30 newspaper term

It is commonly employed when writing on deadline and sending bits of the story at a time, via telegraphy, teletype, electronic transmission, or paper copy, as a necessary way to indicate the end of the article. There are many theories as to how the usage came into being, [2] [3] and why it is found in North America but not in other Anglophone nations. One theory is that the journalistic employment of originated from the number's use during the American Civil War era in the 92 Code of telegraphic shorthand, where it signified the end of a transmission [4] and that it found further favor when it was included in the Phillips Code of abbreviations and short markings for common use that was developed by the Associated Press wire service. Telegraph operators familiar with numeric wire signals such as the 92 Code used these railroad codes to provide logistics instructions and train orders , and they adapted them to notate an article's priority or confirm its transmission and receipt. This meta-data would occasionally appear in print when typesetters included the codes in newspapers, [5] , especially the code for "No more - the end", which was presented as "- 30 -" on a typewriter. This begs the question of why the number 30 was chosen by 19th century telegraphers to represent "the end.

So Why Not 29?

The first issue of The New York Times was published years today , and to celebrate we're taking look at a brief history of some of our favorite newspaper words and slang.

Before newspapers, there were government bulletins. The Acta Diurna or Daily Acts of ancient Rome were carved in metal or stone and posted in public places. In ancient China, tipao , news sheets produced by the government, were "handwritten on silk and read by government officials.

In 16th century Venice, a monthly notice was published and sold for one gazeta , a small copper coin, which may be where we get gazette , another word for newspaper.

However, gazeta also means "little magpie," so it's unclear if we get the word from the paper's "price or its association with the bird typical of false chatter ," says the Online Etymology Dictionary. What we do know is that gazette predates the word newspaper by about 60 years. By , according to the Oxford English Dictionary OED , newspapers, journals, and periodicals were collectively referred to as the press.

This of course comes from printing press , which was invented in the 15th century and quickly gained popularity in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. By the late s press came to refer to journalists in general, and to journalistic coverage by "Mr. Both newsman and journalist came about in the late 17th century, says the OED. By then what's considered the first American newspaper was published in Boston, although "only one edition was published before the paper was suppressed by the colonial officials.

By , you could insult a newspaper by calling it a rag. Know where the bodies are buried? You could make a living as a death-hunter , "one who furnishes a newspaper with reports of deaths," says the OED. Reporters weren't called reporters until about , as per the OED. By , if you were a writer for hire, you might be called a hack , and in the s, a story you got before a competitor was called a beat or scoop.

By the late 19th century, competition between papers was fierce. Some resorted to keyhole journalism , says the OED, with "allusion to the action of eavesdropping or spying through a keyhole. Yellow journalism is "journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers," and comes from "the use of yellow ink in printing 'Yellow Kid ,' a cartoon strip in the New York World.

Pulitzer and Heart's sensationalistic exploits were even blamed for the United States' entry into the Spanish-American War , although historians have noted that "yellow journalism was largely confined to New York City, and that newspapers in the rest of the country did not follow their lead. In , the term tabloid was being used to describe newspapers that gave stories in condensed form, "usually with illustrated, often sensational material.

Lead meaning the "introductory portion of a news story" is from around The spelling didn't change to lede until , perhaps "to distinguish this sense from other possible meanings of the written word," such as the molten lead "used in typesetting machines. Lonely-hearts referring to lonely-hearts columns originated in the early s while agony aunt , a British English term for the writer of an advice column, is from In , if you wrote a story of "exaggerating praise," you'd be writing a puff piece.

Paparazzi , photographers who "pursue celebrities and attempt to obtain candid photographs," comes from the "surname of the freelance photographer in Federico Fellini's film La Dolce Vita.

Supermarket tabloids arose in the s, says Vanity Fair. Neighborhood newsstands and family-owned shops were closing as supermarket chains opened up.

Generoso Pope, Jr. We're uncertain as to when the term supermarket tabloid originated exactly. The earliest citation we found was from , and Google Ngrams shows its usage beginning around the same time. However, if anyone can antedate us, please do.

In journalist Hunter S. Thompson coined the term gonzo journalism , a kind of experimental journalism in "which facts are deemed to be less important than perceived underlying truth especially where deliberately altered consciousness is involved. Such journalism could be full of factoids , which contrary to popular belief aren't bite-sized facts but "unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of frequent repetition.

Gotcha journalism , "journalism that seeks only to catch public figures in embarrassing or scandalous situations," says Word Spy. The earliest citation is from The gotcharazzi , in case you were wondering, are paparazzi who may say "Gotcha! The charticle , an article that mainly consists of a chart or graph, is from , while listicle , an article consisting of a list, is newer, from and apparently coined by a Gawker writer, according to researcher Barry Popik.

Red-top , a tabloid newspaper in the UK, is from , and refers to the red banners often used by such papers. A marmalade dropper is "highly stunning information" that would, presumably, cause one to drop one's marmalade.

Word Spy says the term "has appeared almost exclusively in British newspapers and magazines" and originated around A dead donkey is "a news item of no real significance, usually of whimsical or sentimental nature, placed at the end of a news bulletin or in a newspaper as filler. It seems the term dead donkey comes from the title of the show. Finally, churnalism , journalism that uses "ready-made press release material copied wholesale," is from , says Word Spy.

Angela Tung. A brief history of newspaper lingo. The man behind "gonzo" journalism.

Another ubiquitous term that has limited modern use is the “30” or “30 dash.” It was used to indicate the end of a parrotsprint.co.nzts of its origin. Newspaper Guild, an international union to which reporters and other newspaper workers belong. handout. Term for written publicity or special-interest news sent.

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The first issue of The New York Times was published years today , and to celebrate we're taking look at a brief history of some of our favorite newspaper words and slang.

E ach October for the past eight years, students in Louise Reynolds' Introduction to Journalism class at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, have been offered extra credit if they can solve one of journalism's lingering mysteries: Why did reporters for years end their stories by writing ""? So it's a term whose meaning is lost on many younger journalists. The venerable "" caused some mischief in late July at the New York Times when a reporter typed it at the end of his article about the shooting of two police officers in Brooklyn.

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This guide is intended to help Harvard students and faculty find newspapers and newspaper articles. Also, the individual databases, listed below and elewhere in this guide, offer search features not available in HOLLIS. NexisUni s- is the usual first choice for finding recent newspaper articles, with full text pictures omitted coverage of numerous U. To get international publications, limit by "Location by Publication" on left-hand side to "International". Factiva s- offers full text pictures omitted of over 6, newspapers, magazines, wire services and trade journals. To limit to a particular newspaper enter, e. Articles for which the copyright resides with the author rather than the newspaper which are not available in NexisUni sometimes have a citation without full text in Factiva. Use newspaper indexes to find articles omitted from the full text sources. Lists of periodicals by ethnicity.