THE JOURNALISTIC STYLE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 180, 25 April 1908, Page 12

THE JOURNALISTIC STYLE.

, / In an interesting article, tko New York .(:"Independent" ,i discussc3 "the - journalistic ■ v -. .style,',' ..tlio development and dominance ■- of . which are said to bo "tho chief charactorisif\ -.tics of'modern-literature-" ■ v.. ■■'■ < The journahstic stylo (says. the "Indepon- - dent"), aims at tha triplo; economy; of timo; • spaco, and'attention.- Tho object of the ola ■ stjlo was to hold tho reader's attention un- • til, he had received all the information; the ■ author" desired to impart to him. Tho 0h- ... ■ vjoct of the.jourpalist ■is to convey as. much ' v>;>....informationsas, possible without holding tlm readers attention.. In the first case;.; iiiere- • fore,, all ; the qualifying clauses and phrases v .«aro. worked, in as .the sentence goes along, i bo that bv the time tjio reader .has reached the r end lie has-, tho . complete,., thought m . . mind m \ its ■ proper proportions and rela-' -tions. The scntcnce nas to 'bos-swallowed whole, you cannot bito off- a piece' of it to suit yourself. The common! example of'the V rhetorics is tho "Satari r exaltcd-sat''. senteiice ■= - of Mi!ton> Wo inherited it'from "both isides > of tho house, the classical arid the r, Germanic languages;- .But: only ail inflected' •• >. • •. language, is suitable ;to. suchfsentenco ;construction in: its -extreme form, and as we dropped-the inflections we necessarily i simplified. the-Structure. Even, in Germany,' ■ . .without -change in th'e language; there is a . ' marked tendency-recently in tho same direo-. The journalist .jevprsfes the'Miltonic! form,; ~.: putting Satan Instead of withholding his cluo as long as possible, he puts it at - the head of . the' , column. Ho tells his secret-in ,the : first breath.' He develops his "stor.v" like a Wagnerian score,-first giving ■Jthe leading i'mbtivo in brief: and'' simple ... phrase,: then repeating it again and again: ■ . with variations and 1 increasing complexity. t Those who,are'unfamiliar with the technique of newspaper writing would find it interest- ■ ing to analyse, the structure of some import ' tant ai-ticlo in a well edited daily. They" ; • will find that the gist of it is-repeated four • or five 1 times' in a continually expanding •.form; first in the headline of "four to'ten wo.-dfi, second in' the ten to twenty -words, third in. the first, paragraph •of one to two; hundred words, and fourth in • . theyinairi article of-'a thousand to ten tliou■l sand words.; .The sonnelj.lias not'' so rigid a . form; it- is mora like constructing a word- ; square puzzle," for even tlio ; numbor of letters used in; tho-headings are" fixed within : narrow.limits by tjio. typographical rules' of ' the paper,' and it requires marvellous' irigen- . uitv versatility ;of vocabulary, to avoid verbal repetition in telling the samo jstory over mi many times. The ordinary office rule that overy headline must contain" a verb in sotno.forny proceeds from the desiro. to make : it" tell the wholestory; not merely what ths stoty is about; ■ , ' • ~>■■•■ 1 The journalistic sentence is constructed on tne saino principle 'as the journalistic article, that of gratifying tho reader's curiosity I at once, not keeping him in suspense. The question of the rrlativo merits of tho two tvpes of sontenco-'ii essentially the same"as, that-which has been interminably, debated,* v of whether tho adjective' should precede tho - noun,' .as in English, or follow it. as in French. Is it more convenient and-logical to wy "a black -horse" or "a horse black"? 'Intfavonr of tho latter it is argued that tho mwr should know first what the writing' is talking about, a horse, .then ho is ready

to be told what"*colour it in. Oil tho other side,: Spencor, holds that if ono puts tho horso first tho reador conjures up n vision of a horso which is necessarily of somo colour, and if it happens :to \bo wlnto lie has to go •' to the troxible. of changing it. Tho classical -sontorice-form. is' based upon the English • principid of 'getting Vthe qualifications first; the. journalistic follows tho French mothod.. < Tho reason why so many peoplo find Honi) James diffioult to-road is because they aro • used to tho journalistic stylo'and-ho, camos its opposite to tho extreme. Take, 1 foi o\ample, this sontonco *from his last stoiy in , tho March "Harper's": . "With his'thick,-looso black ban, m anj case, untouched by-ii .thread of giay, and ,his kept gift of a cqrcain big .•awktaking their encounter, for instance, so amusedly, so crudely, tho as she was not unaware, so oagerly j could by no means liavo been so , ; ilittle? his' v wife's"juh'ictr; as it had been that "lady's habit, aftor'tho divorce, to represent | Thore is not the slightest ambiguity about this 'sentence.; If, it is not clear at first reading it is becauso. it is riccessary to get the whole sentence'in mind in order to grasp its moaning. To ,contrast with this wo take. ; the .'first- sentence in to-day's New. York"Times": ■"Tho Italian,; Zust, and French Do Dion cars arrived in I 'Chicago in the New York to •Paris race at G. 32 and 6.33 last ovening. The Zust left; Michigan City, Ind., at. 8: o'clock Tuesday night, and the Do Dion: .an hour earlier.;:"'..An' escort of. 100, automobiles, accompanied by a brass band, wont, out from Chicago to meet the two cars." This is a fair sample of tho ordinary journalistic style, .conveying a large amount of dotailod information with tho least possiblo strain of . attention. If the reader/ thinks it'is easy, to write that way,. let him' see if, ;he'can put the ~§amo foots. into less space without making;-. the 'sentences hiore complex in structure/and .therefore harder to! read.'-', , , The modern /tendency to, do' away with i,punctuation marks' is duo to' the prevalence 'of'the'journalistic stylo. ' Colons and semicolons aro replaced by-periods. , Parentheses and dashes eliminated, and even commas are 'not ■ oftoii;, necessary. : Somotimes wo seo half a column) with no punctuation, excopt periods. The subjunctive mood is disappearing, altho: much of the' matter , ..in tho • newspapers could be jnoro properly put m it 'as being hypothejjical, conditional,' future, or : contrary ;; to fact. ,; i Oil account of these limitations and simplifications' the journalistic style.'is apt'-to- bo dry, monotonous, and mechanical.' It looks lilio a brick wall. , 1 To read it aloud is, liko riding over cp'rduroy._: But it has tho merit of the straiglit. streetiv.lt takes the shortest , distance between ,two points. It is ono. of our modern labour-saving - devicos. And ion account of its convenience-it has increased in popularity- until i fiction, history,: biograEliy, science, essays, ' and- even- poetry liavo eon influenced by; it. • Comparoi Johnson's "Rassolas" with,; Kipling's • "Light •• That Failed" or Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" with Herbert Paul's ""History of Modern England." .;B.u.V. ( oconomy f ;'is .not th' 6' only/object of lifer and it -would. bo deplorablo. if' the .'stylei/should get .a. monopoly, iof , .tho language.-.