The lawyer posts off to the County Clerk's office, and a clerk there
makes the necessary entries in the official docket. Here in step the
newspapers. While the clerk is writing Smith's business obituary a
reporter glances over his shoulder and a few minutes later the
reporters know Smith's troubles and are as well informed concerning
his business status as they would be had they kept a reporter at his
door every day for over ten years. [Footnote: _Op. cit._, p. 57.]
When Mr. Given says that the newspapers know "Smith's troubles" and
"his business status," he does not mean that they know them as Smith
knows them, or as Mr. Arnold Bennett would know them if he had made
Smith the hero of a three volume novel. The newspapers know only "in a
few minutes" the bald facts which are recorded in the County Clerk's
Office. That overt act "uncovers" the news about Smith. Whether the
news will be followed up or not is another matter. The point is that
before a series of events become news they have usually to make
themselves noticeable in some more or less overt act. Generally too,
in a crudely overt act. Smith's friends may have known for years that
he was taking risks, rumors may even have reached the financial editor
if Smith's friends were talkative. But apart from the fact that none
of this could be published because it would be libel, there is in
these rumors nothing definite on which to peg a story.
Pages:
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351