Newspapers and Newspapermen
Or rcii.soiiiililc facsi in i levs thereof
By PAI L PLL ASAATS
Gentlemen of the press have been
publicly pondering a question. It
started when Senator Ben Sumner of
Rutherford called for more honest re¬
porting in Raleigh. Or less dishonest
reporting.
This prompted John Anderson of the
Transylvania Times to write a letter
to J. D. Fitz. secretary of the N. C.
Press Association, asking if perhaps
the profession should not look into
these charges and determine how well-
founded they were.
Ashley Futrell, publisher of the
Washington Daily News, had an edi¬
torial saying the charges were too seri¬
ous to be passed over lightly.
Then Sam Ragan, executive editor
of the Raleigh News & Observer, came
out with a demand that the less-than-
honcst reporting be nailed down spe¬
cifically. Who, he asked, is the Senator
talking about?
Nobody answered. The State then
wrote Senator Sumner and asked him
if he wanted to call names, but as of
this date no reply had been received.
Louro Harrell, editor ol the "Bertie Ledger-
Ad»once." (See "The Girl» Ari»c."l
“OBSERVER" SPEAKS UP
But the Charlotte Observer was not
coy in making its own complaints. It
accused the Raleigh News & Observer
of "factual errors" and "editorial mis¬
interpretation" in handling stories
about a survey of its community college
program.
Then, a few days later, Raleigh at¬
torney I. Beverly Lake said the News
& Observer (in handling one story»
misquoted three times and published
two other quotations out of context in
such a way as to distort his (Lake’s)
meaning. So some nailing down was
done.
There never was a reporter who
didn’t deliberately or unintentionally
slant a story because of the reporter’s
or the newspaper’s conception of
things. Then there arc newspapers with
a philosophy which justifies the ha¬
bitual presenting of news in such a
way as to influence the conclusion the
reader is to reach.
But who in the world in Raleigh
would do such a thing?
CONDENSED CONDENSATION
With David Stick down at Kitty
Hawk we were discussing how Read¬
er's Digest gets some of its material.
It digs up original articles, but to main¬
tain its formula as a reprint magazine,
it often will give the story to some
magazine to publish first. Then it will
innocently reprint a condensation of
the article, as if it had just discovered
it.
Right after the war, David was
working on the American Legion
Magazine, and the Digest gave it an
article on these terms. But there was
a severe newsprint shortage, and the
Legion Magazine had to cut the article
to the bone. Also, its publication was
delayed far beyond the scheduled
issue.
The result was that Reader’s Digest
published its digest of the Legion article
.8?
Do.id Stick of Kitty Howk. I See "Condenicd
Condcntotion.”
before the Legion did. Not only that,
but the Reader's Digest's condensa¬
tion was not condensed as much as the
original article was! Some fun.
THE GIRLS ARISE
Three of the four Parker newspapers
in northeastern North Carolina now
arc run by women.
I .aura Harrell for a long time has
been editor of the Bertie Ledger- Ad¬
vance. at Windsor.
When Jim Wallace bought out the
interest of Roy Parker, Jr., in the
Parker company, he moved from Rich
Square to Ahoskie. and N'ita Sizer took
charge of the Times-News.
Then sonic months ago, Mrs. Lois
Greene was put in charge of book¬
keeping and office management of the
Gates County Index. However, she dis¬
played so much aptitude for gathering
and writing news that she took over the
news too.
SCRAMBLED
When we were in Gatesville, Lois
Greene had just filed for adoption of
Charles Evans, her eight-year-old
brother. The boy was orphaned at
birth, and Lois has literally raised him
from the crib, along with her own
daughter.
With the adoption, young Charles
was having to re-orient all his relation¬
ships. His niece now is his sister, and
his brother-in-law is his dad.
But Lois, from the beginning, has
THE STATE. DECEMBER 23. 1961
