Oregon Exchanges/Volume 8/Number 1

Oregon Exchanges

For the Newspaper Folk of the State of Oregon

Vol. 8

Eugene, Oregon, October, 1924

No. 1

WRITERS URGED TO WAGE CONSTANT BATTLE FOR BREVITY

By A COPYREADER

[The Author of this excellent article on newspaper English desires to remain anonymous for the present.--Editor.]

NEWSWRITING, as wit, has brevity as its soul. Make it brief, make it snappy, are admonitions dinned constantly into the ears of reporters. And when the reporter has made it as brief and snappy as he finds possible, the copy editor takes out the multitudinous verbosities to make it literally brief.

While lack of brevity is an outstanding indictment against the average reporter, others of equal importance are on file. Incorrect usage and violations of rules of grammar are found daily in copy submitted by reporters. For these no defense exists. In addition noun phrases constantly are used in stories where verb phrases would add strength; phrases of several words are used where one word would make the sentence pithy; words with one definite meaning frequently are used to denote a subordinate meaning; rules of style on individual papers are broken. These are among the more important charges against Mr. Average Reporter.

TYPICAL BITS OF WASTE

Concrete examples of various branches of the —shall we say law?—of brevity, of good usage and of grammatical rules will aid in this discussion.

First, brevity—Don’t say, “Due to the fact that the office was closed . . .” Say, “Because the office was closed . ."

Don’t say, “Figures that have been compiled show . . .” Say, “ Figures compiled show . . .” or “Compilations of figures show . . .” Don’t say, “At the present time . . ." Say, “At present . . .” Don’t say, “At the time that the boat was built . . .” Say, “ When the boat was built . . .” Don't say, “Due to the fact that . . .” Say, “Since . . .” Don’t say, “For the purpose of . . .” Say, “To.. .” _ Don’t say, “Since that time . “Since . . .” Don’t say, “In the direction of . . .” Say, “Toward . . .” Don’t say, “Was present at the time . . .” Say, “Was present when . . .” Don’t say, “Despite the fact that . . .” Say, “Although . . .” Don’t say, “Under process of construction.. .” Say, “Under construction . . .” Don’t say, “In a clever manner . . .” Say, “Cleverly . . . ' Don’t say, “In order to.. “To.. ."

THE UNNECESSARY QUALIFICATION

Use of qualifying phrases which express only what the noun itself expresses, is unnecessary. therefore superfluous, therefore in error. To say, “The year 1923.. .” or “the state of Oregon . . .” or “the month of July . . .” is as banal as to say, “Her baby son is a boy.”

Many reporters discover, and their discovery is not new, that it is easy to Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/2 Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/3 Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/4 Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/5 Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/6 Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/7 Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/8 Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/9

STATE ASSOCIATION'S OWN DEPARTMENT

HAL E. HOSS, President

⁠

G. LANSING HURD, Secretary

The 1925 Convention

THE Tillamook meeting went on record accepting the invitation of Grants Pass for the next year convention. There was a proviso attached to the motion at the suggestion of the president, that the meeting be held at Grants Pass only in the event the proposed Pacific Coast convention could not be arranged. A recent letter from Fred Kennedy, manager of the Washington Press Association, advises that his organization is prepared to meet in the joint convention at Portland, and definite plans for the meeting would be worked out provided some of the other states were heard from favorably.

At this time, then, we are not prepared to state whether or not the Portland meeting will come to pass, but we should look forward with a great deal of interest to the possibilities of such a meeting, with a subsequent meeting to accept the Grants Pass invitation. As soon as anything definite is learned from the various committees working on the plan, the field will be advised, through a bulletin, or through the next issue of Oregon Exchanges.

Advertising Rates

IN a bulletin issued from the president's office late in August, we called the publishers' attention to the N. E. A. rate schedule, and asked you all to get your rate. In response to the bulletin, several Oregon newspaper men wrote in and asked what the recommended rates were. Requests to the St. Paul office of the N. E. A. brought us a few copies of the advertising committee reports, and these were sent to the inquiring newspapers. However, in order that the rates might be available, we are submitting them here with, and trust that they will help put starch in some of the editorial back-bones throughout the state.

The N. E. A . schedule of rates for country Weeklies is as follows:

For 500 or less circulation 25c. :For 1000 or less circulation 30c. :For 1500 or less circulation 35c. :For 2000 or less circulation 40c. :For 2500 or less circulation 45c. :For 3000 or less circulation 48c. :For 3500 or less circulation 51c.

Campaign Advertising

SOME of you may have thought that the little paragraph stuck in the last Bulletin about this being a campaign where printer's ink would be used was a shot in the dark, but even as early as August this office was busy on plans to have the country press recognized by the various political elements. A uniform letter, setting forth the advantages of display campaigns in the Oregon press and telling of the influence of the news papers, was sent all the heads of the political issues in the state.

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