to be blunt. They well up out of his native traits and the broader circumstances of his environment. Some psychologists would call them "instincts"; but we may avoid an old controversy here if we simply say that "the Least Common Denominator" of human interest, at which every journalist must aim, if he seeks circulation, is surely something beyond age and sex and wealth and place and time. It is not the product of schools, for the mass of mankind has not enjoyed identical schooling. It cannot be the result of any particular social background, for people grow up in scores of widely differing environments. No, it is the elemental in man; his interest in sex, in food, in society, in play, in his own health, in his prosperity, and in his secret happiness. Who, then, rises to the top in a newspaper office, so far as matters of news judgment are concerned? The man who senses these elemental appeals in himself, who perceives them in his fellow men, and who detects them in the news as it flows in. Years of drill are not required to make such a

92

C O N C L U S I O N S

journalist. Only certain natural aptitudes, plus a little clarifying from case to case. Indeed, too much study is likely to pull able students further and further from the average man's point of view, hence also from average interests. Here, I feel sure, is the underlying explanation of what, to laymen, must appear a grotesque paradox, the virtually identical judgment of young people in journalism schools and of men who have worked from ten to forty years on newspapers.

PART II FACTORS MAKING FOR SUCCESS IN JOURNALISM A Study of the Careers of Five Hundred Successful Journalists BY ROBERT FRANK B A R R E L

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION The American press, often characterized as the greatest in the world, has had an interesting history. From the days when a few scattered colonies—still under the rule of England —read the news of the day in the news letters circulated by the local postal officials, to the present when thousands of giant presses turn out millions of printed pages daily for the masses as well as for the financially aristocratic, the story of the American press has been made interesting by the record of personal achievement. Franklin, Pulitzer, Dana— to mention only a few—are some of the men whose contributions to American journalism have been great. They stand out as pioneers and innovators of new methods in journalism, and the history of their lives is indeed interesting. The few great editors of the history of American journalism, however, have been supplanted in our own day by thousands of editors, who, although they may be denied the everlasting fame of the great men of the past, are responsible for the condition of the American press today. It is necessary only to glance over the many examples of literature which come from the presses to understand the American press superficially. To understand the American press fully it is necessary to understand the men who are making it, those who are beginning where the pioneers left off and are doing revolutionary things, those who are seeing to it that the United States is to be a reading country despite the inclinations of its inhabitants. 95

96

INTRODUCTION

This essay is not an attempt at popular biography, and neither is it an attempt to define concrete factors making for success in journalism. Rather it is a picture of the men who are making the rollers of the American press revolve. It is a study of their origins, their history in the profession, their attitude towards their work, and finally their ideas as to what equipment and training the future journalist must have in order to succeed in journalism. The study is based on the belief that vocational tests in any field will be inadequate unless they are supplemented by information gathered from those who have actually succeeded in that field. A study of vocational aptitudes in young men who are contemplating entering a profession will do much towards eliminating the undesirables from that profession. The study of vocational aptitudes, correlated with information about those things which successful professional men have found useful and with information as to the social, economic, and cultural backgrounds of those who have been successful, should do even more to divert the inadequately equipped person from the profession in which he will have the greatest difficulty in succeeding. The elimination beforehand of those who would fail to like a chosen profession after the first few years of working in it and their diversion to other fields which would be more pleasing is certain to help every profession in which it takes place. Better salaries can be paid, better men can be had, and better work can be done. In short, this would be the ideal way of filling the ranks of every profession. Such practices are not in vogue in the field of journalism, and every year thousands of young men enter the field with high hopes and inadequate equipment. They spend the first hard years trying to make headway and in the end forsake the profession for one which they believe suits them better. It is the

INTRODUCTION

97

application of the trial and error method to the choosing of a lifetime job. While this study will not solve the problems of the young man seeking a journalistic career, it is hoped that it will be a step in the direction of a more enlightened method of choosing a profession. The results should be of value, not only to schools of journalism, but to young men and women considering entering the field. The problem of opportunities in the profession is, of course, bound up with the two questions, what kind of work there is to be done in the profession and what type of person succeeds best. The deeper problem for the school of journalism is not that of choosing the correct methods of instruction, but of choosing the desirable student. It is believed that studies like this one should decrease the number of unsuccessful students of journalism and divert them early to other professions for which they are better suited. Journalists who answered the questionnaire on which this investigation is based numbered approximately 500, scattered throughout the United States. An effort was made to have the greatest number of cases from those centers where the largest number of journalists are gathered—New York, Chicago, Washington. While the returns were not identically in proportion to the number of men concentrated in these centers, the relation of answered questionnaires from each section to the number of answered questionnaires from any other section approximates the relation between the number of newspaper men and magazine workers employed in these sections. Thus a fairly representative cross section of the great body of American journalists has resulted from a tabulation of the answers to the form. The largest percentage of answers was contributed by editors, and members of this class compose 36.x per cent of the total cases investigated. Next comes the managing

98

I N T R O D U C T I O N

editor class with 27.5 per cent. A total of 8.5 per cent of those answering the form were special writers, Washington correspondents, and feature writers, while 8.6 per cent were editorial writers of the leading daily papers of the United States. Five and one-tenth per cent of the answerers were department editors—Sunday editors, financial and market editors—and 5.9 per cent were magazine editors. Very few editors and editorial workers for publishing houses and trade magazines were responsive to the inquiry. So the study is confined primarily to the newspaper field, and the cases represent the average, or slightly above the average, editorial worker with papers of 40,000 circulation or better. The ages of the men ranged from the early twenties to well over seventy, and were distributed as follows: 95 were less than 33 years of age; 218 were between the ages of 32 and 45, and 189 were over 45 years of age. It was at first intended that a group of women journalists should be included in the study, but reponses to the questionnaire sent out to a number of well-known women in the profession were insufficient to offer a clear indication of conditions in this group. Accordingly any reference to women in journalism was omitted.

CHAPTER I I

T H E O R I G I N OF T H E A M E R I C A N J O U R N A L I S T The influence of heredity and early environment on the course which man's later career takes is no longer a pet idea of the anthropologists and the sociologists. Its demonstration in education, in business, in the professions, and in the world of affairs has erased all doubts of the importance of these two factors in shaping the career of every man. It is true that some have a tendency to place a greater importance on the influence of heredity in the formation of mental and physical traits, and others place too great emphasis on the effect of environmental influence in the direction and remaking of inherited traits. But the fact remains that both play an extremely important part in the individual's efforts to "get along in the world." In tracing the social and economic backgrounds of the journalists interviewed by this questionnaire, no effort has been made to point out the specific results of heredity and early environment. Rather an effort has been made to ascertain the broad social and economic background of the American journalist, to find out from what social classes the writers of the daily papers and magazines in the United States have come and what relation this social and economic background has to final achievement. So that this information could be obtained, recipients of the questionnaire were asked to give the principal occupations of their fathers, paternal grandfathers, and their mothers. The class of first importance among the grandparents of the American journalist is the farming class. A total of 203 99

ΙΟΟ

THE

A M E R I C A N

J O U R N A L I S T

recipients of the questionnaires listed the occupation of farming for their paternal grandparents. Next in importance, but only slightly ahead of the professional group, is the number of small business men in this second generation removed. The small business men—persons operating businesses with sales less than $50,000 yearly—number 69, while the grandparents who were members of a profession number 68. The professional group is divided as follows: ministers, 21 ; lawyers, 11 ; teachers, 7 ; doctors, 7 ; journalists, 6 ; college professors, 3 ; political office holders, 3 ; soldiers, 2 ; engineers, one, and all others seven. Next in importance in the second generation removed is the skilled laborer. Fifty-two journalists Usted this occupation as that of their paternal grandfathers. Minor executives among the grandfathers number 21, and owners of large businesses total 17. Major executives were named as grandfathers 11 times by the answerers of the questionnaire, and only 5 unskilled laborers and 3 clerks or salesmen are listed in this category. Moving nearer the subjects of the investigation the complexion of the social and economic background changes somewhat. Farming, instead of taking first rank, is relegated to third place as the occupation of the fathers of the men answering the questionnaire. Professional men compose the largest group in the listing of the occupations of the fathers of the American journalist. These number 162, divided as follows: journalists, 42; lawyers, 34; ministers, 30; doctors, 21; teachers, 11; engineers, 5; college professors, 4; soldiers, 3; holders of political offices, 2; artists, one. Journalists and lawyers, constituting nearly 50 per cent of the parents of the American journalist, evidently passed on to the present day editor and writer a desire for reading, and, as will be shown later, this has been regarded by the successful journalist as one of the greatest aids to success.

THE

A M E R I C A N

J O U R N A L I S T

ΙΟΙ

Next largest in number is the group of owners of small businesses. Ninety recipients of the questionnaire listed this as the occupation of their fathers, and the farmer makes up the next largest block in the pattern. Those who were the sons of farmers total 69. The farmers of the second generation removed were absorbed in the professional, business, and skilled laborer groups in the succeeding generation. Skilled laborers who are the fathers of the journalists interviewed number 51 ; minor executives number 49 ; clerks or salesmen, 27; major executives, 26; owners of large businesses, 18; and unskilled laborers, 13. The largest increase in this generation is in the professional class with its total of 162. While a large number of these men evidently were recruited from the farming class, the large increase in the business group also indicates that there was a decided movement from the farming to the small business class during the intervening time. The immediate background, then, of the American journalist is predominantly professional. Lawyers, doctors, journalists, and teachers represent the majority in this professional group, and it is evident that the habits of reading, studying and observing critically were formed early in the future makers of the American press. Sons of laboring families, which constituted approximately 48.4 per cent of the population of the United States according to the report of the Bureau of the Census in 1910, have contributed only nine per cent of the editors of the American press. The professional group, composing approximately 4.4 per cent of the total population in 1910, has contributed 31.2 per cent of the total number of editors whose testimony was gathered in the investigation. In 1910 those who followed business as an occupation formed approximately 14.1 per cent of the total population, and in this group 38.6 per cent of the editors interviewed had their origin. The

102

THE

AMERICAN

J O U R N A L I S T

agricultural class, which was 33.2 per cent of the population in 1910, contributed 19.3 per cent of the editors who answered the questionnaire. These comparisons of the 1910 figures as to the character of the large body of the nation's workers with the percentage of editors which the groups have given to the newspaper field is made to reflect accurately the influence of his early environment on the ultimate success of the journalist. A large number of the subjects of the investigation began their careers when conditions were the same or approximately the same as they were in 1910, and the true relation cannot be seen unless the character of the social and economic structure at that time is discussed briefly.* Only 27.1 per cent of the sons of laborers became editors, as compared with 44.7 for the sons of farmers, 32.5 per cent for the sons of business men and 36.4 per cent for the sons of professional men. The sons of laboring men, however, seem to have succeeded exceptionally well as managing editors. Of the group 37.1 per cent are now managing editors as compared with 27.6 per cent of the sons of farmers, 28.2 per cent of the sons of business men and 23.2 per cent of the sons of professional men. Eight per cent of the sons of the professional men have become magazine editors as compared with 4.3 per cent of the sons of business men and 2.6 per cent of the sons of farmers. Ten per cent of the sons of professional men have attained the status of editorial writers, as compared with 10 per cent of the sons of business men, 8.5 per cent of the sons of laborers and 5.2 of the sons of farmers, and among the department editors we find the largest percentage in the number of sons * As many of the men studied were more than 35 years of age it will be well to note here that practically the same conditions prevailed in the character of the population in 1900. According to the 1900 census the following distribution of the country's wage earners was made: agricultural pursuits, 35.6 per cent ; professional service, 4.3; domestic and personal service, 19.5; trade and transportation, 16.3; manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, 24.3 per cent.

