Constant Team Effort Task Of Producing A Newspaper

Press, Volume C, Issue 29656, 28 October 1961, Page 8

Constant Team Effort Task Of Producing A Newspaper

[Thi* is the second of three articles on the New Zealand Press Association, a news agency from which the daily newspapers in this country receive mqst of their New Zealand and. world news.)

'TREMENDOUS team effort goes into the production of a newspaper, with skilled workers in many tasks contributing to the daily miracle of the newspaper which can be bought for a few pence. Equally impressive is the team effort behind the gathering and distribution to New Zealand newspapers of the authentic news of the world which is printed in hundreds of thousands of copies of newspapers in this country each day. The daily news report which reaches daily papers through the agency of the New Zealand Press Association is a synthesis of the work of scores, if not hundreds, of skilled journalists the world over.

The New Zealand Press Association, obtaining its news as it does from Reuters and other world agencies, and from the Australian Associated Press, as well as from its own correspondents in London, Washington. Ottawa and elsewhere, and with access to the news gathered by the leading British and American newspapers, is able to draw on the work of a vast pool of trained reporters. Most of these men are not, of course, reporting world events exclusively for New Zealand. They are filing factual reports such as will stand scrutiny when published in any part of the world. The free exchange of news among news agencies has led, in modern times, and particularly in the years since the end of World War H, to a steady growth in the volume and readability of the news as published ia many countries, New Zealand among them. The news presented in the daily papers of this country is not dependent on any one source, and least of all on the views of any one government or political party. British, American and other agencies contribute to the daily cover of world events presented to New Zealand readers. Certainly, the New Zealand Press Association has a particular relationship with Reuters, the great world agency with headquarters in London which, while international in its outlook and affiliations. is essentially British in character. The N.Z.P.A. is proud to regard Reuters as its primary source of news. Since 1947 the N.Z.P.A. has been a partner in Reuters and in the Reuter Trust. It thus participates in the enterprise of developing and expending the Reuter news service. This does not mean, however, that New Zealand looks solely to Reuters for its world news. Reuters themselves do not seek that, and the N.Z.P.A. continues its traditional arrangements with Associated Press and United Press International. which contribute some of the news New Zealanders read, especially from countries where American interests are strong.

Wordage Totals Mere masses of words do not in themselves ensure an enlightened readership, but the extent to which the N.Z.A.P. has expanded its overseas service to its members is illustrated by a few annual wordage totals of overseas news distributed. In 1890. the international news service totalled 91,420 words. Before the Second World War. the annual total

reached 1.000.000. In 1948. it was 2.700,000. In 1958. it was 6,968.000. Last year the total was 7,489,000 or nearlv half of the total service, New Zealand and foreign - combined. These figures represent only immediate news of day-to-day urgency, brought in by caibl* and radio. This spot news has been supplemented in recent years, by a steady stream of topical air-mailed background material which adds millions of words annually to the news supply. The service today is of such dimensions that no-one newspaper uses it all, or anything like the whole of it. Individual selection by individual newspapers gives readers an increasing variety of world coverage. News-agency reporting is a highly competitive field, and there is no room for secondrate performance. Each agency looks to its staff for high standards of efficiency, integrity and hand work.

High Praise For Staff A great agency asks a great deal of its staff, but it thinks highly of them too. At the recent annual meet, ing of Reuters in London, the Chairman Mr John L. Burgess, said: “In most chairman’s speeches a paragraph at the end thanks the management and staff.

“That is the wrong place. , especially for Reuters. Thanks , to them must come first be- ; cause in an agency purvey- i ing that intangible, exciting < commodity, news, it is the individual who matters, whether he is a correspondent in the Congo Laos or Cuba reporting among the zip of bullets; the desk man working against the clock or the management in the centre of the web. they are Reuters and behind the front line troops are the communication operators and technicians. accountancy and clerical staff. librarians, messengers, and the many others who back them up. It is a great team and on behalf of the directors, owner* and customers I wish tothank them for a year of devoted service.” Mr Burgess summarised the place of a news agency in keeping newspapers and their readers informed when he said: “It ie the great stories which act as a draught of champagne to a news agency, but if is the solid daily file which is the bread and butter by which we live. We have achieved much last year and amongst the most notable was our coverage of Africa, a great continent, erupting in unpredictable places every minute.” Every journalist knows that, whatever the brief acclaim that may come for a story well written, for a •’beat” of a few minutes against an opposition service, it is on the solid dally file and the bread and butter performance that an agency is judged by its newspaper subscribers.

