Page:The Newspaper World.djvu/92

Liners and Lineage, 8i with the greater interest which is being stimulated among Londoners in their own affairs, the starting of some journal of this character seems probable. This is a digression, but the theme is a fruitful one. Much of the miscellaneous news in the London morning newspapers is lineage work, though all important occur- rences are attended to by members of the staff, local correspondents, or the news agencies. For the benefit of the uninitiated, some description may be attempted of the regulations which govern the relations of newspaper conductors with the penny-a-liner. The liner may be described as a journalistic free lance, who is not per- manently attached to the staff of any newspaper. He selects for his sphere of labor either some particular district of London, or a special class of work. Perhaps he keeps himself au courant with Battersea affairs, for example, and when any sensational or interesting event occurs he can promptly record it. Or, it may be, he makes metropolitan fires his especial province, and, by some arrangement he is able to make, is on the scene of a conflagration as soon as the firemen themselves, and out-distances all competitors in furnishing a prompt de- scription of the incidents attending it. When the liner has secured the information he requires, he at once sets to work with style and manifold paper and produces a number of copies of his report, carefully writing his name in the top left-hand comer of the first page. At each of the newspaper offices a copy is left without delay. Possibly there are competitors in the field, and when the sub-editor comes to deal with the matter he may have a choice of reports from which to select. Strictly speaking, of course, the sub-editor deals with the news before him on its merits, but generally some par- ticular liner who is better known than his competitors will have the preference. Of course when an account of 6