appreciation of what is interesting, important, and timely in current events. Reporters and correspondents also have ample opportunity in the course of their daily round of news gathering to get valuable material which may be worked up into special articles. Editors of magazine sections often suggest or assign subjects to reporters, correspondents, or "free lance" writers, but they are glad to have suggestions from members of the staff or to get well-written articles suitable for their purpose.
Subjects for Feature Articles. Material for special articles is obtained in a variety of ways. Interviews with persons who can furnish the desired information are an effective means of getting facts and impressions, and they have the advantage of giving the reporter material for the "human interest" element which not infrequently adds to the readableness of the article. From books of reference can be gleaned historical and biographical data. Reports and official documents, such as government publications, can frequently be used to secure detailed information. In fact, printed reports of such government work as that of agricultural experiment stations, divisions of the department of agriculture, various testing laboratories, the geological survey, the departments of commerce and labor, or the interstate commerce commission, and reports of corresponding work carried on by various cities and states, furnish quantities of valuable data that need only to be presented in popular form to be of general interest. Some of these reports are summarized briefly in news stories; others receive no mention at all. Although they are called public documents, the general public does not know of their existence. Personal observation also furnishes material for feature stories. An assignment that takes the reporter to the state penitentiary
