Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/127

 either individual is well known, his name is the important "feature."

The reporter must always remember that a person charged with a crime is not a criminal until he is proved guilty in court. Unless he confesses, the person charged with crime is presumed to be innocent until convicted. In writing police stories, therefore, the reporter should always make it plain that the person involved is "charged" with a crime, and that he is "alleged," or "said," by the police to be guilty. While he is charged with the crime, he may be said to be, not "the murderer," but "the alleged murderer"; or not "the embezzler," but "the alleged embezzler." The reporter should present both sides of the case by giving the prisoner's version, as well as that of the police, not only because it is just to do so but because it is usually good news.

Stories of crime, like all other news stories, should be told in a simple, direct style that presents in an accurate and interesting manner the account of the crime as it was actually committed. Exaggerated and sensational stories of crime or those in which attempts are made to arouse sentiment for or against the perpetrator or his victim, have no place in the news columns of reputable newspapers. If readers are to be appealed to to right a wrong, such appeals should be made in the editorial columns and should not be allowed to color the facts in the news stories. The actual facts truthfully presented make the best possible appeal. To try, in the newspapers, a person accused of crime, before or during his legal trial, is not to give him the fair trial to which he is entitled.

The way in which various phases of crime may be "featured" in the lead without making the story in any way sensational is shown by the following ex