News Writing Part 23

=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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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 a.s.semble 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 ma.n.u.script prepared for the press. _Blind Copy_ is copy that is difficult to read. _Clean Copy_ is ma.n.u.script 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 a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sistant 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 ma.n.u.script, 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 a.s.semblage 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_