THE

A M E R I C A N

J O U R N A L I S T

IO3

of business men, 7.4 per cent of whom became department editors, as compared with 6.9 per cent of the sons of professional men, 5 per cent of the sons of laborers and 3.9 per cent of the sons of farmers. The largest percentage among the special writers is gathered from the sons of farmers, with the sons of professional men ranking second. The percentage of sons of laborers who have become special writers is 5 per cent. Sons of the professional men then have succeeded well as editors, managing editors, and editorial writers. Sons of farmers have succeeded well as editors, managing editors and special writers, and sons of laboring men have succeeded best as managing editors and city editors. Direct descendants of business men have shown an adaptability to all jobs in the profession of journalism with a preference for editorship and managing editorships. It is in this group that the least variance between the percentage showing preferences for various positions is found. It is clearly shown that the professional class has contributed most heavily to the personnel of the nation's press. A liking for the business, transmitted from father to son, is perhaps the cause of the desire of the sons of professional men to enter the field of journalism, for approximately 2 5 per cent of the professional men who were fathers of the journalists interviewed were members of the journalistic profession. In many cases a financial interest in newspaper plants brought about this first interest in the profession.

CHAPTER I I I

E N T R A N C E INTO THE PROFESSION There are a great many factors entering into the young man's choice of professions, and while these factors when considered separately and correlated with the ultimate attainments of members of the profession would mean nothing, it is certain that a study of factors in the choice of any profession will throw light on the general character of the body of its members. In order that the modes of selection of the profession used by the subjects of this investigation might be ascertained those to whom the questionnaires were sent were asked to list the manner in which they entered into journalism. The results obtained from the answering of this question seem to indicate that the profession, whatever may have been its condition twenty years ago, is no longer a vocation followed by drifters; and that the itinerant journalist, like the "tramp printer," has passed forever from the scene. A deliberate planning to enter the field of journalism was professed by 49.6 per cent of the men answering the questionnaire. This deliberate planning of a large percentage of American journalists indicates that the profession of journalism, although its members are not dedicated at an early age to the pursuit of newspaper and magazine work, has a great deal more stability and directed effort among its members than is generally supposed. Many times answerers of the questionnaire professed to have been born with a liking for the profession, but in most of these cases it was found that this liking for the profession could be traced back to early 104

E N T R A N C E

INTO

THE

P R O F E S S I O N

IOS

influence of journalistic parents in the home or apprentice work in the print shop of editorial rooms. While the largest percentage of editors interviewed professed a deliberate planning for a career in journalism, there were many who laid their entrance into the profession to chance opportunities. Twenty-six and five-tenths per cent of those interviewed said that their entrance into their careers was caused by chance opportunities, and 2 per cent gave a combination of chance opportunity and personal influence as the reason for their entrance into the profession. Only one per cent gave the reason for entrance as a combination of chance and personal invitation as the result of a personal accomplishment. Indeed the personal influence of friends, relatives and acquaintances in the choice of careers by recipients of the questionnaire has been almost negligible. If the influence of friends helped journalists to get better jobs later, certainly it is not indicated by the initial choices of work. Only 6.1 per cent admitted making a choice through some personal influence, and 2.1 per cent said that they chose the profession through a combination of deliberate planning and under the influence of personal friends. Likewise the absence of specialists, men who have come into the profession from other fields to write about special subjects or conduct departments in newspapers and magazines, is noticeable when these methods of selecting a career are examined. Only 5.2 per cent of those investigated gave a gradual swinging over from some other field as the method of entrance into journalism. And the percentage of men entering the profession on invitation as the result of some special achievement is also very small, as only 5.1 per cent came in this way. B y all odds the most common beginning job of the majority of journalists interviewed has been the reportership,

Ιθ6

E N T R A N C E

INTO

THE

P R O F E S S I O N

and usually it was specified in the answer to Question No. io on the form that the first position was that of cub reporter. The American newspaper man, even if he is editor-in-chief or managing editor, has learned to fill all positions on his paper faithfully and expertly. He is not a trained specialist, employed to do one thing well, but a man experienced in the execution of all duties connected with the newspaper. It is true that very few of the editors and managing editors have been given a chance to write for the editorial pages of the great body of American journals before reaching editorship, and in a large number of the papers of more than 40,000 and less than 75,000 circulation the managing editor and editor with the aid of one trained editorial writer conduct the editorial page. But with this one exception a study of the courses which the careers of the journalists have taken has shown that the chief executives of newspapers in the United States are capable of holding or have held all of the positions in the shop. The relatively low percentage of those who have come into the editorial offices through the press room shows that the custom of obtaining training in the press room before taking charge of the editorial room has passed. Only 35 of the journalists, barely 6 per cent, were initiated into journalism through the printing department. Of those who got their start in the profession in the print shop the majority forsook printing for cub reporting before they had finished their apprenticeship. In the number there were only three or four who reached the grade of journeyman printers, and only one who became a printing foreman before entering the editorial room. In serving as the initiation into the profession of journalism, college and suburban correspondence can be said to have taken the place of the printshop. If the college papers gave a large number of future journalists a chance to see

E N T R A N C E

INTO

THE

PROFESSION

107

their copy in print, the job of college correspondent gave them a chance to sell their copy for money, however little it was. A large percentage of those who attended college said that they partially made their way through school by reporting for nearby metropolitan papers. It is significant to note that in the study of the returns, there are few cases where the advertising business serves for an initiation into journalism. In outlining their careers many of the journalists told of sidetracking their efforts into the field of publicity for a time and later coming back to newspaper work, but those who went into advertising evidently stayed there, for there were few among them who returned to the field of journalism. These deviations for the most part were in the early stages of the career, and the lucrative salaries paid for the writing of advertisements, as compared with the reporter's salary, apparently were a great inducement to remain in the advertising field. Those who entered publicity work only to return to the newspaper were enabled to do so because of the similarity between the work of the press agent and the newspaper man. The majority of the journalists interviewed had definitely embarked on their careers before reaching the age of 23. The largest number, 72, which is approximately 9 per cent of the total, entered the profession at 18, and the next largest number, 60, entered at the age of 20. After the age of 25, at which 22 of those interviewed entered, the entrance into the profession falls off noticeably, and only 4 entered at the age of 26. A comparatively large number entered the profession at an age under 14 years, but these are the cases which listed the beginning jobs as paper carriers, printers' apprentices, and office boys. The large number of those who entered the profession at ages less than 18, as shown by Table II in the appendix, indicates that after a beginning is once made in the profession

Ιθ8

E N T R A N C E

INTO

THE

P R O F E S S I O N

diversion to other fields is rather difficult. Instead of allowing themselves to be diverted to other callings these young entrants into journalism evidently set about towards improvement of their status as reporters and workers in the field of journalism, whether they were copy boys, printers' devils, or cub reporters. In fact, a study of the courses which the careers have taken indicate a decided application to the business of advancement. Although the journalist has a reputation for changing frequently, these changes in the main have been made with one idea—to become thoroughly proficient in all phases of newspaper work.

CHAPTER

IV

THE COURSE UPWARD As was hinted in the last section the courses of the careers of the various men interviewed as shown in answers to Question No. 10 of the form showed many evidences of application towards getting ahead in the profession. In this chapter an effort will be made to show what has helped these men most in rising from reporters to editors and managing editors, from copy boys to editorial and special writers, in short from the position in which they began to the position they now hold. In order that these things maybe learned it is necessary to look again at the figures for the general group and especially at the tabulations of the results of several questions bearing directly on helps and hindrances encountered in getting ahead. The member of any profession rises by his own efforts, with the aid of his friends, the aid of money or the aid of fortuitous circumstances, and this examination was made for the purpose of finding out to what degree these various elements entered into the success of the men interviewed. In Question No. 7 of the questionnaire recipients were asked to list any connections their friends or relatives may have had in the business they first entered or a similar one. In the last two parts of the question they were asked to tell of any connection of friends or relatives with their present organization when they first entered it or after they entered it. From a tabulation of the answers to these queries it was found that the personal element has entered hardly at all 109

I IO

THE

C O U R S E

U P W A R D

either in the selection of a position or the achievement of success in the organization in which they now work. Approximately 440, or about 80 per cent, of the answers were in the negative to all three of the questions. This 80 per cent declared that they received aid neither from friends nor relatives either in getting a job or in achieving a higher position with their organization after they had obtained it. Of those who had friends in organizations for which they worked the largest number obtained work through the influence of friends. This number is approximately 70, or about 11 per cent, of the total number interviewed. Those who had friends in the present organization when they began working for that organization numbered 36, about 7 per cent of the total number, and those who told of the influence of friends on their careers after they had entered the profession by checking space No. 3 in the question numbered 15, only 3 per cent of the total. From these figures it is at once apparent that the recipients of the questionnaires, so far as the utilization of personal influence in getting ahead in the profession is concerned, are on the whole "self-made men." The percentage of those who have received aid through personal relations with employes is negligible as compared with the large body who made use of no such aid. Office politics, often prevalent in the worst form in newspaper offices, seem never to have bothered the hard-working journalist, and he has not capitalized to any extent the "drag" which he had with his employers. Turning to the next factor which may have influenced the rapidity of the rise of these men in the profession—money— it is likewise immediately apparent that the possession of wealth has not been enjoyed to any great extent by journalists. This stands true for the first five years at least. In Question No. 8 the journalist was asked: "Did you in the early stages of your career (in the first five years or thereabouts) receive

THE

COURSE

U P W A R D

III

substantial aid (not less than $10,000) through the provision of capital from any of the following sources: inheritance, relatives or friends, your own savings?" The answer to this question of 489 of these men, about 92 per cent, was " N o . " In the tabulation of these answers it was found that the greatest number had been provided with capital, not by friends and relatives, but by their own savings. Seventeen, approximately 3.2 per cent, said that they had saved approximately $10,000 in the first five years of their careers. Only ι s said they had received this amount from inheritance, and only ten were provided with capital by friends and relatives. From the above figures, more than from the figures on the influence of friends and relatives, it is apparent that the journalist had to work out his own career without help from anyone. The small percentage of those who had substantial financial aid are vastly in the minority. For every man who was provided with capital in any manner there are fifteen who received no financial aid in the first years of their careers. The number of those who accumulated capital by their own savings as compared with those who accumulated capital in some other way indicates that hard work and thrift, rather than borrowing or inheritance, have been the general rule. That anyone in the first five years of a journalistic career could save $10,000 is amazing, and even though the number is a small percentage of the number who answered this question, it indicates that there must be considerable effort to accumulate capital by the great body of journalists. On the whole, however, the tabulations indicate that among the editorial employees of newspapers and magazines money has not been much of a figure. It has neither made nor ruined the great majority, and asfar as attaining success is concerned, those who had money seem to have attained editorial success no faster than those who did not.

