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Percolation Theory

Dr. Kim Christensen

Blackett Laboratory
Imperial College London
Prince Consort Road
SW7 2BW London
United Kingdom

October 9, 2002
Aim

The aim of the percolation theory course is to provide a challenging and stimulating introduction
to a selection of topics within modern theoretical condensed matter physics.
Percolation theory is the simplest model displaying a phase transition. The analytic solutions
to 1d and mean-field percolation are presented. While percolation cannot be solved exactly for
intermediate dimensions, the model enables the reader to become familiar with important concepts
such as fractals, scaling, and renormalisation group theory in a very intuitive way.
The text is accompanied by exercises with solutions and visual interactive simulations for the
percolation theory model to allow the readers to experience the behaviour, in the spirit ”seeing is be-
lieving”. The animations can be downloaded via the URL [Link]
I greatly appriciate the suggestions and comments provided by Nicholas Moloney and Ole Peters
without whom, the text would have been incomprehensible and flooded with mistakes. However,
if you still are able to find any misprints, misspellings and mistakes in the notes, I would be very
grateful if you would report those to [Link]@[Link].

1
Contents

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Percolation in 1d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Percolation in the Bethe Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 Cluster Number Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.6 Cluster Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.6.1 Cluster Radius and Fractal Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.6.2 Finite Boxing of Percolating Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.6.3 Mass of the Percolating Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.7 Fractals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.8 Finite-size scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.9 Real space renormalisation in percolation theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.9.1 Renormalisation group transformation in 1d. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1.9.2 Renormalisation group transformation on 2d triangular lattice. . . . . . . . . 35
1.9.3 Renormalisation group transformation on 2d square lattice of bond percolation. 36
1.9.4 Why is the renormalisation group transformation not exact? . . . . . . . . . 37

2
1.1 Introduction
Percolation theory is the simplest not exactly solved model displaying a phase transition. Often,
the insight into the percolation theory problem facilitates the understanding of many other physical
systems. Moreover, the concept of fractals, which is intimately related to the percolation theory
problem, is of general interest as it pops up more or less everywhere in Nature. The knowledge of
percolation, fractals, and scaling are of immense importance theoretically in such diverse fields as
biology, physics, and geophysics and also of practical importance in e.g. oil recovery. We will begin
gently by developing a basic understanding of percolation theory, providing a natural introduction
to the concept of scaling and renormalisation group theory.

1.2 Preliminaries
Let P (A) denote the probability for an event A and P (A 1 ∩ A2 ) the joint probability for event A1
and A2 .
Definition 1 Two events A1 and A2 are independent ⇔ P (A1 ∩ A2 ) = P (A1 )P (A2 ).

Definition 2 More generally, we define n ≥ 3 events A 1 , A2 , . . . , An to be mutually independent

if P (A1 ∩ A2 ∩ · · · ∩ An ) = P (A1 )P (A2 ) · · · P (An ) and if any subcollection containing at least two
but fewer than n events are mutually independent.

Let each site in a lattice be occupied at random with probability p, that is, each site is occupied
(with probability p) or empty (with probability 1−p) independent of the status (empty or occupied)
of any of the other sites in the lattice. We call p the occupation probability or the concentration.
Definition 3 A cluster is a group of nearest neighbouring occupied sites.
Percolation theory deals with the numbers and properties of the clusters formed when sites are
occupied with probability p, see Fig. (1.1).

Figure 1.1: Percolation in 2d square lattice of linear size L = 5. Sites are occupied with probability
p. In the lattice above, we have one cluster of size 7, a cluster of size 3 and two clusters of size 1
(isolated sites).

Definition 4 The cluster number ns (p) denotes the number of s-clusters per lattice site.
The (average) number of clusters of size s in a hypercubic lattice of linear size L is L d ns (p), d being
the dimensionality of the lattice. Defining the cluster number per lattice site as opposed to the
total number of s-clusters in the lattice ensures that the quantity will be independent of the lattice
size L.

3
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 CHAPTER IX

THE INTERVIEW

They (teaching and accompanying reading) can suggest the

proper relation between subject and style—the man whose style
is too big or too small for his subject is the born prey of the
parodist; they can call attention to the balance proper to be
observed between narrative and dialogue, and show by
reference to the masters (to Sterne and Congreve, for example),
how vividness and dramatic suspense may be imparted to
dialogue without loss of naturalness; they may incite the hearer
to learn from Steele that writing may be very simple yet very
distinguished, from Stevenson that subtlety is one thing and
obscurity quite another. The professor can, and should, preach
with parrot-like persistency, “Lucidity—lucidity—lucidity!”—Said
by Anthony Hope on the writing of novels, but applicable also to
the news story; from the University Magazine, Toronto.

An interview in the newspaper sense, the dictionary says, is “a

conversation held for the purpose of obtaining the opinions of a
person for publication.” The term may be applied both to the process
of questioning by a reporter to elicit information, and to the
published statement. An interview may be informal or formal—that
is, it may be incidental to the end of making a story complete or it
may be the end in itself.

