NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!

INHERE is no organisation anywhere so* vast, so quick, so complicated, I and so far reaching as the organisation of a newspaper. It goes, everywhere and touches Everything. Jt engages the most amazing army of men ever summoned together for a single purpose. They speak every language known to man, these gatherers of the news of the world. They hve by the jungles and backwoods, on the edge of the wilderness and in the heart of the desert. From China to Peru they ftnay be found, recording " day by day the story of the world. , Speed, activity—organised chaos it would seem—is the keynote of newspaper production. For hours on end cryptic messages flash across the thousands of miles of cable that stretch between England and New Zealand, bearing the skeleton of the dozens of reports that appear on the cable pages. From early morning till late at night reporters are bustling about their respective tasks, some attending meetings, others interviewing overseas visitors, yet others dealing with the hundred and one things that happen in and about the city. — Telegraph boys movo constantly between the post office and the subeditor's table, while long distance telephone wires hum for minuses on end as a representative in some faroff part of New Zealand sends home his news. Reports come with every mail, for the well organised newspaper has correspondents to cover happenings in even the most out ol the way places. Wireless is playing a part of ever increasing importance in the bringing of intelligence to the editor's desk; recently photographs were transmitted on the radio beam system that operates between England and Australia. It is but an hour to press time. Step with me into the office of our local daily. As we pass along the corridor our ears are assailed by the chatter of a battery of typewriters and the jangle of telephone bells. A man pushes by, bearing a couple of sheets of typing in his hand; he is making for the room at the end of the corridor, where the sub-editors are to be found working in feverish haste. Here we sec three or four men, with papers all about them and books of reference close at hand, reading carefully through "copy"—tho product of the reporters. " Even as we watch, one deftly flicks over the pages of "Who's Who," then alters an initial in the typescript he is reading. Another scribbles through

From the four corners of the earth, from the farthest, most remote outposts of civilisation comes news of the doings of the world. It comes to us from clicking telegraphs and roaring machines; it comes to us throbbing and beating with life— the miracle of the newspaper.

an entire paragraph, substituting it with a brief three words. It is a fairly long story—reports are called "stories" in a newspaper oflice —so tile chief of the lino, department divides the work into three or four sections known as "takes," marking each for easy identification, and distributes them among as many operators. These men set to work to convert their "takes" into a series of lines of leaden letters, clear cut and with a raised surface in order that printed copies can be printed from them. In the old days when articles had to be set by hand, it would take as long as two hours to set up a column of type. With the wonderful linotype machine the same amount of copy can be set in about 40 minutes. it is the boast of the lino, man that he can work as quickly on his machine as can the reporter on a typewriter. The keyboard of a lino, machine is not unlike that of a standard typewriter, except that there is a separate section specially for capital letters. Upon the keys being touched, a number of brass matrices are carried on an endless belt to make up a complete line. Each matrix has a letter carved into its surface, and when molten metal is forced into the line, it results in the formation of a leaden "slug" on the edge of which the letters stand out in sharp relief. Proofs are pulled of the "take," and we will go with it and the original copy to the reading room. Here the scene resembles a Dutch auction, with everyone apparently talking at once and at a speed much greater than that used in ordinary conversation. Here the proof is checked with the copy, and errors marked in. Back to the lino, operator goes the proof, corrections are' made, and once again the article is submitted to the readers for their final perusal. But time is paseing; we must hurry to the "stone" room. Here the columns of metal are fitted into place, and the great Winkler machine, wherein is made a, papier mache replica of the page, operated. Already the giant rotary machines have been threaded with paper. While still hot the last plates are clamped into position. Somewhere a bell rings, a red light flashes, and the giant machine roars into life, printing, cutting, folding, counting 40,000 papers an hour and delivering them on endless bands to the publishing room. Hpre they are snapped up by carriers for distribution all over the province. So you have your newspa pei\