112

THE

C O U R S E

U P W A R D

As has been shown by the above figures, editorial success has been largely a matter of hard work. Ceaseless effort to get ahead has been the general rule, and "work, work, work" is written all over the returned forms. But before the journalist could put into practice this advice to the young to work hard he had to have the physical constitution which would enable him to apply himself unceasingly to this program of labor. And because of this need the journalist has probably found that the possession of health and energy is his greatest aid to success. A glance at the results of the answers to Question No. 9 of the form which is the query regarding the state of the health of the answerer is sufficient to discover that the profession of journalism is for the most part hard labor. That its demands on the physique are terrific is evidenced by the fact that those who have not good health and abundant energy have long since diverted their talents to other fields. Two hundred and eighty-one of the men interviewed said that they had excellent health and were always energetic; 39.3 per cent, or 205, said that their health was good. Only 33 declared that they had fair health, and only two testified that their health was poor. Figures on the state of health of members of other professions have never been prepared, but it is believed that such compilations in the field of law, engineering, or even medicine would not show the same lack of persons with only fair health. The journalist has to be well to stay on the job. If he is ill, he finds himself miserably maladjusted to his work. Its long and hard hours are not to be tolerated by the finicky. They cannot stand the pace, and the result is that the fittest have survived. That there are sickly persons in the profession is not to be denied, but that they have remained for a long time is certainly not evident from the answers to the question. The life was evidently too fast, too complex for the man who

THE C O U Κ θ E U P W A R D

"3

is disposed to be unwell, and in the early stages it was evidently found that presence in the editorial rooms was essential to advancement. That these persons have grown healthy and energetic in the profession is doubtful, for throughout the answers to the various questions there are references to hard hours and poor working conditions. The irregularity of the newspaper man's meals, the frequent lack of sleep, the constant demands for quick and tense action, the hurry and bustle caused by frequent press times and exposure to all sorts of weather could not be regarded as health-building, and the only interpretation of the results is that they represent in the newspaper field the "survival of the fittest." Turning from these general aids or hindrances to the success of the answerers of the questionnaire to the specific courses which their careers have taken, it is important that the average course of the careers of these men be outlined. As has been stated very few were given the positions of experts in the beginning, and they have been forced to work out their progress from a very low position to the one they now hold. The first outstanding fact made clear by an examination of the careers as outlined in Question No. 10 is that the changes of jobs was done in the early stages, for the most part before the age of 32. Experience, and not salary and position, up to this time was regarded as most important. The majority of persons did their experimenting with various jobs in this period and then settled down to steady application with the paper which they had chosen during the experimentation. Very few carried this wandering over into the later years of their careers, but occasionally there are outstanding examples of men who have changed jobs later in life. These changes, however, are usually made on invitation as the result of some

114

THE

COURSE

UPWARD

particular aptitude which the journalist has demonstrated in the carrying out of the duties on the old job. By the majority the time spent as reporter is regarded as the most important. It is during this time that they have learned most and gathered a knowledge of things which they have found useful later. In many of the answers as to the most important job ever held by the answerers of the form, there has been a hesitation between choosing the reporter's and the editor's position. When managing editorships and editorships are considered the goal, there is evidence that the journalist has found it advantageous to remain with the same paper, as the duties of the editorship require that he be familiar with local conditions. Only in these cases, however, is this advice given. There is a great deal of advice encouraging the young man to change the scene of his endeavors frequently, and the young person often is advised that finding out where he wants to work is the greatest thing that he can do in these first years. However, the overdoing of this roving from job to job is always discouraged. That it makes for the "tramp" journalist is the argument, and that, if carried to the extreme, ends in complete dissatisfaction with any job. The effect of the college education in making for a greater speed in the finding of the right job is indicated when Table XI in the appendix is studied. College men have held far fewer jobs than non-college men, and the going from one job to another stops definitely with college men after the seventh job. With non-college men the wandering from one job to another does not decrease to any appreciable extent until after eight jobs have been held. It is significant to note here that the mean average of the number of jobs held is six. In this average the number of jobs in progressing from lower to higher positions on the same

THE

COURBE

UPWARD

paper and the progression from jobs on one paper to jobs on other papers are considered alike. In comparing the group with college training to the group without college training, in respect to the highest positions held, as is shown in Table X I I in the appendix, it will be found that the group with no college training, although they have changed jobs frequently, have gotten just as far in journalism as the men with college training. In the consideration of this table, however, it will be well to keep in mind that the college-trained group is somewhat below the other group in age. As is shown in the table, 36.4 per cent of those who have received college training have become editors as compared with 41 per cent of those who have not received college training. However, the number of college-trained editors is 122 as compared with 70 who have received no training in the colleges. The same relation is shown when the managing editors are compared. Eighty-three managing editors have received training in college as compared with 56 who have not, but the percentage of the non-college group which became managing editors is considerably over that of the collegetrained group. Thirty-three and three-tenths per cent of those without college training became managing editors as compared with 24.7 per cent in the college-trained group. Twenty-seven editorial writers are college men as compared with 16 who are not, but the percentage of the noncollege group who became editorial writers again is ahead. Only 8 per cent of those with college training became editorial writers as compared with 9.5 per cent of the non-college group. The youthfulness of the college group is clearly reflected when the positions of city editor, department editor and special writer are considered. In all of these positions a higher percentage of college-trained men is found. This obviously indicates that the college group is the younger, for

Il6

THE

C O U R S E

U P W A R D

these are the positions from which the young college man goes when he takes over the editorship or managing editorship of the paper. Magazine editors are recruited largely from the college class, as the number is 21, 6.2 per cent of the total number of college men, as compared with 3, 1.8 per cent of the non-college group. On the last page of the form mailed to these journalists, it was suggested that they list in the spaces provided the helps or hindrances that they had encountered in their careers. The response to this suggestion was entered into wholeheartedly by most of the recipients of the form, and the result is that by reading over the answers to these questions a very good idea of what has helped the journalist most and what has hindered him most in his career can be learned. No numerical tabulation of these helps and hindrances has been attempted, but a digest of them has been prepared. Of next importance among the helps which journalists have listed is "a love of the game." This liking, mentioned in well over half of the questionnaires, seems to have enabled these men to overcome any hindrances they might have found in poor pay, hard hours and hard work. This "love of the game," although at first it might appear as just that and nothing more, is a combination of realizations of the other desires which these men have had. B y scanning the explanations of this "love of the game" it is very easy to analyze it. First off all these men like the business of journalism because it gives them a good reason, a business reason, for being well-informed. They have found in journalism a practical application for all things which they want to learn, and the demands of the profession for a broad knowledge of almost everything has spurred them on to do just what they wanted to do—learn about everything. This liking for the profession has been found often to be a liking for intimacy with the life about them, an intimacy

THE

COURSE

UPWARD

117

with government, social changes and the progress in the world of science. No other class of workers can hold such a steady hand on the pulse of the world and at the same time make an honest living, they believe, and this desire for close contact with everything which is important in the composition of the society in which they live has been more important than all other things combined—whether these be wealth, leisure, domestic life, or scholastic achievement. They have not asked to learn for the sake of learning but for the sake of pointing out the nature of the things learned to those to whom it will be of value. Most of them admit that their knowledge is superficial, but they make nothing of this. They say it has been sufficient for the moment, and the moment is all important. Of next importance in the achievement of success in the profession is hard work. The most frequent combination of helps in the attainment of success have been stated briefly: "Love of the game and hard work." There are not a few explanations of the joy of hard work, and it is not amiss to say here that the journalist for the most part has liked the hard work of his profession because, as was shown in the health question, he is physically equipped to stand hard work. A natural aptitude for the work also takes a high rank in the list of helps towards success, and occasionally it is pointed out that nothing can take the place of natural aptitude for journalistic work. According to the evidence in the answers to the question this aptitude was discovered early in the careers of the journalists and along with it- the liking for the work. Many speak of "knowing news at first sight" and having a natural aptitude in judging the importance of a story, writing and planning an interview, and some go so far as to say that they have a natural ability to think in terms of head-lines.

