Monday. May 17. 1954
UDK Can't Promise Coverage Of All Short News Items
Page 2 University. Daily Kansan Monday. May 17, 1954
Last Friday, an associate professor of astronomy on this campus looked up and down every column of the Daily Kansan for one particular news item, and he didn't find it.
It was an invitation to the public to visit the observatory atop Lindley hall that evening. The omission of the item was pretty serious to this person. What made it worse was that he went out of his way to call up a day early and relay the facts to somebody in the Daily Kansan newsroom.
When the folks went home from the observatory that night, the tally stood at 175—but of these, only two dozen were students.
In his letter to the Kansan Tuesday, this gentleman said more students would have been there if the news item had appeared in the Kansan. He attributed most of the crowd to an announcement which was carried by the Lawrence JournalWorld.
We think he's off base, though, when he infers in his letter that we're guilty of cheating the observatory of a bigger crowd.
In the first place, his story was not maliciously or willfully suppressed. It died what is a natural death for many Kansan news stories. We cannot always print all the news that comes in. Each day, almost a dozen"shorts," items of little more than a few sentences, are sent back to the composing room. These "shorts" are not sacred copy, and they appear only wherever the make-up man puts them to plug a short column.
We think he's right. There would have been more students there if the UDK had come through with a story.
Now, this is a hard fact, but it's the truth. What it amounts to is that we cannot guarantee publication of short items. We want to use them, but quite often we unconsciously kill one "short" by using another in its place.
The only answer we can give is this; use the Official Bulletin. It is prepared daily by the Public Relations office in Strong hall. It is guaranteed space in the Daily Kansas. It is run verbatim.
What to do then? Here's an observatory with a fine telescope going to waste.
We realize that this won't appeal to many publicity-minded persons as any sort of a solution, but it's the one we have to work with. The only absolutely sacred copy used in the pages of the
UDK are those little notices set in 6-point type.
This is not to say, remember, that we won't carry short items such as the astronomy invitations. Whenever this or that group is going to have a speaker, or a film, or an entertainment program, or an important election, we gladly set the story in type, but we can't guarantee that any one particular "short" will be used in place of any other one.
One question that will be suggested to many now is, "if a short item may die on the make-up table, why not make a big story out of the astronomy invitation?"
The answer to this question may be one to drag us into the hot water, for our answer is that we didn't think the story was worth more than one or two paragraphs. We think it would take a lot more than a banner headline in the Kansan to bring 60 or 70 students up to the observatory. Should we, then, cut something else out of the news columns to carry a message that has appeal to only one per cent of our readers?
Well, so much for why the notice didn't appear and why we didn't balloon it into exaggerated significance in order to guarantee its publication.
At the end of his letter, the faculty member wrote, "We shall continue to have Visitors' Nights at the observatory, but we shall have to search for some other means of publicizing them."
Not a bad idea—and we don't mean that sarcastically.
Here are our suggestions for any person or group that has a message with limited appeal (Remember, something has to be pretty hot before you'll interest 7,000. Remember, too, that you're competing to be heard above the voices of several hundred clubs, departments, and administrative offices.)
1. Take your message to the Public Relations office. They will insert it in the Official Bulletin any way you want it—even in German. According to your directions, it will run as many day as you wish.
2. Phone the Kansan newsroom. We want to print your story. That's the whole trouble—we want to print everybody's story, and this is the kind of neighborhood where everybody has a story.
Tom Stewart.
Executive Editor
Local Site Perfect for Air Academy
The 5-man special commission seeking a site for the new air force academy could not go far wrong by choosing the 27,000-acre area near Tonganoxie which the group inspected last week.
That area meets all the requirements stipulated by Harold E. Talbott, air force secretary, for the academy site.
Stipulations to be considered for the location for the new school are acreage, natural beauty of the site and surrounding territory, community aspects (educational, religious, and cultural institutions; recreational facilities, and accommodations for visitors), climate that is not too severe much of the time, an adequate water supply, available utilities, transportation, cost of building the base, and whether or not the area is suitable for flight training.
It seems that the Tonganoxie area is tailor-made to fit these specifications.
Certainly the acreage is not lacking since it is estimated that only 15,000 acres will be needed, and the countryside is not what could be called unsightly. In Lawrence and Kansas City there are
many of the community aspects wanted, and the climate remains fairly good throughout the year.
The water supply is no problem, either. According to the Kansas Industrial Development commission, the water table there is "practically inexhaustible." And then a water plant could be built on the Kaw river, not too many miles away. Because the land is comparatively flat and has few buildings, plants, and so forth on it, the building cost, in so far as purchasing land or moving buildings, would be about as good as could be found anywhere in the U.S.
It is planned to have cadets start at the new academy, whenever it may be, in the summer of 1955, when many of the installations would not be ready for use. Here the University could play a large part toward obtaining the academy for this area. KU could offer to let the cadets use the stadium and fieldhouse for athletic events and could let them enroll in classes here until they had their own facilities.
Until we hear of a more suitable location we think Tonganoxie is the logical site for the new $126 million academy. And we don't think we'll hear of any better site. —Stan Hamilton
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"Somebody has been noising it around that I'm going steady with Carl—This makes the third frat pin I've had to give back this week."
Flashbacks in History From the Daily Kansan
Student council difficulties, Jayhawker queen selections, Kansan neutrality in politics, and the inception of the William Allen White foundation were part of University life 10 years ago, while students in 1929 debated, received awards, and participated in track meet—much as we do today.
10 YEARS AGO
Steps were taken by a group of Kansas newspapermen asking the legislature to authorize construction of a new journalism building on the campus, and to establish and finance a William Allen White memorial foundation to encourage better journalism in Kansas.
The Kansan board, governing body of the newspaper, reaffirmed its constitutional policy of "neutrality in politics, both on and off the campus, and impartiality among organizations and students and faculty groups."
Fred Ellsworth, as chairman of District six of the American Alumni council, signed his name to the council award which was given Madame Chiang Kai-shek for being an outstanding American college or University graduate.
Earl Carroll, Hollywood beauty authority, was the final judge in the Jayhawker queen contest. He requested photographs and charts showing each girl's measurements and coloring.
A resolution granting the armed forces of the University two elected representatives on the ASC was passed at a special ASC meeting, then rescinded the following day.
And, in anticipation of the invasion, Kansan staff members voted to put out a D-Day extra.
25 YEARS AGO
Twenty-five seniors were elected to Phi Beta Kappa, making total of 1,000 members since the founding of Kansas Alpha chapter in 1890.
Clarence Munns, president of the class of 1929, held a meeting to discuss the Senior Cakewalk, an annual dance held by the graduating class.
Prof. John Ise was head of a scholarship dedicated to Prof. Arthur Boynton who died March 17, 1928. The $50 award was given yearly to a major in the department of economics.
Sweaters, cups, and pins were given to members of the women's rifle team in a special award service.