It must be understood, put
in relation to other bulletins also understood, and played up or
played down according to its probable interest for the public, as the
editor conceives it. Without standardization, without stereotypes,
without routine judgments, without a fairly ruthless disregard of
subtlety, the editor would soon die of excitement. The final page is
of a definite size, must be ready at a precise moment; there can be
only a certain number of captions on the items, and in each caption
there must be a definite number of letters. Always there is the
precarious urgency of the buying public, the law of libel, and the
possibility of endless trouble. The thing could not be managed at all
without systematization, for in a standardized product there is
economy of time and effort, as well as a partial guarantee against
failure.
It is here that newspapers influence each other most deeply. Thus when
the war broke out, the American newspapers were confronted with a
subject about which they had no previous experience. Certain dailies,
rich enough to pay cable tolls, took the lead in securing news, and
the way that news was presented became a model for the whole press.
But where did that model come from? It came from the English press,
not because Northcliffe owned American newspapers, but because at
first it was easier to buy English correspondence, and because, later,
it was easier for American journalists to read English newspapers than
it was for them to read any others.
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