Il8

THE

COURSE

UPWARD

Going from the more general helps to success in the profession to evidences of specific aids, there is a large number from which to choose. Constant practice in writing and constant reading have been listed in the largest number of cases. This reading, as in the suggestions of things to study in college, includes the whole range of human knowledge. Next in importance is the help afforded by things which may be termed "a broadening of viewpoint." Outside of reading these include travel, cultivation of friends in all professions and vocations, the study of the local field of endeavor, and a general cultivation of knowledge of human nature. A knowledge of the way people of all classes act under given circumstances seems to have been of very great value to the journalist. He must be interested in his own work and must not forget the importance of the work of others. There is comparatively little reference to personal habits which have been useful, but occasionally there is a declaration that sobriety and steadiness, with the impression that one is trustworthy, have been found useful. Respect for the papers on which they have worked and loyalty to employers is listed many times among the aids. Inspiration received from those higher up in the profession has been listed many times also, and an ability to recover quickly from defeats and failures also has been of great value to many journalists. Influence of early environment seems to have been important to many of these men, for it is mentioned frequently in the answers to the question. The assumption of responsibility has in many cases been listed as a help and in others as a hindrance. Early marriages are discouraged by many and given as others as the greatest help to success. The opinions on this point are about equally divided for and against. For some early marriage has hindered the moving

THE

C O U R S E

U P W A R D

119

about and the taking advantage of opportunities, and for others it has made for more stability and steadiness. Money was mentioned only two times as an aid to success. Some of the minor aids pointed out by the journalists are stimulation from competition, the policy of some chain papers in allowing the local staff full responsibility in editorial matters, loyalty to news sources, luck, staying in one place, and the friendship of those who were in more responsible positions. The number of hindrances listed by these men is far less than the aids. They are personal faults for the most part rather than obstacles inherent in the profession. However, there are two that stand out as being faults of the business rather than the men. These are the uncertainty of employment and the low pay of the beginning positions which have led to discouragement in the start of the careers. Reference to low salaries is found throughout the answers to the questions, and the evidence is that low pay is not confined entirely to the lower positions. Very often reference is made to the lack of worth-while positions on papers in cities of approximately 70,000 population. This lack of responsible jobs, editorships and managing editorships, has necessitated moves to the larger centers with an increase in opportunities but a stiffer competition. Purely personal faults often listed by the journalist are laziness, sensitiveness, lack of health, lack of accuracy and attention to detail, and domestic difficulties. The frequent references to sensitiveness as a hindrance to advancement leads to the belief that journalism in America is a profession for the "thick-skinned" individual who has little regard for what others think of him personally so long as he can do his job well. This point is amplified by a great number of the men who say that self-respect is to be desired above all things.

I20

THE

C O U R S E

U P W A R D

Avoidance of the philosophical attitude towards the work is prescribed in one comment which will bear quotation. This is listed under the hindrances to success : T h e philosophical realization that the news game is mostly " b u n k " ; that one is working most of the time for the ash can and that the world would be better off if most people read books and serious magazines instead of newspapers. I realize that this assertion may cause some surpirse. M y thought is that editors generally now are buying "stories," and that the informational nature of news is continually more subordinated. I have read newspapers and worked for them since big enough to pick papers off a rotary press. When I want to learn something I buy a good book.

The advantages of having a great deal of self-respect are cited in the following comment listed under helps to success : First, an extremely active curiosity, fortified by the slightly demented notion that the truth is the most important thing in human existence. Second, the generous advice, counsel and assistance of older journalists. Third, considerable native alertness, plus a copper-plated nerve, plus a robust v a n i t y that took form in pride of authorship, plus great physical endurance. Fourth, a strong natural disposition to question conventional values and methods. Fifth, a pronounced hatred of sham, injustice and hypocrisy, plus a determination "not to let them get a w a y with it if I could help i t . "

Lack of a college education is often considered a hindrance by those who did not have college training. Declaration that this is considered a hindrance is often qualified, however, by the statement that the training missed in college was obtained in other ways, which, if they were as efficacious, were sometimes more painful. The evidence is that the lack of a college education is considered a real hindrance by these men, however, and it is always advised by those who have not had college experience. They seem to consider college as a short cut to learning things which can be learned later only with greater difficulty.

CHAPTER V

E D U C A T I O N OF T H E J O U R N A L I S T The results of the survey to determine the methods of entrance into the profession of journalism by the recipients of the questionnaires have shown the high degree of deliberate planning used by members of the profession. The journalist before he could enter the profession with the feeling that he was adequately trained had to use some method to organize his mental processes. The trained journalistic mind has to have first of all a facility for observing accurately and placing the things observed in their proper place against the historical backgrounds. In the acquisition of this mental training the American journalist, according to an examination of this cross section of men in the profession, has turned to formal education. The value of higher education, training above the high school, has been realized by almost 80 per cent of the men whose answers were received. Tabulations of the results of the questionnaire shows that 40.8 per cent of the group received college degrees, and that 26.6 per cent attended college but never graduated. A high school or preparatory school education was the largest amount of training received by 23.5 per cent, while only 8.4 per cent failed to attend school after the completion of the grammar grades. Considering the brief time schools of journalism have been available to those who have wished to enter journalism as a profession, a rather large percentage of the journalists interviewed have made use of this professional training. Of those who had any professional training at all, 12.7 per cent re121

122

E D U CΑ Τ I ΟΝ O F Τ H E J O U R Ν A L I S Τ

ceived it in the school of journalism. Fifty-two per cent of this group got a start in the profession as apprentices under supervision. Because of the large percentage of cases who received this training it is believed that answerers of the questionnaires have considered the time served as "cub" reporters in this category as regular apprentice training is in force on the staffs of only a few papers in America. If the journalists found the college an aid in preparation for the profession, it is indicated that they found also at the college the institution which gave them the first taste of seeing their copy in print—the college paper. The influence of the college paper on the American journalist is significant in that these organs gave the journalist his first taste of real reporting, copy editing, and editorial writing. Thirty-three and one-tenth per cent of those who received professional training were reporters, or editors of college or high school publications. The correspondence school has not been used by the successful journalist in preparation for his career to any appreciable extent. If correspondence schools which teach courses in journalism by mail have had any place in the training of American journalists it was hardly apparent in the number of editors interviewed, for only 2 per cent gave correspondence courses in journalism as a part of their professional training. As has been seen by the examination of the percentage of successful journalists who have made use of a college education in acquiring training which has enabled them to assimilate a large amount of knowledge and keep it ever ready for use, the college and the school of journalism have played an important part in molding the journalist's mental equipment. In order that the journalist's real impression of the benefits of a formal education may be learned it is now necessary to

EDUCATION

OF T H E

J O U R N A L I S T

123

consider their specific comments on the college, the school of journalism and formal education in general. On the last page of the questionnaire mailed to these men there are three spaces, and in these three spaces the recipients of the form were asked to list the things which had helped them most in their careers, the things which had been the biggest hindrances and finally any advice they had to offer the would-be journalist. It was in these spaces that most of the testimony about colleges and schools of journalism was found. A total of 210, considerably more than 30 per cent of the journalists who answered the questionnaire, had something to say about the advantage to be derived from attendance at college and schools of journalism, or about higher education in general. For the most part these were straightforward statements such as "get a broad college education" or "go to a school of journalism," but in many cases the themes were expanded and courses of study outlined. Any numerical tabulation of these attitudes towards higher education, of course, could not be made, so an effort to make a digest of the opinions with quotations from the answers, chosen to illustrate the general trend of the advice, has been undertaken. The accumulation of a vast fund of workable knowledge is assumed to be necessary by practically all of the commentors on education. This has to be done, and the advice to the young journalist is usually that it be started as soon as possible. If this fund of knowledge was not accumulated in college, it must be accumulated after college, and it is here that the first definite attitude of the journalists towards the college is apparent. College, the majority of the men commented, should be the foundation for research to be done in later life, for the research work of the successful journalist never stops. It is

124

E D U CΑΤ I ΟΝ O F Τ Η E J O U R Ν AL I S Τ

in the mental training that the student gets in college and in the awakening of his curiosity, resulting in an interest in government, sociology, the sciences, or what not, that the college is most useful. A college education in itself, when the work stops with the diploma, is only a hindrance, and the college degree should make a beginning of the accumulation of workable knowledge. A sense of vast ignorance, both about newspapers and about the world they serve, is a fine indication, these journalists believe, that the college has really served its purpose. The decision to get rid of that vast sense of ignorance is perhaps the best thing that one can get out of college, a decision backed by a knowledge of methods of learning. To illustrate the conception of what a college should contribute to the journalist's success the following is taken at random from the comments on a college education : Learn as much about as many different things as possible; by all means get at least a smattering of chemistry, biology, bacteriology, geology, psychology, archaeology, physics, economics and history, so that reasonable and intelligent questions can be asked. In my opinion this background of general knowledge is more important than technical training in the mechanics of newspaper production. Law and medicine should not be entirely neglected, either. The field of possible newspaper stories, and of comment thereon, is as broad as all knowledge

In the above sample, taken as typical of the attitude, it is apparent that technical training in newspaper work is not sufficient. It takes second place in the education of the journalist, and the idea that technical training should serve as a finishing course, rather than as a substitute for a broader education, is echoed throughout the comments. First off, all the journalist has found is that he must have something about which to write, and he has placed the acquisition of the technique to be used in the writing second to the acquisition of knowledge which enables him to write intelligently.

E D U CΑΤ I ΟΝ O F Τ Η E J O U ΗΝ A L I 8 Τ

125

Again and again it is stated in these comments that the education of the journalist cannot be too broad or comprehensive. These repetitions of the advice that the school of journalism be used as a place in which the student can perfect his technique seem to indicate that the school of journalism, if it is to serve the needs of the newspaper field, must be strictly a professional school, preceded by the regular college course or a college course somewhat broader in its scope than the present courses of study offered by the colleges, where the student is given training in inductive reasoning before he has gained a knowledge by deduction from the broad field of knowledge. Indeed, thoroughness in any special line will have to be sacrificed to more or less superficial knowledge of a great number of things, but for the beginning journalist, not the successful, this broad scope is placed above proficiency in special fields. Scattered throughout the comments on education are many evidences that the men who have anéwered the questionnaire have sensed the need for a specialization. Those advising specialization are far fewer in number than those arguing for a broader education, however, and in many cases the advice is to specialize after the broad outline of the world's knowledge is thoroughly in mind. A general knowledge of the background with a specific knowledge of some important point in that background is the general idea in most of these suggestions to specialize. In practically none of these cases is college mentioned as the place to get this specialization. It should begin after college. It should be the starting point of the newspaper man's life work. Warnings to future journalists to make a check-up of their aptitudes before launching definitely their careers are found throughout these comments on formal education. The school of journalism is regarded as an excellent place

I2Ó

E D U C A T I O N

OF

THE

J O U R N A L I S T

in which to make the check, and the warnings are not to hesitate to change the field of endeavor if the personal equipment is found to be in any way inadequate. These men have advised that the prospective journalist devote a large part of his efforts in the school of journalism to practical journalistic work, so that he can find out, before it is too late, if he really is fitted to succeed in the profession. The school of journalism is pictured as a testing field where the trial and error method to the selection of the profession can be carried on with the best concrete results. This advice takes the shape of suggestions to the student of journalism to try newspaper work in college ; to get something to do in a newspaper office, whether it be a position as office boy or cub reporter, and by working at it in conjunction with his school work decide whether he likes it, whether he is fitted for it. If he is, the suggestions read, the experience has fitted him better for his Ufe work. If he is not fitted, the warning always is to make a change to other work promptly. Ii is the opinion that education cannot, however advantageous it may be, make up for lack of ability in newspaper work. It is desirable but not necessary and can never result in a good journalist unless the aptitude is there at the beginning. The journalist must have catholicity of taste, he must like almost everything at least until he is through writing about it, and always he must be interested, not have an idle curiosity, but an interest in the phenomenon as it pertains to the public. He must embody, as nearly as possible, the public taste. It is rather a big order, and in giving it the journalists evidently have felt that they are stating an ideal. Some have even proposed a bath of fire to ascertain the degree of determination in young men taking up journalism as a life's work, as is suggested in the following comment:

E D U CΑ Τ I Ο Ν O F Τ Η E J OU R Ν A L I 8 Τ

127

My specific advice to all contemplating entering journalism is the same as was formerly given to young men contemplating going into the ministry. My advice is " D o n ' t do it unless you have the urge t h a t will not leave you satisfied with anything else." This is boiled down by me into the word " D o n ' t . " Then if in the face of this advice, the young man goes on anyway, I know nothing that can keep him out and that he will succeed in spite of hell fire, damnation and eternal punishment. I t probably is a disease, though some may call it a divine fire, but it is a fact t h a t men get into the newspaper business through the most diverse paths of probably most any profession. I think the modern knowledge of psychology may change this, but so far as I am concerned my advice to aspiring journalists is: " D o n ' t do it. Fire a locomotive, plow behind a mule, or do anything in which you can make a decent living, for you will at least be able to work definite hours and be decently civilized." Then if I am unable to keep the aspiring from sweating and toiling to break in, I know that in fact he is a newspaper man, and t h a t nothing can keep him out. This bit of advice, while some parts of it may have been given in jest, indicates the extent to which the editors have deemed a natural aptitude necessary. The writer of it, although he is not known internationally as a successful editor, is recognized as such nationally. The admonition, while all parts of it have not a ring of sincerity, goes to show the terrible consequences of maladjustment. More serious and yet quite in keeping with the attitude of the majority of those commenting on a formal education is the following: M y advice for a young man desiring to enter newspaper work would be to take an academic course at college and then enter the school of journalism. On completing that course, proceed to forget the arbitrary features which naturally crop out in an effort to learn those things which can be learned only from the city editor under which one works. When the young man is properly equipped with the background he would get from the school of journalism, he should keep his viewpoint within bounds and learn from his city editor the rudiments of the profession.

128

E D U CΑ Τ I Ο Ν O F Τ H E J Ου ΗΝA L I 8 Τ

Emphatic advice not to attend a school of journalism was hardly ever accompanied by specific reasons. From the entire group which commented on the advantages of a college education only four or five condemned the school of journalism. That this condemnation was given because of a personal bias and not as result of a study of merits and demerits is evidenced by the lack of specific reasons. In several of those who advised a school of journalism as a part of training, there is the admonition that the diploma from the school of journalism does not mean expertness in the profession and an attitude that it does is irritating to men in the profession who really are experts. It is perhaps because of this attitude sometimes taken by graduates of schools of journalism that these few journalists condemned the school of journalism. The advice to the graduate of the school of journalism always is to forget that he knows everything, remember that he knows nothing, and endeavor to show a willingness to learn. In many cases the advice is to try the profession before getting an education. This method of procedure is given as a means of finding out the rudiments of the game before embarking on study. The argument here is that by working first and going to school afterwards the end of endeavor may be ascertained before the means of attaining that end are undertaken. The following is a typical bit of advice along this Une : Try it as a cub reporter to see if you like it and can stand the demands. If, after a year, you are still convinced you want to go on, go to college if you can possibly do so and major in English, minor in political science or history or both and study many widely different subjects. After graduation take the hardest job you can find and fight it through until some real newspapering has been beaten into your system. Then you can branch over into specialized fields if you desire.

EDUCATION

OF THE

J O U R N A L I S T

I2Q

Back of all education there should be an interest in human beings, and education as a means of finding out how and why these people behave is valuable to the newspaper man. In some of the journalists' comments on education this study of human nature takes first rank. "Study one book and ten people" is the advice of one well-known editor, and the following may be regarded as typical in regard to the journalist's need for a study of people and the relation of this need to a need for a study of technique : Major in a study of people, civics and sociology. Cultivate an understanding and a sincere liking and sympathy for all classes of human beings. Make your study of people, their habits, reactions and other information come first. Your study of forms of writing second. It will do you no good to know all about how to write if you have nothing to write about. If you have something worth writing, however, the form in which it may be written will suggest itself automatically, providing you have a basic understanding of spelling, grammar and English.

As has been said, the courses suggested for study in college by future journalists run the entire range of human knowledge. There are, however, a number of specific choices. The importance of a thorough study of English, both composition and literature, is placed first by the majority of those who suggest particular courses. Next come, in order of their frequency, history, economics, government, sociology, languages, philosophy and ethics, laboratory science, mathematics, psychology, and anthropology. The usual suggestion is for a major in English and a minor choice of economics or history. These academic courses are regarded as highly important as a background for the technical training to come later. In summing up the whole of the advice on education it will be well to quote the following passage which gives the characteristic attitude which the editor or managing editor takes towards a formal education:

130

E D U C A T I O N

OF

THE

J O U R N A L I S T

T a k e the journalistic courses—provided you do not thereby sacrifice the other academic courses—especially history and economics, political philosophy, etc. I am no " m o s s - b a c k , " I believe, and have often spoken for the schools of journalism, but our experience here has shown us that what the men get in these schools seem offset by a loss of general background. We can teach the man the tricks of the trade in a couple of years, but we can't educate a man at all. The student of the school of journalism, in m y estimation, should get just as broad a background as possible and feel the urge for keeping interested in public affairs. Some contact with the technical side of the game will help, but that should be very secondary.

The labor turnover is probably the modern managing editor's greatest problem. T o train new men to take the places of those who have advanced to higher position or who have left the paper for other jobs is very expensive. He cannot afford, as do the larger corporations, to maintain a fully equipped training staff ready to meet these frequent shifts in personnel. Instead he has to rely on his own workers to instruct the newcomer in the particular needs and wants of the newspaper. For this reason a study of labor turnover in relation to previous training, both professional and non-professional, and in relation to the ages of journalistic workers will be particularly significant. The journalists interviewed by the questionnaire were asked to list the number of positions which they have held and the length of time spent in these various positions. Each position held, whether it was on the same paper or magazine or on different publications, counted as a separate unit in this tabulation. It was found after tabulation that the period of roving from one job to another, as was the progress upward, stopped definitely after the age of 45. In the age group from 22 to 32 years, inclusive, the largest percentage, 23.1 per cent, had held four positions, and in the age group from 33 to 45, inclusive, the largest percentage, 21 per cent, had held six

E D U C A T I O N

OF

THE

J O U R N A L I S T

131

positions during the course of their careers. In the group with ages over 45 the largest percentage also had held six positions. In the newspaper office of the size of the majority in which the subjects of the investigation worked, the average number of positions to be held between the positions of cub reporter and editor-in-chief is probably six—cub reporter, reporter, copy editor, executive copy editor, managing editor, and editor-in-chief. The tabulation in the appendix showing the relation of ages to the number of jobs held shows clearly that this number, especially for those whose ages are above 32, is the mean average. The journalist who has risen to the rank of editor or managing editor undoubtedly has learned that it is advantageous to stay with the same paper if he is to attain those positions in the minimum length of time. The tables in the appendix showing the relation of the age groups to the number of positions held also indicate that after ten positions are held, there is a tendency to settle down to one job. Only a very small percentage of the journalists interviewed had held more than ten positions, and the mean average for the two older groups was six positions held, while the mean average for the youngest group was only four positions. In the older group there is a rapid decline in the number holding many jobs when the difference between the number holding six positions and the number holding seven positions is noted. The decline is from 23 per cent to 13.2 per cent. Only 3.3 per cent of the oldest group had held only two positions, and .3 per cent of the middle group had held two positions. In order to ascertain the effect of college training on the labor turnover the answered questionnaires were divided into college and non-college groups and these examined in the light of the number of jobs held. From an examination

132

E D U C A T I O N

OF

THE

J O U R N A L I S T

of the tabulations as shown in Table X I in the appendix it is seen that the college trained journalists on the whole have held fewer jobs and are less likely to be maladjusted than those who have had no college training whatever. In the college group only 23.1 per cent have held more than seven positions, while in the group with no college training the percentage which have held more than seven positions is more than 28. The peak in both groups is reached with six positions, and 15.2 per cent of the college men have held this number of positions while 22 per cent of those not having college training have held six jobs. An examination of the table, then, indicates that the college man, whether he has a degree or not, is able to become adjusted sooner to his journalistic career and better able to concentrate on the problem at hand without spending a great deal of his time in trying himself out in various positions to ascertain his real field of interest. In this tabulation there is a little variance between the ages of the two groups, but almost as many young men as old have failed to go to college. It is therefore a good indication of the practical use to which the journalists interviewed have put their college educations. In comparing the students of schools of journalism with those who have not had formal journalistic training to ascertain the rate of labor turnover of each group, the same sharp distinction cannot be drawn, for the ages of the former students of schools of journalism are far below those of the group with no journalistic training in college. The school of journalism is a comparatively youthful institution in the United States, and if graduates from the schools have not held as many positions as those without professional training, it might be laid to lack of years rather than advantages of training. With this in mind it will be interesting to examine Table X I V in the appendix which shows the relative

EDUCATION

OF T H E

J O U R N A L I S T

133

number oí positions held by students of schools of journalism and those who have not attended classes in journalistic technique. Approximately 27 per cent of those journalists who have had training in schools of journalism have held more than six positions as compared with approximately 40 per cent of the journalists without training in the school of journalism. The peak in both groups is reached with six positions, and 21 per cent of those who have had journalistic training have held six jobs as compared with 20.5 per cent of the other group. As would be expected in this group, the largest percentages of those trained in journalism have held less than six jobs while the group with no professional training is distributed almost equally on both sides of the six-job point. Dividing the subjects of the investigation into the two broader groups and comparing the labor turnover for both groups as is shown by Table X I I I in the appendix, it is found that those who have had professional training of some sort, either apprentice, in a school of journalism, a correspondence school, or as editors of college or high school papers, have a greater labor turnover than those who have had no professional training. The largest percentage of those who have had no professional training have stopped with four jobs while the largest percentage of the professionally trained have held six jobs. In the professionally trained group 18.9 per cent have held six jobs while in the group which has not been trained professionally the percentage holding six jobs is only 15.6. As has been noted on the questionnaire these questions about professional training have covered rather a wide range. A large number of those giving apprentice training as a part of their professional training evidently meant the first job as a reporter and not training under supervision as is practiced in the trade unions. For this reason, as in the case of

134

EDUCATION

OF THE

JOURNALIST

comparison between those trained in schools of journalism and those not having journalistic training, the value of professional training in reducing the labor turnover is not reflected accurately. The cases listed under professional training do not really indicate the highest type of professional training, such as is given in the school of journalism, as these cases are in the minority. It really means a training undergone by the cub reporter who is given a pencil and notebook and instructed to go out and get something fit to print.