Routine Needs Hie N.Z.P.A. places emphasis on meeting the routine needs of its members. It should not be imagined that the file of world news, coming to sub-editorial desks in New Zealand, is an impersonal thing, or a predetermined news supply on which New Zealand has no influence. While it «*ha<A be pre-

tended that New Zealand can dictate how the news of the world is compiled, it would be equally fantastic to claim, as uniformed critics sometimes do, that New Zealand newspapers have little say in determining what news they receive. If the NZ.P.A. or any of its members, is dissatisfied with the amount of news reaching this country from any part of the world, it has onily to ask for more. Requests in recent times have included ones for fuller new* coverage from South Africa. Canada. Iraq and Eire. In each case, the requests have been met.

Apart from this, the daily file is under regular scrutiny from its users, and the public. If a news story as received appears sketchy, or illbalanced, the N.Z.P.A. can, and does cable its criticisms to its overseas associates, and opinions from this country are valued and make a definite impact on the international file. There have been instances in which a request from a reader, taken up by an editor who is satisfied the inquirer is on sound lines, has been passed along the line and has produced a worthwhile news report from the other side of the world. In addition to toe , main stream of world news the N.ZJP.A. through its own special correspondents in Sydney, Melbourne. London, Washington, Ottawa and elsewhere, brings to this country, a steady flow of reports specially written to meet New Zealand interest*, to inform the public on international situation* in which New Zealand is especially interested, and to keep this country posted on the achievements of eminent New Zealanders abroad.

During 1961, for instance, the Press Association's London staff has sent dozens of valuable reports on the quickly changing situation relating to the United Kingdom move toward the Common Market. The likely effects on New Zealand of any British association with the six European countries have been reported in detail.

That the New Zealand journalists who serve the N.Z.P.A. are competent in their profession is indicated by the number of them who, when! the time comes to seek wider experience, have been able to establish themselves as reliable foreign correspondentai serving world agencies.

Former N.ZJ’.A. staff men, who gained much of their essential experience in the Wellington newsroom hold jobs with Reuters today in London. Washington and Djakarta. Other New Zealand journalists also serve Reuters in Hong Kong, and other big news centres.

As in other walks of life. New Zealand has contributed its share of successful and influential journalists in the international field.

New Zealand News For Abroad Not only doe* the N.Z.P.A. bring world events to the New Zealand newspaper readers, but it sends New Zealand news to a worldwide readership. The N.Z.P.A. supplies a substantial news service both to Australian Associated Press, across the Tasman, and also to Reuters for distribution to Reuter subscribers all over the globe. A steady supply of clippings in the return mails testifies to the effective pub-

lication won by N.Z.P.A. reports to Reuters on all aspects of New Zealand news. This aervice is not confined to the headline new* of floods and disasters. New Zealand’* reaction to world events, from E.E.C. development* and a Berlin crisis-to flight* by Russian and American Spacemen, are put into news orbit round the globe. New Zealand travellers who come home saying they saw “no news” of their homeland published abroad are mistaken if they think none is published. because the clipping files show that new* of New Zealand’s farming and industrial growth, of her political battles, of her power scheme*, of her Maori people, of her social progress, and of many other topics claim space regularly in some British and American newspapers and in those of many other countries. In Hong Kong. Singapore. Bangkok and elsewhere Reuter reports with a Wellington dateline are frequent. The N.Z.P.A. play* it* part, not only in reporting the world to New Zealand, but also in -reporting New Zealand to the world. (To Be Concluded.)