Writing for the Paper

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 29, 1873

Writing for the Paper.

IF a man could sit down and write his thoughts, just as they come to him, with the glow of feeling that comes with them, and without the restraint that is put upon him by the consciousness that he is writing for others to read, who will question his facts, controvert his views, and criticise his syntax, it would be far easier to express one's thoughts, or tell his story. Not that there is no advantage in this public censorship, for there is, both to the writer and the reader. The discipline is an advantage to him in this, it makes him more careful in his style and statements. It is an advantage to the reader, because he knows that he may have confidence in what he reads. To write for a daily newspaper, if it be news, it should be stated concisely, yet in full. If it be editorial, it should be comprehensive, plain and direct. A leader should be, in one sense, a summary of important news, or a short, clear statement of a public question or of matters vital to the interests of the people.

An editor, while he is neither a preacher, lawyer, doctor, manufacturer nor merchant, is all in one. He must know and have something to say on all that pertains to these callings. He is not to write pleas, essays, nor treatises, but to embrace something of each, as the occasion may require. A daily paper is a journal, a teacher and a guide. The man whose time is mostly taken up in his business, so that he has but little time for reading or literary entertainment, expects, when he looks over his paper at night, to find true information in good form ready for him. Those who write for the papers should observe three things—condense, write short articles, and to the point. The first excellence in a newspaper article is its point; the second, its clearness; the third, its brevity.—Providence Journal.