REPORTERS IN HISTORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8538, 11 April 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

REPORTERS IN HISTORY.

'news paragraphs in the age ' , of (LESAR. ; _ A limited edition of a quaint and curious book, entitled "Newspaper Reporting in Olden Time and To-Day," has just been published. The author, John Pendleton, tracea the history of the reporter as far back as the times of Cicero and Caesar. In looking over the examples of early reporting <*iven by Mr. Pendleton, the first thing strikes the reader is the curious similarity of form in'the statements of events to that observed by the writers for the press in the present day. . .' ... So far as the early Roman reporting is concerned, the extracts are made from what is known as the Acta Diurna. This was not a printed sheet, of course,,, and did nob bear any likeness bo the news letter, which afterwards became popular in England. It was simply a daily journal written under the direction of the magistrates, and placed, with other documents, in the Hall of Liberty. It dealt with the most trifling events of the day, however, and was taken up with the narration of such happenings as are contributed to the modern press by young reporters and news gatherers around town. Here are two of these old news paragraphs that were translated into English by Dr. Johnson. They were included in the magazine article referred to, and have been transferred to the book under consideration. The first of the paragraphs is dated 4th of the Kal of April. It reads as follows:— "It thundered, and an oak was struck with lightning on that part of the Mount Palatine called Summa Velia, early in the afternoon. A fray happened in a tavern at the lower end of the Banker's-street, in which the keeper of the Hog-in-Armour Tavern was dangerously wounded. Terbiums, the Aedile, fined the butchers for selling meat which had not been inspected by the overseers of the markets. The fine is to be employed in building a chapel to the Temple of the goddess of Tellus." Hore is another one equally This.is more important in the character of its news, bub the form of expression is practically the same : — " Paulus, the Consul, and Cn. Octavius, the praetor, set out this day for Macedonia, in their habits of war, and vast numbers of people attending them to the gates. The funeral of Mnrcia was performed with greater pomp of images than attendance of mourners. The Pontifex Semproniua proclaimed the Megalesian plays in honour of Gybele." It will be notioed how ingeniously the editorial allusion to the funeral is made. There is no direct and brutal statement to the effect that the funeral was a failure. The writer deftly insinuates as much by mentioning that there was a " greater pomp of images than attendance of mourners." Here are two paragraphs selected by the author from an English newspaper of the seventeenth century that show that the seaserpent and mermaid stories of modern journalism are of ancient lineage and excellent family. The first one reads this way : — "A true relation of the strange appearance of a man-fish about three miles between the river Thames, having a musket in one hand and a petition in the other, credibly reported by six sailors, who both saw and talked with the monster." This reads in a somewhat more detailed and circumstantial fashion :— " A perfect mermaid was, by the great wind last night, driven ashore near Greenwich, with a comb in one hand and a look-ing-glass in another. She seemed to be of the countenance of a most fair and beautiful woman, with her arms crossed, weeping out many pearly drops of salt tears ; and afterwards she, gently turning herself upon her back again, swam away without being seen any more."