WHEN THE INTERVIEW IS INCIDENTAL

The city editor’s fourth dimension would make it possible for him
to have a reporter present at every happening which the newspaper
chronicles. Every story would thus be obtained at first hand. Such a
condition being manifestly impossible, the reporter usually is
compelled to rely on the information furnished him by others.

Sometimes, of course, a reporter’s assignment is such that he can

see the story unfolding before him, as at a fire or a court trial, and
he is enabled to write more vividly than if his facts had come to him
second-hand. Every reporter dreams of the day when he will have
the chance to write a big story that he has seen in the making. It is
related that a group of New York newspaper men were discussing
the biggest possible story that could “break.” The ideas of all were
summed up by the oldest of the group: “Suppose Brooklyn Bridge,
at the height of the evening rush homeward, should fall, and I
should be there, just at the edge, the only reporter who saw it—that
would be the biggest story that could happen!”

On most of his assignments the reporter must trust to others for

many, if not all, of his facts. Covering the story of an automobile
accident, for example, he must see the story through the eyes of
those who were present. These persons he interviews informally.
From the information obtained in this way, supplemented by his own
observation of the visible results of the accident, the reporter culls
the salient facts and writes the story in his own words. What he is
sure of he makes his own; other facts he may put in the form of
indirect quotation, while occasionally he may quote a person directly.

Interviewing in its broad sense is thus at the basis of nearly all

newspaper reporting, because nearly all stories deal with persons—
their doings and opinions. Even in covering the story which the
reporter is fortunate enough to observe, a certain amount of
interviewing may still be necessary to make the story complete. If it
is a fire story, he probably questions the owner about the loss and
the insurance and plans for rebuilding; he interviews various persons
to find out the cause of the fire; he talks, perhaps, to persons who
have been rescued and their rescuers. These and other facts can be
obtained only by asking questions.
 Except when a story is dependent on what a person has said, in a
speech or a formal interview, it is nearly always desirable that the
reporter, as far as possible, should make the story his own. He
should hitch his wagon to the star of absolute certainty and then tell
the story, at least the salient facts, in his own words. It is poor policy
in news writing, as a rule, to put trivial bits of information in the
form of direct quotation. The reporter will find that owing to the
common failure to observe accurately the accounts given by
witnesses of a given occurrence will vary widely. It is the reporter’s
business to learn all that he can of the story; to see, in the limited
time at his command, as many as possible of the persons concerned
in it, and then to present to the reader an intelligible, lucid account
in the third person—the kernel of the story without the husks of
inconsistency. It is impossible to do this if the writer slavishly quotes,
in the direct form, everybody to whom he talked in getting the story.

Some reporters are inclined to overwork the direct-quotation

method because it is usually the easiest way of telling the story,
often relieving the writer of the necessity of thinking for himself.
Quotation marks may enclose a multitude of rhetorical sins. Rather
than go to the trouble of coordinating his facts, such a writer will
lazily string together the statements of several persons and let it go
at that. This plan is obviously bad. It violates the fundamental rules
of news writing, which demand that a story be clear, concise and
forceful, and gives the reader a confused image rather than the
definite, clear-cut impression left by the story rightly told.

It is absurd to lug into a story the views of persons who have no

vital connection with it, simply for the sake of filling space. And yet
that is the error committed by some news writers, as in a fire story,
for example, where the janitor is quoted as saying, “Yes, I saw the
fire; it was a great sight,” or something else equally trivial. When the
janitor sees that he immediately gets an exaggerated idea of his
own importance. It is conceivable that the next time a reporter asks
him for a bit of information, the janitor will throw out his chest with
the air of a personage and reply, “I refuse to make a statement for
publication,” hoping that the newspaper will quote him to that effect.

The news writer who is prodigal with his direct quotation is

encouraging an attitude of mind that will cause trouble for him and
other newspaper men in the future. If a person is asked to give
information about a story and refuses, it is seldom good policy to
state that fact, unless he bears such a close relation to the story that
his silence is of interest. If there is no particular reason why the
opinion of Smith, the janitor, should be sought, don’t commit the
folly of telling several thousand readers—and Smith—that he
“refused to talk for publication.”

Another absurdity is illustrated in the sentence: “Smith refused to

make a statement, but said ...” This paradoxical introduction may be
followed by a long interview with Smith. What the writer probably
means is that Smith, when first asked for a statement, said that he
wouldn’t talk, but later changed his mind. The reader is not likely to
be interested in all this, so the copy reader cuts it down to “Smith
said.”

WHEN THE INTERVIEW IS THE STORY

“The Governor will be in town to-night. Get a statement from him
on the police situation here.”

Thus the city editor outlines what he expects the reporter to bring
back to the office. His order is the first step toward getting an
interview on a definite subject. The reporter sees the Governor,
questions him along the line indicated and returns to the office with
his story.

Now what the Governor said is not incidental to another story; it is

the story in itself and is so written. There are no definite, fixed rules
as to how it shall be written, except that it shall fairly express the
Governor’s sentiment. The form in which the facts shall be presented
depends on the news writer’s own judgment or the editor’s
instructions. He may begin his story in any one of several ways. If
the Governor said something of grave importance in a striking
manner, the reporter may seize upon that for his lead, throwing it
into the form of direct quotation. The story then might begin in this
way:

“The police department of this city must clean house. There

has been an alarming increase of crime here in the last six
months, and I am going to find out the cause.”

