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Terminology |
=Ad Alley
The part of the composing room where the
advertisements are set.
=Add
Late news added to a story already written or printed.
=A. P
Abbreviation for Associated Press.
=Arrest Sheets
The police record on which all arrests are
entered.
=Assignment
A story that a reporter has been detailed to cover;
any duty assigned by the city editor.
=Assignment Slips
Slips of paper containing assignments the city
editor wishes a reporter to cover. These slips are made out
daily and laid on the reporter's desk at the beginning of his
day's work.
=Bank
(1) One of the whole divisions of the headlines, separated
from the next by a blank line; called also a deck. (2) A table
or frame for holding type-filled galleys.
=Bank-man
A helper in the composing room whose duty it is to
assemble type received from the different linotype machines,
close up the galleys on the bank, and see that they are proved.
=Beat
(1) A definite place or section of town,--as the city hall,
the capitol, the police court, fire stations, hotels,
etc.,--regularly visited by a reporter to obtain news; also
termed a run. (2) See scoop.
=B. F
Abbreviation for =bold-face=, =black-face type=.
=Blind Interview
An interview given by a man of authority on
condition that his name be withheld.
=Blotter
The police record-book of crime.
=Box
A rectangular space marked off in a story, usually at the
beginning, for calling attention to the news within the box. The
news is often a list of dead or injured or of athletic records,
printed in bold-face type.
=Break-line
A line not filled to the end with letters, as the
last line of a paragraph. In a head a break-line may contain
white space on each side.
=Bridge
The raised platform in front of the magistrate's desk in
police court.
=Bull
A statement or a series of statements, the terms of which
are manifestly inconsistent or contradictory.
=Bulldog Edition
The earliest regular edition.
=Bulletin
A brief telegraphic message giving the barest results
of an event, often an accident, unaccompanied by details.
=Catch-line
(1) A short line set in display type within the body
of a story to catch the eye of the reader and enable him to get
the striking details by a hasty glance down the column. (2) A
line at the top of each page of copy sent to the composing room
one page at a time: as, "Society," "State," "Suicide." Such
lines enable the bank-men to assemble readily all the stories
and parts of stories belonging together.
=Chase
A rectangular iron or steel frame into which the forms are
locked for printing or stereotyping.
=Condensed Type
Type thin in comparison to its height; contrasted
with extended type.
=Copy
Any manuscript prepared for the press. Blind Copy is copy
that is difficult to read. Clean Copy is manuscript requiring
little or no editing. Time Copy is any matter for which there
is no rush,--usually held to be set up by the compositors when
they would otherwise be idle, or to be used in case of a
scarcity of news. The Sunday paper is filled with time copy.
=Copy Cutter
An assistant in the composing room who receives copy
from the head copy reader, or editor, cuts it into takes, and
distributes the takes to the compositors to set up.
=Copyholder
A proof-reader's assistant who, to correct errors,
reads copy for comparison of it with the proof.
=Copy-reader
One who revises copy and writes the headlines. Not
to be confused with proof-reader.
=Cover
To go for the purpose of getting facts about an event or
for the purpose of writing up the event: as, "Jones covered the
prize fight."
=Dead
A term applied to composed type that is of no further use;
also sometimes applied to copy.
=Deck
See Bank (1).
=Department Men
Reporters who seek news regularly in the same
places, as the police courts, city hall, coroner's office.
=Display Type
Type bolder of face or more conspicuous than
ordinary type.
=Dope
Slang for any information or collection of facts to be used
in a story; applied specifically to sporting stories, meaning a
forecast of the outcome, as in a horse-race or a boxing
contest.
=Em
The square of the body of any size of type; used as the unit
of measurement for making indentions, indicating the length of
dashes, etc.
=End Mark
A mark put at the end of a story to indicate to the
compositor that the story is complete. The two end marks used
are the figure 30 enclosed in a circle and a #.
=Feature
To give prominence to; to display prominently.
