Newspaper Story (2nd Ed, 1973)

[Music] [Music] [Applause] call back later this afternoon or another afternoon [Music] this morning I'm doing a paste up of a full page ad advertising is very important to a newspaper because it provides most of the profits in fact the price you pay barely covers the cost of delivering the paper at 10:30 we have this editorial board meeting at which we decide what positions we're going to take on which issues in that day's paper able to go in on these Scenic cars the board chairman tried to get that change so that the scena carers would be exempt and uh they kicked that down three to too thought we should have an editorial tomorrow if we possibly can about the announcements um it's going to be difficult but we think we can manage it we can get something uh in type that will cover us at least through say the first edition the editor presumably is responsible for the content of the newspaper and its components magazines Etc except for the advertising what an editor does really is exercise overall direction without competent editors in charge of each area there's no way in the world that he can do a good job since the Democrats do have the majority of course they have the power if they so wish to really carry through on this I'd like to get Conrad to do something also I think he yeah you notice he came out very fast last night Johnson thing fastest horse he ever Drew Conrad is a vastly talented cartoonist who is immensely skilled in making a very strong clear point I draw because I cannot write drawing is about 5% of what I do the the idea itself I had idea up to to something has never worked the times has a complete kitchen where recipes are tested for articles in our food section my background is home economics of course we also do other things that include nutrition and things of that sort and try to know what's new in the food business and in the food industry I like food I have for many many years you can tell [Laughter] that herin Baker please this morning my assignment is to cover the mayor's press conference at City Hall which as it happens is just across the street May [Music] of course the B there today is the finalizing of the terms of agreement but it it takes the mayor generally dictates what's to be discussed at a news conference or at least for most of it and then there's generally a chance to ask questions I've certainly tried to change I have only one question to ask this morning why 19 days after he promised it the mayor still hasn't released a record of how often he has been out of town since the last election mayor 19 days ago you said at your announcement that uh you would ask one of your aids to provide a list of your time outside Los Angeles since 1969 oh I go away back to 1969 but I don't have to bother with that anymore because Mr Baker the Los angelist times supplied the figures that was only for the last 6 months are you now going back on that agreement to provide no I'm not going back on the agreement I don't know they've got them together or not but I can tell you you know the record is a lot better than it's been made to look and uh I would go any place in this world to help the United States of America and to help our city well your secretary do said this morning that the mayor is acutely aware of the request and as soon as we have it pulled together and verifi we'll release it well I P I don't think it's a big issue in the campaign but I'm glad Mr Baker of the times has been keeping track [Applause] ready right shoot that's it Jim D the times has a number of writers who specialize in specific Fields my specialty is the environment I'll spend this afternoon at the University of California at Riverside the charcoal has a greater Affinity the gas is more apt the hydrocarbons to sit on the absorbent and stick under high pressure so you get a more efficient absorption basically this gives us air which we've tested recently by the way which is quite a bit cleaner than Antarctica we've had samples of air from Antarctica analyzed here in a laboratory and they're really uh Proby dirty Jim this is the this is the actual chamber that is pumped out the way you're describing them outside right this is the evacuable chamber the public is interested in things that they don't already know and understand they're looking for solutions to problems they're looking for a comprehension of the world around them on the walls so what you're saying is that for the first time you will be able to simulate any atmosphere that you want to yes this piece of equipment is a long path length infrared Spectrum of course I have to consider what the subject does and then in a case like this where it's a fairly technical subject I have to try and accurately depict it in language which is understandable to people who are not scientifically inclined in such a way that the light emerges as a beam about 4 and 1/2 ft in diameter and I'll gather data on the smog chamber today and write the story tomorrow it will appear in a weekend edition of the times at this point I tell the editor on the Metropolitan desk what type of story I'll have on the mayor's press conference he goes back on his pledge 19 days ago to release the list of his foreign travels and out of town travels he says that he can't find it in effect I haven't gone through the tapes yet but I think that the tapes General we have found it in the city council president's office and in the first 126 days of his term he'd been on of town 49 days of which 39 of these have spent abroad and Irwin's getting everything Irwin's got all the figures the story must be ready no later than 6:30 but before writing it I need to get a few facts from Irwin Baker irn is the time City Hall reporter he has an office right there at City Hall however uh they say that much of this was that many of these non weekend days which Gibson list were actually holidays I'd like to go over to Gibson's office and check to see whether that in fact is true they do exclude holidays yeah as far as I know let's check that for for just for sure all right Friday December 24th to Sunday January 2nd mhm so Christmas on that day would have been a Saturday which would have also been a weekend and so with New Year's huh I guess but just a second Diane could you give me a hand does that would that include say Thanksgiving is on a Thursday would that be included in this column no cuz that's not a weekend we would included in this column too total day but it might also include some some Monday through Fridays that were holidays right right and then the other would be if he was gone on the weekends and was AC me or during that weekend okay fine thanks very much okay guys is interesting that they go to all that trouble to make that obvious Point Nixon is there and he addressed remarks to Nixon ni's hair is a little skew there as managing editor is my responsibility the new is covered