CHAPTER V I EVIDENCES OF MALADJUSTMENT

Every person, especially if he has a touch of sentimentality in his being, thinks he has had the worst possible time in getting ahead in his occupation. Because of this it is to be expected that in a survey of almost any profession there would be many dark and somber warnings to the young not to enter into that profession. Such warnings were not called for in this survey, and the spaces on the last page of the questionnaire were left so that the recipient would feel free to voice his honest opinion about the work in which he is engaged. The information gathered from this expression of the journalist's opinion about his work was of a varied nature, but warnings to the young man to forego the urge to enter the profession of journalism were surprisingly few, compared with the other advice he received on how to succeed after he has once embarked on his career. For the purpose of showing the causes for any maladjustment that there is in the field of journalism among those who have succeeded, an effort has been made to select real cases of maladjustment. Many of those who issued warnings to young men not to enter the field in the first sentence under the caption "Advice to a Young Person Contemplating a Career in Journalism," in the very next sentence began to offer the young person advice about how to succeed once that person has entered the profession, the effect of the whole being a decidedly optimistic attitude towards the profession of journalism. 135

136

E V I D E N C E S

OF

M A L A D J U S T M E N T

Then, too, the lack of evidence that many successful journalists really desire to be doing something outside the field of journalism is readily apparent in the returns of the questionnaire. A few, but very few, declared in the space under the question " I s there any other kind of work than that you do now which you would strongly prefer to be doing?" that they would strongly prefer to be doing something other than their present work. The few who did list other things listed magazine writing, historical research, writing of social criticism, writing of fiction, and trade journalism. An examination of those who would like to be engaged in what are called the higher phases of journalism, creative writing and the like, revealed that they were already writers of some reputation and were not dreamers who were planning to write "The Great American Novel." This entire group, which numbered less than 5 per cent of the entire number of answerers of the questionnaire, expressed a real desire for time from strenuous routine to devote to specialization in the field in which they were most interested. A smaller percentage of these who professed to desire other occupations, however, took a most curious turn from the ordinary when they selected the other work which they would like to be doing. None of these subjects is found more than once in the entire number of returned questionnaires. The occupations selected by these few are aviation, exploring, growing flowers, being an investment banker (this evidently with the intention of being humourous), and playing an instrument in a circus band. If these are unimportant evidences of maladjustment, there are several indications that maladjustment, even though it is not widespread, is present among the successful journalists in America. Just as in the health and energy factor which played an important part in the achievement of the men interviewed, adaptation has been necessary to

Ε V I DΕ Ν CΕ θ O F MA L A DJ U 8 Τ Μ Ε Ν Τ

137

success. There was no place for maladjustment in a profession success in which demanded constant attention to the problem at hand. If these editors and managing editors were maladjusted at the beginning, it is certain that they became adjusted before they achieved success. But in several cases this maladjustment came after success, and it is these cases that will be considered in an effort to get at the general causes of discontent. Probably the greatest reason given for dissatisfaction with the profession was the low pay, even in the more responsible positions. Throughout the testimony of these men this complaint runs, and almost always the advice is, "Don't go into journalism if you do it just to make a living." There is frequent reference to the fact that other work offers greater financial returns for the same amount of energy, efficiency and intelligence that journalism demands. To be sure, these arguments are not backed up by specific cases, but the lack of space on the questionnaire can be given as one reason for this. This complaint may be one that is peculiar to all professions, but certainly it is an important one when the large number of times it is voiced by journalists is considered. The next greatest reason for the lack of adjustment to the profession is probably to be found in the frequent references to the hard hours the journalist is forced to work if he is connected with a daily newspaper. The same schedules for working hours that exist in the other vocations do not exist so far as the great number of American newspapers are concerned. There are no periods definitely outlined for work and recreation, and the newspaper man's time is not his own but his paper's. This complaint is registered frequently in warning the young journalist to consider thoroughly before he embarks on his career. There is evidence that this irregularity of working hours does not cease with the less re-

138

EVIDENCES

OF

MALADJUSTMENT

sponsible occupations, but continues even in the highest paid and most responsible executive positions. Many times there are expressions of blasted idealism in the answered questionnaires, and this feeling that the editorial office has to be subservient to the wishes of the advertising and circulation departments is one of the causes of real discontent. The domination of the editorial policy by the interests of big business and the resultant "conservatism for a purpose" has grown irksome to many of the editors and managing editors, and they are prone to wish for the day when the press was not dominated by the money interests. All in all, there is a great deal of this ideal attitude on the part of the editors, and it is not always concerned with the wish for a press free from the influence of big business. Sometimes there are tirades against the constant effort which newspapers have to make to meet the desire for "trashy sentimentalism." The following quotation from the advice given by one of the more liberal of the Washington correspondents illustrates the typical feeling of many editors on both of these points. S t a y out of it if y o u are interested in m a k i n g m o n e y . In a l m o s t any other occupation (except teaching) the rewards for the same a m o u n t of intelligence, courage and industry are v a s t l y greater, especially in business. L e a r n to flatter y o u r superiors, and convince them t h a t y o u are " a safe m a n . " Scrap y o u r ideals unless y o u are fairly certain of getting on one of a b o u t three newspapers in the United S t a t e s . [He mentions the papers]. C u l t i v a t e a k n a c k for the t r a s h y sentimentalism or meretricious flashiness which the public demands. Read, read, read, read.

If the blasting of ideals plays an important part in this discontent, the blasting of personal ambitions has played no less important part. The fact that many successful fiction writers and dramatists have come up through the newspaper

EVIDENCES

OF M A L A D J U S T M E N T

139

has led a considerable number of persons to choose newspaper work as the beginning of a literary career. And not a few of those registering discontent have given this as a reason. Newspaper work has given the opportunity for valuable contacts with literary material, but seldom has it given enough time for the writing of literature. It is a business in itself, and its demands, so far as energy is concerned, are so great that the energy to be spent in literary efforts usually rolls off the press as news stories, feature stories, and editorials. Among these cases of discontent the number who voice the opinion that the newspaper business "in not an old man's business" is striking. Energy, rather than judgment, training, and ability, is desired by the employers, these men say, and for that reason, when age causes a waning of energy, the person who is advancing in age is no longer desired. In the light of this demand for young men, the advice to the young man in a great number of cases is to gfet out after the first years and seek a better employment unless he can become financially interested in his paper. While these evidences of discontent are found only in a small number of cases compared to the great majority which heartily recommend the profession to the young man, they are sufficient to indicate some of the obvious faults of the profession. They tend to show that liberalism is not greatly in demand and that newspapers are rapidly becoming properties rather than newspapers. Ideals of making the public conform to the views of the editors are hopelessly out of date, and the only way out for the journalist having these ideals is to scrap them. The complaint that it "is not an old man's profession" is the same that is heard in many other professions, but that its hours and working conditions for its workers could be improved cannot be doubted. Obviously the underpaid

I40

EVIDENCES

OF

MALADJUSTMENT

newspaper man is the result of the crowding of the profession with the incapable and the great need in the large shop for a large body of "leg men" with a small staff of competent re-write men. The solution of the problem of the low salaries is one to be solved jointly by publishers and schools of journalism. Publishers pay small salaries because they cannot find, in the majority of cases, competent men, and the schools of journalism probably in the future will be called upon to supply the competent men.

CHAPTER V I I

T H E FUTURE JOURNALIST Thus far an attempt to review the origins, the careers and experiences of these several hundred journalists has been made. An idea has been gained as to why they entered the profession, how they succeeded in reaching the places now held and what the helps and hindrances to success have been. In this chapter an attempt will be made to digest the advice to the young would-be journalist who is just on the verge of entrance into the profession. As in discussing the helps and hindrances to success, no attempt will be made to tabulate these numerically. In examining this advice it has been found that rather definite patterns exist as would be expected. Many men have felt the desire to give the same advice to the young man, and only occasionally is there advice of such a specific nature that it is mentioned only once in the larger number of questionnaires. The response to this question, while it was not as great in volume as in the listing of the helps and hindrances, is sufficient for a study of the needs of the profession so far as qualifications for the entering worker are concerned, so an effort to reconstruct the journalist desired by these who will employ him for many years have been attempted. The most important qualification for the entrant into the profession is a liking for the profession. If he has not this liking, the advice is to try another field. The paradoxical advice that a liking for the profession should be known before entering the field is no longer a paradox when these men explain that the young man should try out journalism before he selects it for a lifetime job. This should be gotten during 141

142

THE

FUTURE

JOURNALIST

vacations from school, at college as college correspondents. Always he should be trying out the profession practically while studying it theoretically. In the second place the entrant into the profession must be well educated formally. The admission of these men is that a formal education can be compensated for after one starts work in the field, but this is not to be desired when a college education is obtainable. This was by far the most frequent advice to the young man. The college education offers the best way to become well acquainted with the world, the successful journalist believes. This education as conceived by those who advise its acquisition should consist of a thorough and broad academic college course followed by a course in the school of journalism. A preponderance of history, English, both composition and literature, economics, sociology and philosophy should make up the college curriculum. If the college course cannot be obtained in addition to school of journalism training, the advice is that technical courses in the field of journalism should come second in importance to the broader courses of the regular college curriculum. The following is a typical specimen of the advice about college training and what its character should be. A thorough grounding in English, history and economics is essential in newspaper work today, and the student should shape his college course accordingly. Any preparation which gives an insight into human nature and develops the ability to meet people is almost equally valuable, although the young man or woman really fitted for this work quickly acquires this on the job. In my personal opinion, other things being equal, the young man or woman who has an abounding enthusiasm that will withstand all kinds of rebuffs is the one that will make the greatest success as a reporter, and no one can be a successful newspaper worker without being a good reporter.

