Newspaper and public relation *

Newspapers versus radio

As a medium of mass communication, radio has shown a remarkable growth, and it is apparent that television is on the way to show a similar expansion. The growth of radio has been accompanied by an interesting development in the relationship between radio and newspapers. In radio's earlier days, as it began to emerge as a competitor of the newspapers, both as a purveyor of news and as an advertising medium, radio found that it had an unfriendly public in the newspaper publishers.

Although that opposition still exists to some extent in certain areas, there has been an increasing tendency in recent years for newspaper publishers to accept radio as an instrumentality of civilization that is here to stay. They have manifested this by going over into the radio camp and establishing stations of their own. Nevertheless, radio and television have not supplanted the press, which is represented by daily and weekly newspapers, as the major medium for disseminating information. Consequently, the functions and methods of the press as a public-relations medium must be given first consideration.

Function of the newspaper

The chief function of the newspaper is the dissemination of news. It is in this respect that the newspaper differs from publications known as "periodicals." It is true that such publications as Time and Newsweek in the general-news field, and Business Week in the general-business field disseminate news, but they cannot be considered "periodicals" in the true sense. Rather, they have established a category of their own.

Historically, in America, the newspaper goes back to a flash-in-the-pan news-sheet called Publick Occurences, published in Boston in 1690, and quickly suppressed. In 1704, appeared John Campbell's Boston Newsletter, which survived until 1776. The next newspaper was the Boston Gazette, which was followed by an opposition paper, the New England Courant, founded by John Franklin. John Franklin was a brother of Benjamin Franklin. It was Benjamin Franklin who found time to establish the publication now known as The Saturday Evening Post, although he was engaged in many other activities, such as inventing a heating stove, improving the printing press, steering lightning to earth by means of a kite string, and serving as United States Ambassador to France.

The first American dailies

Among the first American dailies was the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, which hit the streets of Philadelphia with its first issue on September 21, 1794. Prior to that daily, however, was the Minerva which appeared in New York in 1793, and carried at its masthead the name of Noah Webster. In 1801 appeared the first issue of the New York Evening Post, still published as the Post and Bronx Home News.

For years, the Evening Post's editor-in-chief was William Cullen Bryant. In those days, American journalism glowed with other illustrious names as well. These included Garrison and Dana and Greeley and Bennett and Whitman.

Through the years which have elapsed since then, journalism has changed. The question of how much it has changed for the better is not a matter for consideration here. It is of importance, however, to note that, as the "personal element" has been submerged and as leadership by great editors has gone into eclipse, the press has gained greatly in impact and in efficiency as an implement of civilization.

Nature of the modern newspaper

Today's typical newspaper is a network, and a network that interlocks with other networks. No longer does an editor stand at a type-case as Franklin stood, and compose editorials and news items as he sets his type by hand. Today's newspaper editor sits at an executive's desk and directs a staff of specialists who, in the business of assembling and printing the day's news work with other specialists around the world.

Basically, the functions of a typical, modern-day newspaper may be divided into two main branches–news reporting and advertising. The advertising side does not need to be more than mentioned, since it is not pertinent to this discussion. It is the news-reporting side which is of importance here, because it is generally with this side of the press that the public-relations worker establishes his contacts, and it is with this side that he works.

On the news-reporting side, the matter which appears in a paper may be broken down further into two subdivisions–editorials and news. Editorials, which convey the newspapers' attitude on current issues, generally appear on a special inside page, known as the editorial page, and are usually written by editorial writers. The news-reporting function of a newspaper is divided into local news coverage and outside news coverage.

Local news coverage

Under the general supervision of the publisher and of the editor-in-chief who may be known as the managing editor, depending on the newspaper, the coverage of local news is the task of the city staff, supervised by the city editor. For the public-relations worker, the city editor is often the most important individual on the newspaper. He is the boss of the paper's reporters, and he is the one who largely determines what events in the city area are to be reported in the newspaper, and which people are to be interviewed and photographed. He is also usually the one who decides on the relative amount of attention to be given to each of the many events, either planned or spontaneous, which occur every day in a metropolis.

