the story-$6 to $8 per news column in New York, where rates were high- est, $16 for exclusives, and 50 cents an hour when assigned stories fell through. Reporters were rarely reimbursed for their expenses.
Since cost-conscious editors cut stories to the bone, and since column inches meant money, a reporter always handed in reams of copy. Moreover, he quickly learned that "the plain 'fire' is worth a dollar and the 'conflagration' will make him a possible ten," as one editor ob- served...