Governor Smith, who arrived in —— last night, thus outlined

the purpose of his visit. The Governor, etc. (After this
explanatory paragraph the quotation is continued.)

Or the lead might be in indirect quotation, somewhat after this

manner:

Governor Smith declared, on his arrival in —— last night, that

he had determined to learn the reason for the recent increase in
crime in this city. He said the police department must “clean
house.”

“I am here to make a thorough investigation,” the Governor

said. “If the charges of grafting are proved, I will proceed ...”

If the interview yielded nothing of importance, the writer might

base his story on the fact of the Governor’s visit:

Governor Smith, with his secretary and three members of his

staff, arrived in —— at 10 o’clock last night and went to the ——
Hotel. The Governor is here to address the State Convention of
Millers this morning.

In an interview last night he said ...

 An interview may take the form of a feature story. Suppose the
Governor has a hobby that is worth writing about. Then an interview
with him might begin in this way:

Governor Smith is going to saw all his own wood this winter.
He believes that bending over the sawbuck and cutting cord
wood into stove lengths will put him into prime condition for
“sawing wood” officially. (Interview follows.)

It must not be understood that the foregoing examples are set

forms for interviews. They are given merely to suggest the several
ways in which the writer can begin his story.

The interview may be in itself either a plain news story or a

feature story. It may take the form of a considered statement or it
may be informal in character. Some men give out typewritten
statements of their views when asked for an interview, while others
talk freely, putting the reporter on his honor to be fair and accurate
in his quotation. The question of presenting the speaker’s remarks
most effectively from the news standpoint is then left entirely to the
writer’s discretion. He is not expected to quote slavishly. Indeed, few
men would like to have their conversation appear in print verbatim,
with the defects to which the best spoken language is liable. Unless
the interview is printed for no other purpose than to poke fun at the
speaker, as might be done with the remarks of an ignorant and
disreputable politician, the writer should strive to convey the spirit of
what is said rather than the exact words. Now and then a
characteristic phrase or sentence may be quoted verbatim—and this
is desirable in order to give a flavor of the speaker’s individuality—
but the faults of ordinary speech, verbosity, awkwardness and the
like, should not be reproduced. True accuracy leaves a correct
impression of the whole. An interview rightly written, telling the
speaker’s meaning in simple, clear English seasoned with phrases
that give a hint of his personality, is more accurate in this sense than
a phonographic record of the conversation.
 It follows that the speaker’s remarks need not be set down in the
order in which they were made. Possibly the last thing he said may
be put in the lead. Part of the interview may be in indirect quotation,
summarizing statements of minor importance. The reporter may
introduce explanatory sentences, especially if the interview is long
and deals with more than one subject. He may break into the
discourse to tell of the speaker’s gesture at a certain point or to
describe a facial expression—anything that will give the reader a
vivid and true picture of the man interviewed.

Ordinarily the reporter’s questions should not appear in the story,

but sometimes they may be effectively given and the interview may
consist of a series of categorical questions and answers, resembling
the reports of testimony at a trial. This method may be used when
the newspaper desires specific answers to certain pointed questions
of great interest, or when it seems the most direct way of getting
the meaning before the reader. No set rules can be laid down on this
point; every interview, like every other news story, presents its own
problem.

The suggestions regarding the interview of formal character apply

also to the reporting of speeches. It is the custom nowadays of
many men who appear often in public to give out to the newspapers
in advance typewritten copies of their speeches. The news writer
sent to report an address, freed of the necessity of following closely
the speaker’s words, may devote his attention to the details of the
meeting. In covering a formal lecture or address of which no
advance copy is available the reporter naturally may use the
speaker’s exact words more freely than in writing the interview. Even
in such a story, however, it is seldom desirable to give all the speech,
and frequent summaries may be made in the writer’s own words.
This also is a matter for the reporter’s judgment of news values. It is
not demanded that the newspaper man be able to write shorthand.
If a verbatim report of a speech is desired a stenographer is
employed for that purpose.
 A word as to the mechanics of the story: Be careful to enclose all
quoted matter in quotation marks. Begin each paragraph with
quotation marks and don’t forget to use the marks at the end of the
last paragraph. Remember that “he said” used too often in dialogue
becomes monotonous. “Replied,” “asserted,” “laughed,” “remarked,”
“exclaimed,” “corrected,” “inquired,” “suggested,” “urged” and many
other words may often be substituted to good advantage.

A series of interviews from different persons on the same topic is

a symposium. In this form of story the name of the speaker is given,
then the interview. The lead states briefly the topic under discussion.

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOME OR CLASS-ROOM

STUDY
I. Feature interview beginning with a striking remark in direct
quotation. From the New York World:

“It is impossible for a woman to live in comfort in New York

on $3,000 a year.”

This is the statement of Mrs. Juanita La Bar, who has

petitioned the Orphans’ Court of Scranton, Pa., to allow her an
additional thousand dollars so she can send her eleven-year-old
son to school.