that includes a main that includes foreign National local Southern California uh Financial Sports the Suburban areas that entire area and this there's some good stuff here on we have five National bureaus huge Washington Bureau and n acal Bureau you just have two stories plent choices between two stories okay and we also subscribe to the major news Services 16 17 and I have various assistants I delegate much of the responsibility to them however it's my responsibility to make certain that we get material that goes beyond which you can get in the radio broadcast or in the TV broadcast going on uh Mr Murphy what is going on in your area well his honor the mayor had a press conference today and as usually discussed very freely Foreign Affairs National Affairs but he was quite reluctant to uh talk about his attendance record on a job but uh Ken rich and uh Baker dug up the records and it shows that he's been absent something like 372 days and 320 or working days it's quite probably that you may want to use Yi as your lead story on there you want to be very care careful where your figures are yeah as we go along the executive news editor sketches in the stories on a dummy it's sort of a blueprint of the newspaper page if you want Pro through on there we could easily get a p118 2C uh without the Box cut offs right in there why not under uh okay that would be how many lines How about if fire 149 perto fire new man hired see sports section I'm debating now how to organize the lead of this story since the mayor has now released the figures that he had earlier today said that he couldn't find uh the story has changed quite a bit and I'm leading the release of the figures by the mayor and then I'm only going to go into the sequence of events showing how he first said he couldn't find them then we found them elsewhere then he released them later on in the story and explaining the context he came out the thank I'll yeah just wait a few okay Ken hands me the story and I look it over I'm looking primarily at content to make sure that he has the most important facts in the story that he doesn't have any omissions that would lead the reader to wonder what is this all about after I've read over the entire story and checked all the details if I find something wrong I ask K what about this and uh he tells me perhaps if if he left out a fact or two I can write it in with pencil or he can take it back and type it I read it over and then I turn it over to the news editor whose job it is to take it from there have the headline written and and have the type set and so forth [Music] [Applause] by about 6 o' my story on the mayor's attendance record has been sent across the building to the input keyboard room where it's given a priority tag and passed to a [Applause] typist the these machines have a type face that can be read by computer the autore reader transfers the copy to punched tape the tape then goes out to the composing room here the story will be set in lead type linotype machines used to be operated manually now one man serves six machines at the times even this system is soon to be replaced by another called video composition that will eliminate those machines all together [Applause] after being types set the story is proofed on this small printing press and sent up to the proof room the copy comes up to us from the assembly bank and then when we get it I've sorted out according to its priority and then put it up there and the Fellas come and pick it up well to be of good proof of course you'd have to have a a good basic background in English grammar punctuation and not only be able to read for to get the cred topographical errors but also to read for sense so that if there is something wrong with the story he will know that uh it needs correcting in other words we help the editorial Department out that way and when it's read then we send it back down to be corrected and put into the form page one or big one as it's called among the editors is held open until the last minute so two are some of the sports Pages my story is to appear on one of two in other words page one of part two the page is locked up uh at about 7:30 and is then pressed into a map [Applause] [Music] the mat is sent down to the stereo room where it is used to mold a metal plate [Applause] [Music] you're like that [Music] but while part two is being printed other news stories are still coming in covering the basketball game and of course looking for the best action picture we can get but we always keep in mind what that reporter up there is writing we're illustrating his story now one of the big problems is on a basketball game such as this we start at 8:00 at night our deadline being uh 920 and it's a good 15 miles from here of course I have to get everything I can in about 10 minutes give it to the messenger and it goes [Music] It's a combination of two worlds really the critic at least this critic starts his day like most other people do with a 9 to-5 job in the office this is where I worry about editing about feature articles about concocting review stories about announcement scheduling all these things are my problem by day and then when everyone else goes home uh lucky me goes to a concert three or four times a week a Critic is a man of many hats performer an Entertainer teacher a reporter a guardian of Standards he can't be too self-conscious about all those things but he does have to fill all those functions if he's going to be even remotely protect you [Music] [Music] [Applause] I'm writing what is called Running matter that I have to write during the game so that they can have have that copy back at the times and be setting it and type if I started to type when the game ended I wouldn't have time to get it in the paper the machine we started to use a couple years ago and what it does is photograph your copy impulses are sent through the telephone lines back to the LA Times where a similar machine is there and the copy comes out of the machine back at the Times [Applause] well after the game it's another ball game for me now I want to get some answers I go down and interview the coaches and the athletes to get uh answers to specific plays or opinions or just general feelings but naturally be sore right after they put the pin that's the only thing it's just it's really sore well then we won't we won't days we won't keep you out to the playoffs then huh oh nice game well really good Hustle [Music] over the ti need circulation of more than 1 million [Applause] [Music] by midnight the earlier morning editions are on their way to readers all over Southern California we print four editions each day so even now there are Stories being written that will appear in later revisions of this [Music] paper and then when everyone goes home from the concert I I come back to the office and write the review so it's a a long day but it's also a very stimulating day [Music]