Ruth Herrick's Assignment
All day she had idled, enjoying the relaxation from the strain of the past week, and looking forward to that dinner for various and personal reasons. The society editor, who had been invited, was just about to leave the office. She saw him wave the last page of his copy triumphantly in the air, as he reached for his hat with the other hand. He was to make the speech of the evening, and he had promised his hostess that he would explain to the non-professional guests what a "beat" really means to the newspaper and reporter that secure it. Earlier in the day he had submitted his definition to Miss Herrick for her approval.
"A big beat," he had read solemnly, "is an important exclusive story. If it appears in your newspaper, it is the greatest journalistic feat of the year, implying the possession of superior skill, brains, and journalistic enterprise by the members of your staff. If it appears in the other fellow's newspaper, it means that some idiot has accidentally stumbled across a piece of news which does n't amount to much anyway, and which he has garbled painfully in the telling. Your newspaper
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