The things Mrs. La Bar thinks absolutely necessary for a

modest menage are:

One servant.

To dress not handsomely but neatly.

A healthful apartment.
 The best the market affords for the table.

A vacation to the seashore, country or mountains every

summer.

“I can’t get along on $3,000,” said Mrs. La Bar to a reporter

for the World last night at her apartment at No. 210 West
Twenty-first street, “and I’m not extravagant, either, because I
don’t owe a cent.”

The apartment was modest and comfortable, and Mrs. La Bar

was dressed quietly, but in well cut and well made garments.

“Ten years ago, when my husband was alive, we lived well at

a hotel and went to the seashore every year. We had a maid to
look after the boy, but we didn’t keep house ...”

(The rest of the story consists of direct quotation.)

(The method of presenting the interview here is simple and

effective—first a paragraph in direct quotation that contains the
meat of the story, then identification of the speaker and a third-
person statement of her views, and finally the interview itself,
running about half a column.)

II. A more formal and conservative method is shown in the

following:

NEW YORK, Dec. 2.—B. F. Yoakum, chairman of the board of

directors of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company,
arrived here to-day. He had returned from an inspection trip
over the Frisco lines with B. L. Winchell, president of the
principal roads of the system; A. J. Earling, head of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and Percy C. Rockefeller.

Mr. Yoakum declined to make a statement about his

inspection trip so far as it may result in a traffic agreement
 between the Frisco and St. Paul systems.

“There seems to be but little stock ticker prosperity in New

York, but there is a good deal of real prosperity in the
Southwest,” he said. “After crossing the Mississippi River one
rarely hears the New York stock market referred to. Trading in
securities is not the business of the West, and securities listed
on the stock exchange are not the collateral required or
generally used by bankers in the West....”

(Three paragraphs of quoted matter follow.)

III. Interview in which direct quotation is varied with indirect.

From the Chicago Evening Post:

“The Panama Canal will be completed at least a year sooner

than the time set for the official opening, Jan. 1, 1915,” said Ray
L. Smith, employment agent of the Isthmian Canal Commission,
to-day.

Mr. Smith is in Chicago attempting to enlist boiler-makers to

take the places of the hundred men who resigned after being
refused an increase in wage.

“I attribute the reduction in time to the efficiency which has

been attained by the men,” he continued. “When the work
began laborers were imported from the West Indian Islands and
from Italy and Spain. The European laborers accomplished
nearly three times as much a man as the West Indians at first,
and they were paid twice as much.

“Now the efficiency of the West Indian has been so increased

that the European is only twice as effective.”

According to Mr. Smith, the personnel of the workers on the

canal includes representatives from nearly every country in the
world. There are 45,000 employés of the commission in
 Panama. Of them, 5,000 are Americans. The remaining 40,000
represent perhaps more tongues than were gathered around
the Tower of Babel. The bulk of the laborers are negroes from
the Barbados, from Trinidad and from Jamaica. Besides the
negroes from these islands there are Spaniards from most of
the islands except Cuba.

“The death rate in the canal zone is only 4.05 a thousand

persons,” said Mr. Smith. “This is lower than in any American
city. The low rate is the result of the careful supervision
exercised by the government. For example, there is a hospital at
Culebra, the headquarters of the commission, which has 2,200
beds. All the houses are screened against mosquitoes, and in
other ways the greatest attention is paid to sanitation....”

(The rest of the interview is in direct quotation.)

(Note that the writer drops direct quotation in the fifth paragraph.
Making it clear that the speaker is his authority, he puts his
information in the third person. This may be done with a plain
statement of facts and figures in which there is no expression of
opinion. Nothing would be gained by putting in the speaker’s words
the statistical matter here given. On the other hand the reporter
should be careful to quote anything of a controversial nature.)

IV. The following paragraphs from a feature story in the New York
Mail show the questions-and-answers method in the interview. The
extract is from a signed story, the only kind in which the reporter is
permitted to write in the first person:

“Evidently,” I said, “you are an admirer of the new woman,

the woman who earns her living.”

“Well,” he said, “you can’t blame me. It’s always better to get
business advice from a woman who knows something about
business, than from one who knows nothing about it. For
 women are bound to meddle with their husbands’ affairs,
whether they are acquainted with them or not.”

“And how about politics?” I ventured. “Should women take an

active part in this field, too?”

“Decidedly not,” he returned, etc.

(Signed newspaper stories are the exceptions. In the average

story, when the writer has occasion to refer to himself, he uses some
such impersonal form as “the reporter asked” or “it was suggested.”)
 CHAPTER X

SPECIAL TYPES OF STORIES

The test of the news value of an event is its element of

novelty. Whether news shall be the record of things admirable
or things disgraceful practically depends on the community. In
the early days of Dodge City, Kan., or Leadville, Colo., the
information that Cherokee Jake or San Juan Bill had attended
church would have been news. But in these communities at the
present day the weekly presence of many citizens of equal or
greater prominence has no news value. In which city would the
rabbi rather live, the one where church attendance has news
value, or the one where it has none?—From an editorial in the
St. Louis Republic, replying to a critic of the daily press.

