=291. Stories by Telephone.=--The telephone is used when the mails are too slow or a telegraph office is not convenient, or when there is need of getting into personal communication with the office. In using the telephone one caution only may be given, that the correspondent should never call up the state editor with merely a jumble of facts at hand. Long-distance messages are costly and editors watch all calls closely in an effort to reduce tolls to a minimum. If possible, the correspondent should have his story written--certainly he should have it sketched on paper--before calling the office, so that he may dictate his news in the shortest possible time.
=292. Stories by Telegraph.=--The telegraph is for stories demanding immediacy of print, and certain rules govern their handling that every correspondent should know. Suppose at six o'clock some afternoon an automobile owned and driven by Otto Thomson, receiving teller for the local Commercial Bank, skids over a slippery, tar-covered pavement into a telegraph pole on one of the main streets of the town, killing him and severely injuring two women in the car. What should the correspondent do in such a case? The accident is good for a half-column in _The Herald_, the local morning daily, but because Thomson was only moderately prominent, one is doubtful if it is worth much in _The World_, the great daily a hundred miles away. After considering all the details, however,--Thomson's position locally and the fact that the city may be held liable for the excess of tar at a dangerous turn in the streets,--the reporter may conclude that the story is worth four hundred words. He is still doubtful, however, whether the city paper will consider it worth publishing. His message, therefore,--technically known as a "query"--should be:
Otto Thomson, receiving teller Commercial Bank, killed at six P.M. by automobile skidding into telegraph pole. Two women in car injured. Four hundred. 8:35 P.M. A. D. Anderson
This means that the correspondent is prepared to wire a 400-word story about the accidental death of Otto Thomson. It tells, too, that the query was filed at 8:35, so that blame may be placed if delivery is delayed. There is no need to ask if the paper wants further details or how much it wants. The message itself is an inquiry. One other important point about it is that it bulletins the news. It is not a "blind" query stating that "a prominent citizen has been killed" or that "a regrettable tragedy has occurred." It gives the facts concisely, so that the editor, if he wishes, may publish them immediately and may decide whether additional details are worth while.