THE

FUTURE

JOURNALIST

M3

The recurrence of the advice "Don't enter journalism unless you feel that you can do nothing else and unless you can sacrifice the hope of monetary reward" indicates that the entrant into the profession must be prepared to spend many years before he can feel that he is being sufficiently remunerated financially. He must be prepared for a long apprenticeship at low pay sustained by his "love of the game." Money, it seems, has never been important to the majority of these men, and they constantly allude to their inability to take care of themselves financially. There must be an absorbing interest, an interest which causes the young man to forget entirely what he is getting paid, an interest which will cause him to forget about the long hours he is working. That this attitude about money is entirely essential is not to be overlooked, for these men advise that any other attitude is almost always fatal to the interest in the profession. That it is difficult to take this attitude and still keep on in the business is evidenced by the following advice about finances: Save ten per cent of your salary whether you eat or not. Watch your health. Don't be afraid to quit a job. Decide at the end of two years whether to take some phase of newspaper work seriously as a thing in itself or whether to go into some other work. Learn to discount the fun that is in the work and look ahead ten years. The fourth qualification that the young man must have is the possession of excellent health and abundant energy. As was pointed out the profession is one in which the man with poor physical equipment is not permitted to linger. He must be physically fit to stay in it, and he must be energetic to succeed. If the advice given by these men is to be believed, the newspaper man can never display too much energy in the carrying out of his duties. There is no con-

144

THE

F U T U R E

J O U R N A L I S T

servation of energy. He is expected to go at full speed all of the time, and if he has any surplus energy he is expected to expend that in bettering what he has done. It seems that the newspaper story is never finished. It is never so good that something additional cannot be added. The work is never over, these men say, and the existence of a continually unfinished job demands that there be enough energy for constant attempts to finish it. This energy can be obtained only by the acquisition of good health, and good health can be enjoyed only through the adherence to principles of hygienic living. Sobriety and a constant fight to overcome the effects of irregular hours is therefore advised strongly. In addition to the above mentioned qualifications there are many others which are listed in this advice to the would-be journalist. These are more specific in nature, but important nevertheless. Perhaps the most frequent of these is the pointing out that the young journalist must read widely. He must spend every spare moment he can find in reading. The specific advice on reading is in most cases given with the assumption that the recipient of the advice has a college education which has given him a background for his reading. A study of literature in the development of style, a study of biography for a knowledge of human nature, a study of books on government and politics for a knowledge of the forces behind our government, a study of books of criticism so that the complex civilization may be understood—these are some of the directions for reading. There are many others. Finally there should be a wide reading of the news which furnishes the background necessary for the writing of the story at hand. The following has been selected to illustrate the typical attitude these men take toward the reading of the news :

THE

F U T U R E

J O U R N A L I S T

145

Be a constant reader of the newspapers and magazines of current opinion and read ALL the news, not the parts you like best. Background for future stories comes this way. No matter how unimportant the item, try to be careful in its preparation, and do not fall into the habit of constantly rewriting. Try to have your story thought out before you start writing it. Don't be content with mere detailing of the news, but ask yourself what this and that means because those are the questions the reader will ask. Don't watch the clock except for edition times.

The importance of realizing the far-reaching effects of the printed word is often stressed in these bits of advice. The young man is warned to think of the consequences of the misinterpretation of news items and to avoid any possibility of the real meaning being misunderstood. Carefulness and accuracy rank high among the virtues the good newspaper man must have. Mistakes are costly is the warning, and better a bit of care and a missed edition than inaccurate stories in any edition. He must be trained to observe correctly and rapidly and must have a memory which will enable him to carry only the important things back to the office with him. An unbounded enthusiasm for the work is recommended as a great help in the achievement of success. There are frequent warnings to stay out of the business if it is regarded only as a stepping stone to something which pays better. The newspaper man must not divide his allegiance between his paper and the ambition to shift to something better. He must enter wholeheartedly into the business if he is to succeed, according to the preponderance of the advice. He must have a feeling that his is a profession of dignity, and above all he must keep his self-respect. There is the frequent suggestion to remember that the paper on which he works is only one of "the four or five hundred of the leading papers of the country."

146

THE

FUTURE

J O U R N A L I S T

This optimistic attitude toward the profession comes from the managing editor of a mid-western daily: A journalist must like his work to succeed and should have a native sense of the eternal fitness of things. He must understand that a newspaper man is always on duty. He is in a profession of dignity and service. I know of no profession in which on the whole the standard of ethics is higher than in the editorial room.

However, if an entrant into the profession is to keep his self-respect always, he is also to look up to his superiors who know a great deal more about the profession than he does. The advice is that this knowledge gained from his superiors will always prove to be of value. He must be willing to start as a reporter, and it is necessary that he know something about all of the jobs on the staff before he is qualified to hold an executive position. The best way to learn about these jobs is to work at them, is the opinion of the journalists. Small town experience is considered on the whole of more value than metropolitan experience, and the young journalist is advised to start work on a small paper so that he can learn all about the different things which go to make a newspaper. Here is a specimen of the advice on this point: If sincere in his ambition, let him begin in a small town where his work will be everything from obits to fires. From all of this he will gain experience which will help guide him in his selection of specific jobs.

The two quotations on advice as to acquiring style have been selected to indicate the kind of writing these men prefer: Study the theory of newspaper making. That means to me not only the writing but the reason for writing; it means not only the construction of stories but the construction of newspapers—how they are put together that way and why. Get all of the practice possible while studying theories. Be thorough in everything you do. KNOW you are right—then tell the

THE

FUTURE

JOURNALIST

147

world in an interesting way. In preparing news for the public consumption be natural. Make no attempt at "highfalutin' " writing. Remember you like stories if they are told interestingly. The public is a mass of "you's." Study the job you have to do and never let up until you have learned all there is to know about it. Then this on the relation of reading to style : Read for pleasure good standard authors and particularly the classics. Read for instruction history, biography and the modern essayists. T r y in writing to improve your style, enlarge your vocabulary and practice precision in expression, plus vigorous and arresting phrases. Yet cultivate simplicity and avoid ornamental language. Be accurate. Be fair. Spare no pains to do your work as well as possible. Guard your health, and have a pride in your work. The newspaper which the young man should select in getting his first job should be dependable, is the frequent suggestion. In return for that dependability the young journalist should demonstrate his steadiness as is suggested by the following passage: Rid yourself of any idea t h a t a good journalist must be a waster and a spendthrift. More capable newspaper men fail because of financial worry and sickness than for any other reason. Brains and health are a journalist's chief assets, and the one is almost useless without the other. Get at least a few jumps ahead of the collector and keep increasing the distance. Wherever you go establish a reputation as quickly as you can for dependability under any and all circumstances. As soon as you can, connect with some newspaper that appears to you to be alive and growing and to offer you plenty of opportunity to grow with it. Give it your best day in and day out. Don't quit without good reason. Don't be a floater. That there is still plenty of opportunity to fight for ideals in the newspaper business is indicated by this advice : Realize that every newspaper able to pay top salaries is a business house finding its ideals where big business finds it own. Only in a genuine crisis will your paper fight its financo-fraternity

148

THE

F U T U R E

J O U R N A L I S T

brothers. But when it does fight, it makes your years of cynicism worth while. Newspapers must make money; but they are still susceptible to the influence of the red shirt. And right here is your chance to be glad you chose the news trade. All frontiers of society are upholstered these days; but when your paper doubles its fists, you known you're as much of a Daniel Boone as any of us should hope to be in this cushioned era. Don't hope to be an idealist with a fluctuating temperature. Be a business anomaly with arteries that never will harden. The entrance to the newspaper business as an adventure is discouraged in the following sample of advice: Do not enter the business as an adventure but as a serious business. Honor your profession by being accurate and honest, neat and polite, fearless and independent. Be yourself and not somebody else. Your stock in trade is your knowledge and your acquaintance. Study incessantly for your job. Make the best acquaintances you can, cultivate them and keep them. Keep everlastingly at it. The importance of personality and the ability to make friends so that news gathering is easier is stressed often. Friends in the office and out of it are valuable to the newspaper man. He must know all classes, and for that reason anything except a democratic attitude is discouraged. " R e duce all swelled heads" is the way one editor put his advice to the beginning journalist. In closing this chapter the two following pieces of advice have been selected. It is believed that these represent, better than any others in the large number, the typical advice. This from the business editor of one of the Chicago dailies listed numerically under "Advice to a Young Person Contemplating a Career in Journalism": ι. Regardless of temptations inherent in newspaper life try to make your habits conform to the best prevailing standards of respectability. 2. Save a little of your income to be free of unnecessary distraction.

THE

F U T U R E

149

J O U R N A L I S T

3. G r a d u a l l y learn all branches of the business. Too m u c h specialization deprives one of m a n y opportunities for advancement. 4. R e a d and digest as much history, politics and knowledge of civil g o v e r n m e n t as possible. 5. C u l t i v a t e acquaintance with as m a n y persons as possible, a n d teach t h e m t o h a v e complete confidence in y o u r int e g r i t y and good sense. 6. S t u d y the best literature and c u l t i v a t e a good, strong English style. 7. B e intensely patriotic, remembering t h a t the interests of y o u r c o u n t r y are possibly more dependent on y o u r profession t h a n upon a n y other. T h i s grows more requisite e v e r y year. 8. C u l t i v a t e success.

tactfulness.

It

is essential

to

newspaper

9. N o diligence in seeking the t r u t h is wasted. L e a r n to be t h o r o u g h in e v e r y t h i n g y o u undertake. I t is essential to success. T h e writer of the following listed his advice to the young person contemplating a career in journalism as a series of "Don'ts": Don't : E n t e r newspaper work unless your passion for news transcends all other ambitions. Use the newspaper as a half-way house to " l i t e r a r y w o r k . " Feel t h a t other professions m a y not be just as good. L e t t h e m p u t y o u on the copy desk unless y o u like t o read c o p y . F l i t u n d u l y from one office to another. E v e r k i c k to the city editor a b o u t a n y t h i n g . TABLE

I

A G E D I S T R I B U T I O N OF C A S E S

Age

Groups

24 to 32 33 t o 45 46 and over

Number 95 218 189

T H E

F U T U R E

J O U R N A L I S T

TABLE

II

A G E S OF C A S E S W H E N T H E T B E G A N

Age

Number

Age

14 15 16

14 22 27 32 72 40 60

28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 36-40

Π 18 19 20 21 22

S3 49 35 23 22 4 4

23 24 25 26 27

WORK

Ν um 8 I 4 I 6 4 —

4 —

4 I I I 22

40-45 4S-50 50-55 U n d e r 14 TABLE

III

D I S T R I B U T I O N OF C A S E S A S TO M O S T I M P O R T A N T P O S I T I O N S FILLED

Percentage of Cases Interviewed Filling These Positions Now

Positions Editor-in-chief M a n a g i n g editor Editorial writer C i t y editor D e p a r t m e n t editor Special writer M a g a z i n e editor TABLE

36. ι 27 · S 8.6

6.5 5·ΐ 8.5 5-9 IV

T A B U L A T I O N OF A N S W E R S TO Q U E S T I O N " H O W D I D Y O U

SELECT

YOUR PRESENT VOCATION?"