While every news story, in the nature of the case, presents its own
problem, the news writer soon finds that in all the stories on the
same basic theme, as those dealing with fires, certain definite points
must be covered. It is impossible, of course, to provide a set pattern
for any story or group of stories, but a few general instructions will
be found to hold good.

FIRE STORIES
In covering an important fire story, in addition to any special news
features, get the following facts: Exact location; time; cause; names
of owner and occupants of building; losses; insurance.

If possible, see the owner to learn the extent of the damage to

the building; otherwise get the fire chief or some other person who
can speak with authority to estimate the loss.

If persons were killed or injured, or lives were endangered, get all

the details possible. These facts take precedence over all details
concerning property loss. Don’t forget names and addresses. Among
the points to be noted are: Rescues; exits and fire escapes, or
absence of fire escapes; other precautions, or lack of precautions,
against crowding and panic; thrilling, humorous or pathetic
incidents; circumstances affecting the work of the firemen, such as a
possible failure of the water pressure at a critical time.

DEATH STORIES
In death stories give the following: Full name; age; time and place
of death; cause; account of last illness; funeral arrangements;
names of relatives; birthplace; account of business and political life;
society and church connections.

Let your story be simple and dignified, in keeping with the theme.

WEDDING STORIES
In stories of “big” weddings give the following: Full names of the
persons married; their family connections; time and place of
wedding; minister officiating; attendants of all kinds; descriptions of
gowns of bride and attendants (it isn’t necessary to say the
bridegroom wore the “conventional black”); music; decorations;
reception; guests from out of town; presents from organizations and
groups of friends; noteworthy presents from individuals; wedding
trip; when and where the couple will be at home.
 CRIME STORIES
In covering a story of murder or suicide, don’t stop with the facts
that appear on the surface—get the motive. When one hears that a
friend has killed himself the first natural inquiry is: Why did he do it?
It is this question that the city editor urges upon the reporter
starting out to cover the story. “Get the motive” is the order,
expressed or implied. If the story does not show the motive, it must
have other marked elements of interest to receive more than a few
lines of space.

It is not within the scope of this book to discuss newspaper ethics

and ideals, except in relation to news writing, but attention may be
called briefly to that phase of the newspaper’s daily problem that has
to do with crime news. Whether or not such news is “featured”
depends altogether on the newspaper’s individual policy; there are
no general standards that fit all cases. A story that one paper cuts to
a few lines or throws away may be “played up” in another to the
extent of a column or more. Any newspaper will give liberal space to
a story that vitally concerns the entire nation or community, such as
the attempted assassination of a public official. Divergence comes in
the treatment of human-interest news. Take for example the story of
a shop girl who kills herself because she has been jilted. Here is a
story that may be developed for its human-interest features, may be
dismissed with a bare statement or may be ignored. The theory is
widely accepted that the publication of a suicide story, especially one
that goes into detail, may implant the suggestion of suicide in
persons of morbid mind, or may lead those who have been thinking
of suicide to act. It is largely for this reason that many newspapers
give little space to news of this character unless it concerns someone
of prominence or contains some unique human-interest feature.
Ordinary, routine suicide stories receive bare mention at the most,
and then usually in an inconspicuous part of the paper. What shall
be done with a story is the editor’s problem. The problem of the
reporter is to get the facts and present them to the best of his
ability. And if a suicide story is to be covered in detail, don’t stop
with the obvious—find out the “why” of it all.

BUSINESS STORIES
In stories dealing with business transactions, especially court
reports, it is particularly important that the reporter get the names
right. “Brown and Co.” may be the name of one corporation and “the
Brown Company” of another. Don’t confuse the two.

Don’t call a firm bankrupt simply because a petition has been filed
asking that it be declared bankrupt. Wait until the case is decided in
court.

In general—and this cannot be stressed too much—remember that

the reporter has power to do irreparable harm by a careless or
malicious statement. An unwarranted aspersion may work an injury
that no subsequent correction can wholly undo. A statement in print
is final; it cannot be amended or softened as can the spoken word.
It is part of the news writer’s plain duty—to himself, his newspaper
and the public—to choose his words carefully, in order that no
misconstruction may be placed upon them. More important still, he
should never forget the obligation that rests upon him to say no
thing, directly or by implication, that can harm an innocent person.

SECOND-DAY STORIES
The second-day story, as the name suggests, relates a
development in a story printed the preceding day, of which it is
assumed the reader has some knowledge. For example, the story of
a death, if deemed of sufficient importance, may be “followed” (as
the newspaper vernacular has it) by an evening contemporary. But
while the account first published begins by telling the fact of the
death, the second-day, or the “follow,” story is brought up to date in
the lead with some newer facts, probably about the funeral
arrangements. News ages quickly in these days of hourly editions,
when beats are measured not by days or hours but by minutes. The
news writer aims to give the latest possible information about his
story, and to give it in such a way that the reader will be impressed
with the fact of its newness. An experienced reporter will never write
“yesterday” into the lead of his story when there is a chance of
making “to-day” prominent.