It is only in the case of important stories, especially when there is competition between news originating out of town and that of local origin, that the city editor is not the final authority. Either a higher editor may decide on the relative values of the news, or the problem may be worked out at an editorial conference in which several top editors participate. In any event, all these matters of news "play," such as the amount of space to be accorded to the various stories, where they will appear, and with what headline treatment, are decided quickly, and often in a matter of seconds.

Work of the city editor

The city editor in a big city has assistants. In the case of a morning newspaper, there is a day and a night city editor. Their hours on the job overlap in the late afternoon. At that time, the day city editor, who is usually known as simply the "city editor," informs the night city editor on such matters as the way in which the news has been coming in, what problems remain unsolved, what instructions have been given to reporters, and what assignments are still unfilled.

Each day, the "city desk," which is the term used to designate both the day and night city editors and their assistants, works up a schedule of assignments. Among these assignments, there are continuous stories to cover; there are notices of coming events, which originate from various sources, usually from publicity men, that require attention; there are "local angles" to pursue on news of national or international scope; and there are "tips" on news, sometimes of anonymous origin, which have to be investigated.

Consideration also must be given to various kinds of stories that traditionally come up in season, year after year. Reminders of these stories are usually recorded in a date book a year ahead, so that they automatically come up for attention when they are due. An example of a recurring subject for a newspaper story is "Groundhog Day." A city editor is always looking for a new slant on an old story such as this, and if a public-relations worker can contribute ideas along this line, he is likely to create for himself a position where he is given special consideration at the city desk when he has a public-relations story for the press.

"Beats"

A reportorial assignment is known at the city desk as a "beat." This is the common use of the word although, in a mix-up of semantics, the term has also come to mean that relatively rare, modern-day journalistic achievement which the outside public calls a "scoop." An assignment or beat may cover one particular geographical area, such as the waterfront, or the city hall, or a district in the suburbs. At other times, it may cover several scattered designations, taking in such news sources as police stations, courts, ambulance stations and undertaking establishments.

To each of the beats is assigned a man or woman, or sometimes a team or squad, depending upon the circumstances. In addition to these news reporters, there is a roving photographer, or perhaps a staff of photographers, qualified and equipped to photograph anything anywhere. In some cases, the photographers are under the direction of the city editor; in other cases, they are under a picture editor. If there is only one photographer, he is assigned to the whole city. If there are several photographers, each may be assigned to a certain section.

Thus is a city subdivided among news reporters, and possibly among photographers, all of whom are specialists in their lines. These subdivisions are the arterial centers at which may be felt the pulses of the city's life.

Outside news coverage

While local reporters are covering happenings in the city, news is "breaking" for the newspapers everywhere in the outside world. At the state capitol, the Governor calls a conference on housing. In Washington, union leaders meet in a show-down with operators of the coal mines. In Ottawa, the Canadian Government's budget for the new fiscal year is made public. In London, a three-year-old refugee, with "shipping instructions" on a tag attached to her coat, boards a plane for America. In Shanghai, Chinese communists fire on a British ship of war.

In gathering this outside news, a larger network comes into action. Throughout the state, the city newspaper has its special correspondents. Some of these correspondents may be full-time "staffers" who work out of "bureaus" at strategic spots. Others may be side-line representatives, regularly employed by local newspapers, but available to the city newspaper as "stringers."

The "stringer", is primed to keep alert in his local area for news of interest to the city newspaper's readers, and available on call for reporting on special events in his locality when the city newspaper wants such news. He is called a "stringer" because his pay is computed on the basis of the number of inches of newspaper space he fills, at a certain fixed fee per inch. In measuring his space, the items which he has written are pasted together, and this ribbon of printed matter is called his "string."

State correspondents, including the "stringers" scattered throughout the state, and the full-time reporters assigned to bureaus located in certain places in the state, work under the supervision of a man or woman in the city newspaper's home office, who is known as the state editor. This state editor may be assisted by a news editor who correlates and evaluates all the state news which comes in by wire.

