Tuesday, Dec. 07, 2010 - 6:04 p.m.
The Newspaper Bizz
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another noble swipe
Lester Markel ran the Sunday sections of the New York Times for nearly 40 years until he retired in 1964. Here�s how he once described the newsgathering process:
�The reporter, the most objective reporter, collects 50 facts. Out of the 50 he selects 12 to include in his story (there is such a thing as space limitation) ... [and] discards 38. This is Judgment Number One.
�Then the reporter or editor decides which of the facts shall be the first paragraph of the story, thus emphasizing one fact above the other 11. This is Judgment Number Two.
�Then the editor decides whether the story shall be placed on Page One or Page 12; on Page One it will command many times the attention it would on Page 12. This is Judgment Number Three.
�This so-called factual presentation is thus subjected to three judgments, all of them most humanly and most ungodly made.�
