Democracy's Diary (1948)

it's only lead a cheap metal and  common and yet it can be argued that this is the most powerful  metal in the world today after it passes through these machines it wields  an immeasurable influence on the minds of men for here frozen solidly into type  is a pulse be from the world of events it is the living stuff from which  the nation press is made it is the news every day in the United States 50 million  Americans buy the news in a press that blankets the nation with information from the ends of the  Earth in no other country is newspaper reading such a constant widespread taken for granted habit  nowhere else are people so addicted to information and entertainment via the printed word every day  the world comes thumping on the American doorstep and nothing that happens anywhere remains  long a secret from the American newspaper reader it comes to us pretty casually  the daily paper but behind its arrival on your doorstep is one of journalism's major  stories how it got there a great Journal goes through a complex chain of operations before  it's ready to tell you what it knows there's the paper is printed on for instance whole  forests must be filed to bring you tomorrow's headlines and tons of ink must pour into the  presses to make those Tidings legible the function of those Acres of paper and the oceans of ink is  to make you aware of the world you live in to let you know a key point in this news Gathering is the  wire room of the New York Times where a prodigious Harvest of the day's intelligence is reaped the  miracle of modern Communications links this room with every nook and cranny of the globe with every  state in the Union from correspondents everywhere from the Associated Press the United press and  special wires from Alaska to Cape Town and from Chicago to Karachi a torrent of 1 million words  gushes daily into this news funnel out of the war came a startling Communications development  among them the hell shriper which we got from the Germans this is an automatic  radio receiving machine that transforms radio code impulses into letters printed on an  endless tape which are then copied off by the operator but men not gadgets make a  great newspaper experts training to give clear and honest answers to the always  burning question what's new well it surpris winners like WL Lawrence the atom bomb expert  are part of a skilled news Gathering team in which rewrite men link up with reporters on  their beats to record the ceaseless flow of events this might be called the home team of the  times the men of the local staff whose reports on the swarming life of the Metropolis supplement the  dispatches of colleagues across the country and overseas the command post of local coverage is the  city desk from which news strategy is mapped and into which copy flows for appraisal and editing  the city editor has his men constantly deployed at key points where news originates and things  happen reporters can't be everywhere but they can be at nerve centers of the news such a nerve  center is Police Headquarters where seasoned reporters stand watch day and night to detect  those fluctuations from the normal which mean trouble which in turn mean news police [Music]  news it could be a mystery that will rock the city or it may be only a Backpage item but the  story has to be checked the reporter's passport to the news is his press card his credential  as an emissary between the public and events the public needs to know but today the police  beat provides only a fraction of the content of major newspapers today the researchers  of science are more likely to produce page one headlines and modern reporters must  be equipped to understand clarify and interpret nobody has ever defined exactly what  news is but food can certainly be news the times maintains a model Test Kitchen where recipes  are prepared and S L by experts before they are printed on the women's page and offered  to the public this too is a kind of newspaper reporting and this also is modern journalism  many a housewife turns to the fashion section of the paper before scanning the front page the  times caters to the feminine reader not only with its own kitchen but with its own fashion Studios  coverage of gracious living is an integral part of any paper that fully documents the American  [Music] scene rounded complete journalism requires not only Gathering the news but storing it up  for future reference what happened years ago may have a bearing on what happens tomorrow  millions of clippings are preserved in the Times Library all indexed for for instant use a  Priceless Archive of events and the men who make them but the reporting of things happening the  converting of events into news stories to feed the insatiable presses Remains the principal  function of the newspaper and today every major event has its repercussion in Washington  which has become the news capital of the world here the New York Times maintains the  largest Bureau of any newspaper staffed by crack correspondents whose dispatches are read  throughout America and studied in embassies abroad it is basic to the health of a  democracy that no phase of government activity escape the scrutiny of the press here  reporters are assigned to stories faithful not only to our nation but to All Nations and here  editor supervis coverage of new sources where over overwhelming issues of War and Peace  disaster and survival are in the [Music] making in the Congressional press Gallery  reporters sit as proxies of the people