The morning newspaper, which sends its city edition to press at 2

to 3 o’clock in the morning, tells of the events of yesterday. It is the
breakfast-table paper, setting forth the history of the preceding day.
Necessarily the word “yesterday” recurs frequently in its local
columns. The reporter must write his story to conform to the date of
the paper’s issue. Hence, writing for next morning’s paper of a fire
which occurred at 8 P. M., he fixes the time as “8 o’clock last
night”—this form being preferred to “yesterday evening.” “Last
night,” however, is avoided in reference to anything that happens
after midnight, on the day of publication. In such a case, the
reporter, with the conscious purpose of making his news seem as
timely as possible, writes “early this morning” or gives the definite
time.

An even greater effort to get “to-day” rather than “yesterday” into

news stories is made by the evening paper, because its special field
is the news of the day on which it is published. Yesterday is dead; its
news has passed into history. Taking up the chronicle where the
morning paper has dropped it, the evening paper, in successive
editions, records the events of the day. First-page stories in early
editions may be ruthlessly cut down or thrown out as more
important news develops. It is not enough to tell what has happened
already; the newspaper must tell what is happening and what is
going to happen. News that appears stale is not wanted. There are
so many things of vital interest happening all the time that the
newspaper is not concerned with dead events, except as they may
have a bearing on the present.

The second-day story, then, if it is worth publishing at all, must

have some new feature to bring it up to date. At least it must have
the appearance of newness. It is in giving a story this gloss that the
tricks of the news writer’s trade are called into play. Nowhere does
experience count for more than in writing of a day-old event in a
manner to convey the impression that the news is being told for the
first time. The novice may write vividly of something he has just
seen, but the trained news writer excels in the artifice of what the
newspaper man calls rewriting.

REWRITING
On some evening newspapers a squad of men begin work soon
after the city editions of the morning papers are off the press. Before
dawn these men are on duty, busily preparing copy for the first
edition of the paper, which goes to press before news begins to pour
in through the regular channels. This work is in charge of an
assistant city editor, who paves the way for the city editor. Copies of
the morning papers and a pair of shears are his equipment. Stories
that promise further development during the day he lays aside for
the consideration of the city editor; others that may safely be
rewritten and made to appear as new he deals out to the squad of
writers; still others, those that are dead after one telling, he throws
away. Stories that hold the possibility of a libel suit—or, as the
newspaper man says, contain dynamite—are mentally labeled
dangerous and held for investigation—or the wastebasket.

Now assume that to the rewrite man is handed a clipping telling of

the arrest of a leading citizen for exceeding the speed limit in his
automobile the night before. The citizen gave bond to assure his
appearance in police court the following day. The story fills, say, half
a column in the morning paper. “Cut it to a stick” is the order. The
novice probably would begin by saying that “John Jones, cashier of
the First National Bank, was arrested last night for speeding,” that
being the substance of the lead in the original story. Not so the
rewrite man. His story begins somewhat like this:

On the docket of the First District Police Court this morning

appeared the name of John Jones, cashier of the First National
Bank, charged with exceeding the speed limit in his automobile.
Mr. Jones was arrested last night, etc.

Here the news writer has given his story a new lead without in the
least going beyond the facts. He knows that an arrest for violation of
a city ordinance is followed by arraignment in police court; from the
district in which the arrest was made he knows in what court Mr.
Jones must appear. It is assumed that the writer is an experienced
reporter, acquainted with police procedure in the city in which he
works. Later in the day the lead of the story is changed to tell the
disposition of the case. Nearly all the stories rewritten from other
papers are subject to changes during the day or are thrown out
altogether to make way for later news.

Suppose the story tells of a fire in which persons were killed. The
fire was in a factory, which, contrary to law, was not adequately
equipped with fire escapes. The morning papers told the story in
detail. So far as the facts about the fire are concerned, the story is
old. The rewrite man, drawing on his knowledge of similar events,
begins his story in this manner:

An investigation was begun to-day by Building Commissioner

Smith to fix the responsibility for the loss of ten lives in a fire
which last night destroyed the paper-box factory of Blank and
Company at 1010 Y street.

Then the story tells of the lack of fire escapes on the building and
proceeds to give details about the fire culled from the published
account. In later editions the lead is changed as developments
warrant.

On some evening newspapers the rule is to use the name of the

day rather than “to-day,” “yesterday” or “to-morrow.” The paper can
then be dated one day ahead and sent out as a mail edition without
the necessity of changing local stories to conform to the new date
line.

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOME OR CLASS-ROOM

STUDY
I. Concisely told story of a fire. From the Chicago Evening Post:

Lives of firemen were imperiled and a loss estimated at

$35,000 was caused early to-day by fire which swept through
the three top floors of a five-story brick building at 2427–31
West Fourteenth street. These upper floors were occupied by
the Platt-Maschek Company, novelties, of which C. C. Maschek is
president.

The two lower floors are occupied by C. A. Hiles & Co., Inc.,
tool manufacturers. This concern escaped with a slight loss.

Starting supposedly from crossed electric wires on the fifth

floor, the fire broke through the roof and had spread to the
fourth and third floors when it was discovered by Policeman
Thomas Feeney, who was passing. Flames and smoke rolled out
of the fifth floor windows. Feeney pounded on the front doors of
the building and attracted the attention of Edward Claus, a
watchman, who was on the first floor and unaware that the
building was burning.

The two attempted to ascend a stairway to the third floor,

believing that there was another watchman in the novelty
 concern, but flames and smoke burst through a door and they
were compelled to retire. Glass in the door was broken by the
heat and Feeney was cut about the face and hands.

A general alarm was sounded and Marshal Horan arrived in

his automobile. He sent in five special calls and took charge of
the many companies of firemen. The heat was intense and
firemen who had mounted the roofs of adjoining structures
frequently were compelled to climb down.

While firemen were still at work on the flames about twenty-

five girls reported for work. It was said they would be thrown
out of work by the fire.

(Notice how the two leading facts in the story are combined in the
opening sentence, the fact that firemen were in peril coming first,
then the property loss. The writer manifestly has taken pains to get
the firm names correct.)

II. Brief news dispatch telling of a death by fire:

NEW YORK, Dec. 12.—Mrs. F. A. Hilliard, 76 years old, a

wealthy widow of Milwaukee, was burned to death early to-day
in her room in the Hotel Bristol. She set fire to her clothing in
attempting to light a candle. Mrs. Hilliard registered at the hotel
Nov. 6. She attracted attention by her eccentricities. She refused
to use either electric light or gas, and insisted on burning
candles in her room.

(All the salient facts are told here in less than seventy-five words—
the who, when, what, where and why of the story. This is the
compressed form in which the story was carried in the news
dispatches. As a local story—that is, published in the city in which it
originated—its human-interest element would justify the giving of
more details—but nothing of a horrible nature. News, unless it is
national in interest, shrinks in importance in proportion to the
distance from the scene of the happening. This rule, of course,
would not apply in this case to Milwaukee, where the story would be
local in significance because of the residence of the woman in that
city.)

III. Fire story summarizing the main facts in a few lines, as carried
in the report of a press association:

JOPLIN, MO., Nov. 16.—Fire of unknown origin this morning

destroyed the entire business section of Duenweg, a mining
town six miles east of here. Seventeen buildings were burned,
the damage being estimated at $75,000.

(It is significant, in studying relative news values, that this story,

dealing with property loss, gets only half as much space as that
telling of a woman’s death. Both appeared in the same newspaper.)

IV. Death story which covers all the important points. From the
Baltimore Sun:

ATLANTA, Nov. 13.—United States Senator Alexander

Stephens Clay, of Georgia, died of heart disease at the
Robertson Sanatorium to-day after an extended illness.

His death was as peaceful as it was sudden. He was talking to

his son Herbert when he suddenly ceased speaking and fell back
dead.

During the morning and early afternoon the Senator appeared

in better spirits than usual. The attending physicians said that
he was apparently recovering from the slight relapse of
Saturday.

Mrs. Clay came to Atlanta from Marietta in the morning, but

when she found the Senator so much improved she returned
home. The only member of the family present at the deathbed
was the Senator’s son Herbert, who is mayor of Marietta.
 According to the physicians Senator Clay’s death resulted
from dilatation of the heart, superinduced by arterial sclerosis.
The Senator had been ill for nearly a year and went to the
sanatorium on November 1 to take the rest cure. He appeared
to be improving until Saturday, when he suffered a relapse
which his weakened condition was unable to withstand.

The body was removed to the Clay home at Marietta, where

the funeral services will be held Tuesday. Senator Clay was 57
years old, and is survived by a widow, five sons and a daughter,
besides his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Clay, of Cobb county.

(An account of Senator Clay’s political life, in 350 words,

follows.)

V. Death story in which the cause is of special interest:

CHICAGO, Dec. 5.—Prof. Charles Otis Whitman, head of the

Department of Zoölogy and director of the Zoölogical Museum
at the University of Chicago, died of pneumonia to-day. His
death was due to exposure a week ago, when, late at night, he
left his room to look after a flock of pigeons which he had been
studying. Friends say that Prof. Whitman feared the pigeons
would be frozen.

Prof. Whitman, who was 68 years old, was widely known as a

zoölogist. He was born at Woodstock, Me., and was educated at
Bowdoin College, Leipzig University, in Germany, and Johns
Hopkins University.

Surviving Prof. Whitman are his widow and two sons, Frank
and Carroll. Arrangements for the funeral have not been
completed.

VI. Graphically told story of the death of a famous “man-bird”:

 LOS ANGELES, CAL., Dec. 31.—The winds, whose treacheries
Arch Hoxsey so often defied and conquered, killed the noted
aviator to-day. As if jealous of his intrepidity, they seized him
and his fragile flying machine, flung them down out of the sky
and crushed out his life.

He fell dead in the field from which he had risen but a short
time before with a laughing promise to thousands of cheering
spectators to pierce the zenith of the heavens, surpass his own
phenomenal altitude record and soar higher than any other man
dared go.

Cross currents, whirled off from a vagrant storm that floated

in from the sea, caught his biplane and shot him downward 563
feet to earth.

