The Press: Righting the Rewrite

The United Press committed the common journalistic sin of hopping up a story —and raised an uncommon fuss. Reported the U.P. under a Lorain, Ohio dateline: “The first bread line since the Depression days of the 1930s formed today at City Hall in this recession-hit steel town where one of every nine residents is receiving unemployment checks.” The “news” sped across the U.S. Cried the Lorain evening Journal (circ. 26,517): “A vicious false report … a case study in mass hysteria.” Rewriting the U.P. rewriteman, a Journal editorial pointed out that Lorain (pop. 59,219) has a total of only 175 relief cases v. no at the same time last year. When three bakeries gave the city welfare department “a small assortment” of day-old bread and cakes for distribution to welfare cases, only “seven arrived to obtain some of the free fare.” Next day, said the paper, “16 clients appeared after being invited by telephone.” Snapped the Journal: “If bread lines are established, we will say so.”