=Feature Story
A story, often with a whimsical turn, in which the
interest lies in something else than the immediate news value;
one that develops some interesting feature of the day's news for
its own sake rather than for the worth of the story as a whole.
Also called "human interest" story. See page 224.
=Filler
A story of doubtful news value included for lack of
better news in a column or section of a paper. The so-called
"patent insides" in country weeklies and small dailies are known
as fillers.
=Flash
A brief telegraphic message sandwiched between two
sentences of a running story, giving the outcome before it is
reached in the story: as, "Flash--Smith knocked out in
fourteenth round," when the reporter's story has got only as far
as the eleventh round; or, "Flash--Jury coming in; get ready for
verdict," thrust into the body of a story a reporter is sending
about a murder trial.
=Flimsy
Thin tissue paper used in duplicating telegraphic stories
as they come off the wire.
=Flush
On an even line or margin with.
=Follow Copy
An instruction, written on the margin of manuscript,
to the compositor that he must follow copy exactly, even though
the matter may seem wrong.
=Folo
An abbreviation for follow, marked at the beginning of
stories to indicate that they are to follow others of a similar
nature: as, "Folo Suicide," meaning to the bank-man, "Put this
story in the form immediately after the one slugged 'Suicide.'"
See page 15.
=Form
An assemblage of type, usually seven or eight columns,
locked in a chase preparatory to printing or stereotyping.
=Fudge
A small printing cylinder and chase that can be attached
to a rotary press; used for printing late news. See page 18.
=Future Book
The book in which the city editor records future
events: as, speeches, conventions, lawsuits, etc.
=Galley
A long, shallow, metal tray for holding composed type.
From the type in this tray the first or galley proof is pulled
for corrections.
=Galley Proof
An impression made from type in a galley.
=Gothic
A heavy, black-faced type, all the strokes of which are
of uniform width.
=Guide Line
See Catch Line (2).
=Hanging Indention
Equal indention of all the lines of a
paragraph except the first, which extends one em farther to the
left than those succeeding.
=Head
Abbreviation for headline.
Drop-Line Head
SECOND YEAR OF
THE GREAT WAR
OPENS TODAY
Pyramid Head
Clash between Germany
and Russia Occurred
August 1, 1914
Cross-Line
END NOT IN SIGHT
Hanging Indention
First Anniversary Finds
Little Change in Relative
Strength of the Two
Opposing Forces.
=Hell-box
The box into which waste lead is thrown for remelting
in the stereotyping room.
=Hold
An instruction written at the beginning of copy or proof,
instructing the make-up man in the printing room to hold the
article, not print it, until he has received further orders.
=Human Interest Story
See Feature Story.
=I.N.S
Abbreviation for International News Service.
=Insert
One or more sentences or paragraphs inserted in the body
of a story already written, giving fuller or more accurate
information.
=Jump-head
A headline put above the continuation of a story begun
on a preceding page.
=Justifier
A short story of little or no news value inserted at
the foot of a column to fill it out evenly.
=Justify
To make even or true by proper spacing, as lines of type
or columns on a page.
=Kill
To destroy the whole or a part of a story, usually after it
has been set in type.
=Lead
The initial sentence or paragraph of a story, into which is
crammed the gist of the article. See page 68.
=Lead
Thin strips of metal placed between lines of type to make
the lines stand farther apart, and hence to make the story stand
out more prominently on the printed page.
=Lower Case
(1) A shallow wooden receptacle divided into
compartments called boxes, for keeping separate the small
letters of a font of type; distinguished from the upper case
which stands slantingly above the lower case and contains the
capital letters; hence (2) the letters in that case.
=Make-up
The arrangement of type into columns and pages
preparatory to printing.
=Make-up Man
The workman who arranges composed type in forms
preparatory to printing.
=Morgue
The filing cabinet or room in which are kept stories and
obituaries of prominent persons, photographs of them, their
families, and their homes, clippings of various kinds about
disasters, religious associations, big conventions, strikes,
wars, etc. See page 9.