His body lay broken and twisted almost out of all semblance
to a human form. All of the spectators in the grand stand
witnessed the tragedy, as it occurred directly in front of them on
the opposite side of the course.

They sat in awe-stricken silence until the announcer gave out

the words through the megaphone:

“Hoxsey has been killed.”

Then from every part of the great stand came sobbing of

women, who but a short time before had clapped their hands to
the daring aviator as he arose from the field for his fatal flight.

“Of course the success of this attempt is contingent upon the

kind of weather I find up there,” said Hoxsey just before he left
the ground. “Some of the temperatures one encounters in the
higher altitudes are simply beyond human endurance. But, if I
can stand it and my motor works as well as it has been working,
I’ll come down with a record of 12,000 feet or more.”
 Even at that moment the wind attained a velocity that kept
more cautious aviators on the ground. After he had ascended it
gained rapidly in violence. Moreover, it created a “Swiss cheese”
atmosphere, the most treacherous meteorological condition that
man-birds have to contend with.

There is nothing by which it may be known why Hoxsey did

not go higher than 7,742 feet, which his barograph showed he
had attained, but he had apparently encountered at that
altitude the same conflicting air currents that finally overcame
him. Notwithstanding this, and with the same reckless daring he
had displayed during the last week, he descended by a series of
spiral glides, and was performing one of his thrilling rolling dips,
when his biplane suddenly capsized and shot to earth.

Over and over the aëroplane turned as it fell, with a speed so

swift that of all the thousands who saw the tragedy not one
could tell what effort the aviator made to save himself. When
the wreckage had been cleared sufficiently so that his body
could be reached, he was found planted firmly in his seat, his
arms around the levers. The fall telescoped the biplane.

The steel sprocket which drove the propellers lay across

Hoxsey’s face, the motor resting upon the right side of his body.
Every one of the ribs on that side was shattered into fragments.
An iron upright, broken by the force of the crash, held the
aviator’s body impaled upon its jagged point.

The stop watches of the judges in the stand registered the

exact second of 2:12 o’clock when Hoxsey’s machine turned
over and plunged in its fatal fall. The news of the tragedy was
telegraphed over wires leading out of the press stand before the
machine struck the ground.

(Enough of the published story, which filled more than three

columns, is given here to indicate the detailed method of treatment.
The death of Arch Hoxsey in itself was a big news story, of nation-
wide interest. Its importance as news was enhanced by the fact that
another noted aviator, only a few hours before, had met death in a
similar tragic manner on another aviation field.)

VII. Story of a suicide printed because of the unusual means

employed. (Names and addresses given here are fictitious.) From the
New York World:

James Wilson, aged seventy, a photographer, committed

suicide by drowning himself yesterday afternoon in a tank in his
studio at No. 17 Blank street.

Wilson lived at No. 616 R street and was in the photograph

business with his son. The studio is on the third floor and
consists of three rooms.

Water leaking through his ceiling about 5 o’clock yesterday

afternoon attracted the attention of Henry Smith, who has a
printing shop on the floor underneath the studio. He sent a
workman to investigate and when the man returned and said
that Wilson’s door was locked Smith notified the police.

Patrolmen Stephens and Jones of the Blank Street Station

broke open the Wilson studio door and in the rear room found
water running over the sides of a tank used in developing
pictures. This tank is zinc lined, is 2½ feet wide, 2 feet deep
and 4 feet long, and stands 5 feet up from the floor, the upper
edge being only 2 feet from the ceiling. Inside this tank was
Wilson’s body.

Wilson was 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 200 pounds. To

reach the top of the tank he evidently stood on a sink beside it,
but how he managed to crawl inside has puzzled the police.
First, thinking that Wilson might have been trying to repair the
tank, the police made a search for repairing tools, but found
 nothing of the kind. Wilson was dressed in his underclothing,
and his outer garments were found hanging on hooks.

The tank had to be chopped down before the body could be

removed and taken to the Morgue.

Mrs. Wilson said last night that her husband had acted
queerly yesterday and seemed to be brooding because a man
whom he had had in his employ for a number of years was to
leave him at the end of the week. She said one of their sons
committed suicide about seven years ago.

(Observe that the writer gives concrete details. Instead of saying,

vaguely, that Wilson, a large man, drowned himself in a small tank,
he gives Wilson’s height and weight and the exact dimensions of the
tank.)

VIII. The following leads show how stories have been brought up
to date:

1. ST. LOUIS, Dec. 9.—Colonel Abe Slupsky wears modestly

to-day the metaphorical wreath of hops that goes with the
championship in beer drinking.

When he drank a bottle of beer in the café at Hotel Jefferson

last night it marked the completion of a task begun thirty days
ago. Every day since then, Sundays included, nineteen bottles of
beer preceded the good-night one. Etc.

2. Search in a snowstorm failed to-day to find the three

robbers who held up three men and stole nearly $20,000 in
cash and checks on the Egremont trolley extension yesterday.
The amount taken was given out as $10,000, but the Woronoco
Construction Company stated to-day that yesterday’s full pay
roll was $20,000, and only a few men had been paid off when
the hold-up occurred. Of this amount nearly half was in checks.
Etc.
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