Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/66

 Special Kinds of News. Special kinds of reporting, such as is done by sporting, market, financial, railroad, labor, marine, society, dramatic, and musical editors, naturally requires special training and experience in the subject matter of these fields. The methods of gathering these special kinds of news are not particularly different from those of collecting general news. The sporting editor and his assistants often have to write a "running" account of a baseball game or football game as it progresses. The musical and dramatic critics, of course, express their opinions on productions, instead of simply reporting what took place at the theatre or concert. The railroad, labor, market, or marine editors report the news in their particular fields, sometimes in special forms, such as market reports or quotations, but their work of news gathering is like that of the general reporter.

Qualifications of the Reporter. Rapidity, perseverance, accuracy, intelligence, and tact, as well as the "news sense," or "nose for news," are the essential qualifications for successful reporting.

Nowhere is it truer that "time is money" than in newspaper making. The reporter, as the news collector and news writer, must save as much time as possible by working fast. To know just where to get the news and how to get it quickly, always means great economy of time and effort. Rapid, accurate judgment of news values, likewise, is an important qualification for a good newspaper man. "Get all the news and get it quick," was the command that a certain city editor of the old school used to thunder at his cub reporters.

Perseverance. To get all the news, or sometimes to get any news, demands perseverance. The reporter must follow one clue after another until he finds what he is looking for, or is convinced that there is nothing