No newspaper, however, although it may be relatively prosperous, can afford to maintain full-time correspondents or even "stringers" all over the world. In fact, it cannot fully cover the state in which it is located or, for that matter, even its own city if that city is large. Consequently, as a means of obtaining news from remote places, as well as to assure full coverage within its own state and city, a newspaper makes use of the manpower and the extensive facilities of the "wire services."

AP, UP, INS

The major "wire services" are the Associated Press, the United Press, and the International News Service. The Associated Press and the United Press are cooperative, owned and operated by groups of newspapers. The International News Service is an independent service, affiliated with the Hearst newspapers, but available to all newspapers in general.

A full description of any one of the services would fill a large volume. It can be stated briefly, however, that the scope of each of these services is world-wide and that each is staffed with full-time and part-time correspondents, each of whom, in effect, is a correspondent of the newspaper which subscribes to the service that employs him.

These wire services have developed specialization in their field of endeavor. Just as a newspaper has reporters and photographers who are specialists in their lines, and cover various beats or assignments, so the wire services have centralized "desks" for news originating in all the different fields of human activity. For example, there are "desks" for news about governmental proceedings, for news about international relations, for news about discoveries in science and in medicine, for news about sports, and for news about business and finance. This news is gathered from the four corners of the earth, screened and edited in the wire services' bureau and district offices, and then sent clicking into newspaper offices over wires which hum around the clock.

Procedure in issuing a newspaper

The issuing of a newspaper requires tireless effort on the part of the managing editor and his staff. "Leg-men," out on their beats, continuously pour news by telephone into the ears of the re-write men. The re-write men bat this news out on their typewriters, and send it along to the city desk. Near the city desk, the head of the copy desk, known as the "slot man," evaluates, appraises, and weighs one story against another, under the eye of the city editor or his assistant. The "slot man" then tosses the "copy" across the desk to copy readers who put in the commas where they belong, check names, dates, and locations, and, in accordance with the "slot man's" scribbled specifications, write headlines.

While news is coming in from the city, it is also coming in from other parts of the state. There may be news that the Governor, on the eve of his conference on housing, calls the conference off, and fires his housing commissioner. Again, there may be a report that a forest fire threatens a thousand acres of timberland.

Likewise, news keeps "breaking" from all parts of the nation and the world. The foreign news editor, who is usually known as the "cable editor" eyes a "flash" from across the seas on the attempted assassination of the head of a world power. From the waterfront, a "legman" flashes a bulletin on the sinking of a tugboat with undetermined loss of life. This news is followed by the Governor's secretary telephoning the managing editor to say that, on the matter of the housing conference and the housing commissioner, the Governor has reversed himself.

This all makes for confusion. In fact, here are the elements of confusion thrice confounded. It is in the midst of this that the newspaper staff gets the paper out. Throughout the day, or the night, the process of evaluating, appraising, weighing one story against another goes on. With the linotypes whirring and the presses waiting to roll, the managing editor, or the "M.E." as he is known by the staff, keeps the situation under control. He is endowed with a news-sense which enables him to make snap decisions as a matter of routine, and to do so with hardly ever a mistake. Throughout the busy, high-pressure hours he works unruffled, with his attention chiefly concentrated on his primary duty, that of eliminating all but the most pertinent news.

No typical newspaper ever has difficulty in "filling up space," a fact which the public-relations worker needs to keep constantly in mind. A newspaper's chief problem is in selecting its news. Every day and in every edition, it has the job of recording history as history is being made, without neglecting or omitting anything of importance. As The New York Times puts it, a newspaper's job is to present "all the news that's fit to print." Furthermore, this news must be selected and written up fast enough so that the entire edition will be off the presses at a certain specified time each day.