=Must
A direction put on the margin of copy to indicate that the
story must be printed.
=Pi
Type that has been so jumbled or disarranged that it cannot
be used until reassembled.
=Pi Line
A freak line set up by a compositor when he has made an
error in the line and completed it by striking the keys at
random until he has filled out the measure and cast the slug:
ETAOINS
=Play Up
To emphasize by writing about with unusual fullness.
=Police Blotter
See Blotter.
=Pony Report
A condensed report of the day's news, sent out by
news bureaus to papers that are not able or do not care to
subscribe for the full service.
=Proof-reader
One whose time is given to reading and making
corrections in the printer's proof; not to be confused with
Copy-reader.
=Prove
To take a proof of or from.
=Pull
To make an impression on a hand-press: as, to pull a
proof.
=Pyramid Head
A heading of three, four, or five lines,--usually
of three,--the first of which is full, the second indented at
both sides, the third still more indented at both sides, all the
lines being centered. See Head.
=Query
A telegraphic request to a paper for instructions on a
story that a correspondent wishes to send. See page 240.
=Quoins
Wedges used for fastening or locking type in a galley or
a form.
=Release
To permit publication of a story on or after a specified
date, but not before. See page 54.
=Revise
A corrected proof.
=Rewrite
A story rewritten from another paper. See page 218.
=Rewrite Man
A reporter who rewrites telegraphic, cable, and
telephone stories, or who rewrites poor copy submitted by other
reporters. See page 219.
=Run
See Beat (1).
=Run-in
To omit paragraph indentions for the sake of saving
space.
=Running Story
A story which develops as the day advances, or
from day to day.
=Scoop
Publication of an important story in advance of rival
papers; also called a beat.
=Sheets
See Arrest Sheets.
=Slips
Slips of paper hung on the police bulletin board or pasted
in a public ledger, announcing such crimes, misdemeanors,
complaints, and the like as the police are willing to make
public. See page 35.
=Slug
(1) A solid line of type set by a linotype machine. (2) A
strip of type metal thicker than a lead and less than type high,
for widening spaces between lines, supporting the foot of a
column, etc. (3) A strip of metal bearing a type-high number
inserted by a compositor at the beginning of a take to mark the
type set by him. (4) The compositor who set the type marked by a
slug. See also Catch Line (2).
=Solid
Having no leads between the lines: as, a solid column of
type.
=Space Book
A book in which the state editor keeps a record of
stories sent in by correspondents and space writers.
=Space Writer
A writer who is paid for his stories according to
the amount of space they occupy when printed.
=Special
A story written by a special correspondent, usually one
out of town.
=Stick
(1) A small metal tray holding approximately two inches of
type, used by printers in setting type by hand. (2) The amount
of type held by a stick.
=Stone
A smooth table top, once of stone, now usually of metal,
on which the page forms are made up.
=Story
(1) Any article, other than an editorial or an
advertisement, written for a newspaper. (2) The event about
which the story is written: as, a burglar story, meaning the
burglary that the reporter writes up.
=Streamer Head
A head set in large type and extending across the
top of the page.
=String
A strip of clipped stories pasted together end to end to
indicate the number of columns contributed by a space writer.
=Style Book
The printed book of rules followed by reporters,
copy-readers, and compositors. See page 249.
=Take
The portion of copy taken at once by a compositor for
setting up. See page 13.
=30
A telegrapher's signal indicating the end of the message;
also put at the end of a story to indicate its completion.
=Tip
Secret information about an item of news valuable to a
paper.
=Turn Rule
A copy-reader's signal to the composing room to turn
the black face of the rule, indicating thereby that the story is
not yet complete and that more will be inserted at that place.
=U.P
Abbreviation for United Press Associations.
=w.f
Abbreviation for wrong font; a proof-reader's mark of
correction, indicating that a letter from another font has
slipped into a word: as, the u in because.
Previous: Proof-readers' Marks
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Informational