free to observe record and criticize Congress  says the First Amendment shall pass no law AB Bridging the freedom of the press and  the chief executive himself throws open the doors of the White House to journalists  representing papers of all shades of political opinion nowhere else in the world does the head  of a Nation so freely submit himself to the probing of the press which acting for the public  demands that he give regular accounts of his stewardship once the news is obtained it  is transmitted to the public directly with nothing to block its flow from the source  to the people themselves no sensor's hand intervenes when the reporting is done the  editing begins copy readers scrupulously check all stories alert for possible  error skilled engaging news values the story receives its finishing touch  with the writing of the headline [Music] [Music] in the composing room linotype machines  transform copy into solid lead which printers channel into the exact page chosen by the  editors here to the advertising Finds Its proper spot carefully chosen beforehand from  advertisements come most of the revenue which keeps the Press independent and self-sufficient  able to supply all the services which modern journalism requires reputable papers maintain an  impassible barrier between advertising and Youth the show window of the paper page one  hangs on the very edge of the deadline held back for last minute news last minute  Corrections under the supervision of the makeup editor the final story is slipped  into its waiting slot and the compositor spaces it out to fit each completed  page is a minor victory in speed and efficiency another routine of  mechanical Wizardry occurs in the stereotype Department here what was  once a flat expans of type emerges as a semicylindrical plate of lead molded  precisely and perfectly to fit the presses everything that has gone before  the news Gathering the editing the typ setting has been aimed at this moment  when the presses begin to turn learn through these mechanical Marvels  reporters and editors talk to the world they are the functional symbols of  man's unquenchable instinct to know and understand this is the fruition Untold effort  skill and Enterprise have been expended to produce it today's newspaper a unique product  different from all its predecessors different from all those that will follow it the  record of one day in the history of the world but the most fascinating news ever  printed is useless unless it quickly Finds Its way into the hands of readers now another  branch of the paper begins functioning [Music] circulation so Swift and sweeping has  distribution become that the times is now ready in 10,000 towns and cities from coast to  coast making it a truly National newspaper today's paper rushed from New York can be read  today in Los Angeles and tomorrow in London and [Music] Paris High geared as news dissemination  now is tomorrow's amazing methods are already in the making the times has conducted  experiments in faximile broadcasting by which news pages and in time perhaps  whole newspapers can be sent over The Ether your daily paper May one day arrive in your  home much as your favorite program comes in today through your radio sent but mere mechanics  cannot make a great paper greatness stems from Integrity from a philosophy of Journalism  by which a paper lives the times lives by this Credo this was the Creed of publisher Adolf  s Ox who set the pattern and established the tradition being carried on today by Arthur hay  salzburger present publisher of the New York Times the immense responsibility of giving the news  partially is discharged by printing all sides of all issues more fully and completely than any  other newspaper great events are not only reported objectively but interpreted by experts and  given their place and meaning in the life of the reader the most massive achievement in the field  of Journalism is the Sunday issue which presents both the facts and background of every aspect  of modern living the whole enormous gamut of our society culture business sport Foreign  Affairs is covered with a thoroughness and scope unique in publishing thus a leading  Journal of the Free World meets the major problem of our time the problem of  understanding the world we live in the value of a great newspaper does not  evaporate with its date of issue nearly 100 Years of the times have been captured  on microfilm which makes the past forever available to the present preserving  headlines whose power to stir wonder and dismay live on long after the  men who made them have passed away thus Through The Years a great newspaper  compiles an enduring record of our country and our world a living Journal of The Life  and Times of all of us this is democracy's Diary here for our instruction are triumphs  and disasters the pattern of life's changing fabric here is great journalism a revelation  of the past a to the present and a clue to the Future The Scroll of Tomorrow is still to be  inscribed and no man knows the shape and import of what will be written there but when tomorrow's  events unfold a free and responsible press will print them for a free and enlightened public here  the Press will say here is what reporters have seen and heard and learned these are the facts  you the people can base your judgment on them and the climax to the story just this nothing more  only an American Street in an American town where truth is tossed nonchalant on the doorstep every  morning this is democracy's way this is America