Contents of a newspaper

In addition to local news, state news, national news and foreign news, a daily newspaper contains other features. Among these features are a sports section, edited by a sports editor; a financial page, edited by a finance editor; and a women's page, edited by a women's page editor. Other features are an amusement page, a religious-news page, a real estate page, and, in the case of a seaport city, a shipping-news page. The editors of all these feature pages are specialists in their particular lines.

This classification of the contents of a newspaper poses a nice question as to the proper location of a public-relations story. Since newspapers do not like to print the same story more than once, the appearance of a story in an inappropriate place in a newspaper cannot be subsequently remedied. A public-relations worker must decide at the outset as to what version of a story is likely to attract the most attention, and as to what public the story is likely to have the greatest appeal. If a public-relations worker does not write his story for the specific use of one department of a newspaper, but sends a general story to all departments, he may expect to find that it is published in the wrong place to be effective or, as is more likely, that it is not published at all.

Illustration of a newspaper public-relations story

Assume, for example, that The Adam Company, the drug and cosmetic concern mentioned in a previous illustration, decides to release a public-relations story about a leading research expert which the company has secured to head its research department. The company and its public-relations counselor face the question of whether to run the story as a general news feature, which will have questionable effectiveness; a woman's feature, which will be sure to bring results if the story is handled correctly; a science feature, which is likely to be effective but only to a limited extent; or a business news feature. They come to the conclusion that the best treatment is to run the story as a business news feature, since such treatment will give the company the most prestige. It will also make the story serviceable for use in the trade, professional, and technical journals in their particular field. Accordingly, the company releases the following story:

From: John Smith, Director of Public Relations, The Adam Company,
120 East 51st Street,
New York, New York.
FOR RELEASE AT WILL

Dr. John H. Towers, a leading authority in the field of fibers and detergents, has been appointed Director of Cosmetic Research of The Cleopatra Beauty Aid Division of The Adam Company, Inc., it was announced by Harold Brown, President of the firm. Dr. Towers was formerly director of the textile chemical department of The Mountain Chemical Company.
For twelve years prior to joining The Mountain Chemical Company, Dr. Towers served as head of the textile division of Bohm and Loam. Previously, he had been connected with The Bridge Chemical Company. Dr. Towers is a graduate of Harvard University, and holds A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University.

In announcing this new association, Mr. Brown stated that the importance of the Adam Home Permanent and hair line necessitated further expansion of cosmetic and hair research programs. Because of growing technical plans for the pharmaceutical research and cosmetic research departments, it was decided to separate these two departments, with the consequent appointment of Dr. Towers to his new position with The Cleopatra Beauty Aid Division, in charge of Mr. Richard Filbert.

In connection with the new alignment of its cosmetic and hair research programs, The Adam Company also announced the formation of a cosmetic research committee.

Pointing out that the cosmetic preparations of The Adam Company and its affiliates are being evolved and developed by the same scientific research methods which are employed by the parent company in producing medicinal products, Mr. Brown further stated:

"We have gathered together a fine organization of well-trained scientists who are presently engaged in intensive investigation of all types of cosmetic preparations for the purpose of finding new and better ingredients, and we are determining which products and ingredients are most acceptable to the skin and its appendages, which cause allergic reactions, and the bases of those reactions."

The foregoing release, which is sent out by The Adam Company, proves to be acceptable to the newspaper editors, and it is printed in the business and financial sections of their papers. Subsequently, the story appears in trade, professional, and technical journals. As a result of this publicity given Dr. Towers, The Adam Company succeeds in impressing itself favorably on a public whose friendly attitude will react to the benefit of the company.

Carrying the public-relations story to a larger public

Because of the success of The Adam Company's story in the business and financial news field, the company's public-relations counselor sees the opportunity to use the story to obtain still greater results. Since, like all good public-relations workers, he keeps his mind and imagination active, he is able to figure out how to give the story a new set of clothing, and thus make it acceptable in other fields than the one chosen in the beginning. After considering the matter from the standpoint of the personal interests of the various publics, he decides that the next best treatment of the story is to write it from the woman's angle. Consequently, he writes a release designed for that section of the newspapers which is devoted to women's interests. This story has wider circulation potentialities than the first story, which was directed to the influential, but smaller, business and financial public.

The Adam Company sends this second story not only to the women's page editors of the local newspapers, but also to the women's page editors of the Associated Press, International News Service, United Press, King Features, and NEA Syndicate. The company sends the story also to the women's magazines, on the off-chance that the 'editors of these magazines might either work it into a general beauty story, or become interested in publishing an article on Dr. Towers. Publications along the lines of Time, Newsweek, and Quick are also provided with copies of the story which is as follows:

From: John Smith, Director of Public Relations, The Adam Company,
120 East 51st Street,
New York, New York.
FOR RELEASE AT WILL

Note to Editor: Dr. Towers is available for interviews. Please contact Mr. Smith above.

Women's hair will be as easy to change as gloves or shoes in the near future, according to Dr. John H. Towers, eminent scientist who has just been appointed Director of Cosmetic Research of The Cleopatra Beauty Aid Division of The Adam Company.

"Beauty aids that can be used as simply as soap, and can change the color of hair for a short or long period of time, so that woman's "crowning glory" can be synchronized to her clothes pattern will be a reality," predicted Dr. Towers, who, before coming to The Adam Company, had been director of the textile chemical department of The Mountain Chemical Company for twelve years. "These forthcoming developments," said Dr. Towers, "will render hair so pliable and easy to set that the conformation of the hair can also be easily controlled."

The appointment of Dr. Towers is the latest step in The Adam Company's policy of introducing modern scientific research methods into the beauty field, according to Harold Brown, President of The Adam Company. "Our company is applying the latest principles of modern laboratory research to the problems besetting the women of America," said Mr. Brown, "and we are sure we shall solve these problems before long."

Before sending out the foregoing release, The Adam Company takes into consideration the fact that the beauty parlors may resent the story, with its implication that women will be able to take care of their own hairdo's. The company also recognizes the possibility of the more conservative ladies pooh-poohing the whole thing, and becoming a little suspicious of The Adam Company. The company is of the opinion, however, that any such opposition will be far outweighed by the good results which the story will have otherwise. It feels that this opinion is justified because of the success which it has already had in marketing a home permanent, the sales of which have run far ahead of the sales of any other of the company's products. Furthermore, it believes that the story will increase the good-will of women in general toward the company, because its message implies that the company is leaving nothing undone to help the women of the United States and Canada do their own beauty work at home, so as to relieve them of the trouble and expense of' having it done outside.

Syndicated features

A newspaper usually prints certain other features in addition to those already discussed. These features include comics, puzzles, articles by columnists commenting on political and economic developments, and articles on such subjects as how to keep the house in repair and how to play bridge.

These features are supplied to a newspaper by "syndicates" and feature services. These are enterprises which buy the talents of well-known writers, artists and cartoonists at wholesale, and then retail those talents, sometimes in mat or ready-to-print form, to a large number of newspapers throughout the United States and Canada. Newspaper editors use these features because they attract readers and build up circulation. The printing of these features, however, tends to limit the space available for public-relations stories, thus necessitating real efforts on the part of public-relations workers in getting their stories printed.

Public-relations stories must be news

Later in this Text, there will be a discussion of the methods which the public-relations worker may employ in getting his company's story before the public through the pages of newspapers. The important point to note here is that a newspaper's major function is the dissemination of news. Consequently, when a public-relations worker desires to have a story printed by the newspapers, he must see to it that this story is news. Otherwise, his story will have little chance of successfully competing for space against the real news stories which are continually coming in for publication in the newspapers.

Public Relations
Activities for public relation
Budgets for public relations
Changing happenings into news
Community relationships
Consumer relationships
Costs for public relations
Effective areas of PR
Functions public relations
Government relationships
Labor relationships
Magazines public relations
Methods of communication
Newspaper public relations
Prestige achievements
Public field relations
Public utilities
Radio, TV and PR
Stockholder relationship
Techniques public relations