Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/47

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Shipping Offices —arrival and sailing of ships, cargoes,
                         rates, marine news.

Associated Charities —poverty, destitution, and relief.

Board of Trade, —quotations, sales, and news of stock,
  Stock Exchange, produce, grain, metals, live stock, etc.
  Mining Exchange,
  and Chamber of
  Commerce

Hotels —arrival and departure of guests, banquets,
                         dinner parties, and other social
                         functions.

News "Runs." To get all the news that develops at each of these and many other similar places, the city editor divides the news sources into "runs" or "beats," and details a reporter to each "run." The reporter assigned to get or "cover" the news of police headquarters is said to have the "police run"; another assigned to the city hall has the "city hall run," or is "city hall reporter"; one who gets the news of the child welfare movement, of social centers, benevolent organizations, etc., is said to have the "uplift run"; another is on the "hotel run." To cover adequately these news sources, the reporter visits each office on his run from one to six times a day, examining records, interviewing officials, and chatting with secretaries and clerks. The number of times that he visits an office and the length of time that he stays are determined approximately by the amount and value of the news likely to be obtained.

As the reporter is held responsible for all the news of the places on his "run," he must not let anything escape his notice, because a keener, quicker-witted man on the same "run" for a rival paper may get what he misses. When a reporter obtains a piece of news that reporters on other papers do not get, he is said to have a "scoop" or "beat," and the unsuccessful paper and its reporters are said to have been "scooped."