How Selected Chance opportunity D e l i b e r a t e planning T h r o u g h some personal influence

Percentage 26.5 49.6 6.1

T H E

F Ü T D R E

TABLE

IV

J O U R N A L I S T

151

(Continued)

How Selected

Percentage

On invitation, as a result of some personal feat Gradual swinging over from some other field Combination chance and personal influence Combination chance and invitation Combination choice and invitation Other manner T A B L E

S. 1 s. 2 2. o 1.o 2.1 2. o

V

SHOWING A N C E B T E T OF C A S E S I N T E R V I E W E D ; S O C I A L AND F I N A N C I A L S T A T U S OF I M M E D I A T E F A M I L Y

Father

Laborer—unskilled 13 or semi-skilled Laborer—skilled Si Clerk or salesman 27 Farmer 69 Minor executive 49 Major executive 26 Owner of small business 90 Owner of large business 18 Professional man or woman 162

Number of Cases Paternal Grandfather

Mother

5 52 3 203 21 II 69 17 68

I S I 46

D I S T R I B U T I O N OF P R O F E S S I O N S IN IMMEDIATE

FOREBEARS

Journalists Lawyers Teachers Medicine Engineers College Professor Politicians Military Clergy Artist Others

2

Fathers

Grandfathers

42 34 II 21 5 4 2 3 30 I 9

6 11 7 7 I 3 3

Mothe

5 34 5 — —

2

—

21

—

—

—

7

6

THE

152

FUTURE

JOURNALIST

TABLE

VI

EDUCATION

Extent of Schooling

Percentage of Cases

G r a m m a r school H i g h or preparatory school College, graduated College, did not finish Professional

8.4 23. 5 40.8 26.6

Training

(Those reporting professional training obtained it as follows) A p p r e n t i c e training on newspaper Correspondence school School of journalism W o r k on preparatory or college paper TABLE

52.0 2. o 12.7 33.1

VII

T A B U L A T I O N OF A N S W E R S TO Q U E S T I O N " W E R E A N T OF Y O U R F R I E N D S OR R E L A T I V E S I N T E R E S T E D IN THE B U S I N E S S OR T H E O W N E R S AND E X E C U T I V E S OF THE C O N C E R N S FOR WHICH Y O U WORKED?"

Answers

Percentage

No I n the same business or a similar one t o t h a t y o u first entered? In y o u r present organization when you entered it? Since y o u entered it?

79

11 7 3

T A B L E VIII T A B U L A T I O N OF THE A N S W E R S TO THE Q U E S T I O N " D I D Y O U IN THE

EARLY

YEARS LESS

STAGES

OF Y O U R

OR T H E R E A B O U T S ) THAN

$10,000)

CAREER

RECEIVE

THROUGH

THE

No Inheritance R e l a t i v e s or friends Y o u r own savings

THE

PROVISION

FROM A N Y OF THE F O L L O W I N G

Answers

(IN

FIRST

SUBSTANTIAL

AID

OF

SOURCES?"

Percentage 92

2.9 1.9 3. 2

FIVE (NOT

CAPITAL

T H E

F U T U R E

I

J O U R N A L I S T

TABLE

S3

IX

T A B U L A T I O N OF A N S W E R S TO T H E Q U E S T I O N " W H A T H A S

BEEN

Y O U R G E N E R A L S T A T E OF H E A L T H ? " Answers

Percentage

S3.9 39.3 6.3 .4 —

Excellent Good Only fair Poor Sickly TABLE JOB-PEHIOD

AVERAGE—A

X

CORRELATION

BETWEEN

PRESENT

A G E W I T H N U M B E R OF P O S I T I O N S H E L D Percentage Number of Jobs Held

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen

Age ss-se

Age 33-46

.09 7.6

15-3 23 . 1 19.0 11

·S

18.2

Age 46 and over —

•3 •4 I I •5 17 4 21 . 0

23.0

IS . 0

13-2

3-3 8.2 14.8 12.0

ΐ·7 ι .0

I I .. 0

7-7

9 9

6.0

I .0

6. 8

•3

5- 0 I .3 4

5-9 •5 2.0 ι .0

— — —

—

•S

— —

—

—

—

—

1

•5

154

T H E

F U T U R E

J O U R N A L I S T

TABLE

X I

SHOWING THE CORRELATION B E T W E E N E X T E N T OF AND N U M B E R OF J O B S

Number of Jobs Held One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen

Non-College

—

—

S·5 9-5

2-5 5-5

16.8

II.0

14-7 IS 2

22.0

138

19.0 I I . 1

ι

6.

13 s

6.1

6.2

5-1

6.2

30

.6

1

1 . 2

·S ΐ·3

.6

—

•3 •3

— —

1.0 TABLE

CORRELATION

Percentage

College

SCHOOLING

HELD

BETWEEN

—

XII

COLLEGE

TRAINING

AND

HIGHEST

P O S I T I O N H E L D TO A N S W E R T H E Q U E S T I O N " D O C O L L E G E S U C C E E D IN A L A R G E R

MEN

WAY?"

Jobs

College

Editors Managing editors Editorial writers City editors Department editors Special writers Reporters Magazine editors

36 24 8 8 5 9

4 7 0 7 6 2 9 6 2

Percentage Non-College 0 3 5 8 5 8 5 I 8

41 33 9 4 3 4

THE

FUTURE

JOURNALIST

TABLE

XIII

S H O W I N G C O R R E L A T I O N B E T W E E N E X T E N T OF SCHOOLING AND N U U B E R OF J O B S

Number of Jobs

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen

Professional

.2 4-4 6.2

14. 2 15-4 18.9 14-7 8.4 6.7

4-9 2.7 •7 •5

Percentages Non- Professional —

3-6 10.0 17-4 15-6 iS-6 8-3 10.0 3-6 6.5 3-3 2.0 2.0 —

•3

— —

—

—

•3 TABLE

2.0

XIV

C O R R E L A T I O N B E T W E E N T R A I N I N G AND N U M B E R OF J O B S H E L D

Number of Jobs

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven

J ournalism.

.I 6.5 13· ι 15 ι 16.0 21.0 II.8

9.2 3-8 •9 1.8

Percentage Non-journalism —

•3 6-9 14.9 16.9 20. 5 15-6 9-3 5 ·1 6.0 2.0

156

THE

FUTURE

JOURNALIST

T A B L E X I V (Continued) Journalism

Number of Jobs

Percentage Ν onrjoumalism

Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen

1-3 •9

.6 TABLE

XV

CORRELATION B E T W E E N SOCIAL AND E C O N O M I C AND THE H I G H E S T POSITION

Sons of Laborers

Editors Managing editors Editorial writers City editors Department editors Special writers Reporters Magazine editors

BACKGROUNDS

HELD

Percentage Sons of Sons of Farmers Business Men

Sons of Professional Men

27. ι

44-7

32-5

364

371

27.6

28. 2

23 . 2

8.5

5-2

li.8

5-2

S-o

So

3-9

6.9

50 5°

IO-5

10.o

2.6

8.1

INDEX Abilities needed for journalism, 10 Accuracy, need for, 145 Advertising, not an initiation to newspaper work, 107 Age of entering careers, 23 American Society of Newspaper Editors: indictment of schools of journalism by, 5 Backgrounds of American journalists, 99 Careers of journalism graduates, 7 Chance opportunity and choice of profession, 105 College papers, significance of, 122 College training, value of, 114, 120, 142 Columbia students, superiority in tests, 81 Correspondence schools seldom used, 122 Entrance requirements, 9 First page make-up, test in, 54 Health and energy, importance of, 1 1 2 , 143 Helps and hindrances to professional work, 116 Higher education .value of, 121 Johnson, Edward M., 6 Journalism, preparation for careers in, 4; relation of school grades to careers in, 8; and professional careers of graduates, 6; value of experience and maturity in, 1 1 ; students of,

compared with studente in general, 80; interests in and vocational tests, 81 ; reasons for professional choice, 104; average number of jobs held, 1 1 4 ; helps and hindrances in, 1 1 6 ; broad knowledge necessary in, 1 1 6 ; hard work necessary for achievement, 1 1 7 ; irregular hours and, 137; young man's profession, a, 139; liking for work most important qualification, 141 Journalism, Schools of, value of, 123; need for professional level in, 125; relation of training to jobs held, 133 Journalists, characteristics of successful, 10; wide professional experience of, 106; age of beginning careers, 107; as "selfmade men," 1 1 0 ; little financial aid to, H I Kennon Test of Literary Vocabulary, 76, 78 Labor turnover, problem of in journalism, 130; effect of college training, on 131 Literary work and journalism, 139 Local interest and news value, 4off.

Maladjustment, vocational, 135 Money and success, 1 1 9

157

INDEX Mussolini report, falsity of undetected, 46 News and local interest, 13 News editing, lack of science of, 66 News events, rating of importance of, 15; coincidence of judgment of professionals and students, 17 ; deviations in rating, 18 News interest, test in, 41 News personalities, public indifference to, 40 News values, test in, 14; 20; judgments of newspaper men and students in, 23; and test in first page make-up, 54 Newspapers, changes in, 3; as properties, 139 Personal influence and entrance to journalism, 105 Personality and friendliness important in journalism, 148 Probabilities, test in, 24; deviations in judgment of, 32 Professional background of American journalists, 101 Professional experience, value in judging news, 20; value in make-up, 62

Professional quality of classroom training, 9 Professional schools, problems of,3 Professional training, value of in appraising rumors, 73 Proofreading test, 84 Reading, speed and accuracy, 86; directions for general, 144 Relation between absolute importance and news value, 32, £F. Reporting, importance of, 1 1 4 Rumors, appraisal of, 12, 67 Salaries, in newspaper work, 8; as cause of dissatisfaction, 137; 140, 143 Sensitiveness as a hindrance to achievement, 119 Specialization, need for, 125 Steffler, C. W., 6 Strong Vocational Interest test, 76, 79 Style of writing, 146 Success in journalism requires hard work, 1 1 2 Thorndike Word Knowledge test, 76, S. Vocational abilities, difficulty of rating, 83; value of discovering, 126

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK FOREIGN AGENT OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS HUMPHREY MILFORD AMEN HOUSE, LONDON, E . C .