were very meager and many rehashings of these few facts
had to be printed before later and more definite news could be obtained.

The simple rewriting of an old story ordinarily involves a condensation
of the facts. If a morning paper printed two thousand words on the grain
elevator fire above, an afternoon paper of the same day would hardly
treat the story at such length. For the story is no longer big news. If
a story has run through the first editions of a morning paper it would
be cut down, as well as rehashed, in the later editions of the same
paper. The story of the fire loses its initial burst of interest after
the first printing, and only the essential facts and the facts that can
be rejuvenated can be reprinted. The 2,000-word version in the morning
paper may be worth only five hundred words or less four hours later.

=2. The Follow-up Story.=--If new facts are added to a story between
editions the new version is no longer a simple rewrite story. It becomes
a follow-up story, for it follows up the subsequent developments in the
previous story and corresponds to the second or succeeding installments
of a serial novel in which each installment begins with a synopsis of
previous chapters. For example, if, in the grain elevator fire story,
the body of a watchman were found in the ruins after the morning papers
have gone to press, the story would immediately have a different news
value for the evening papers. The story of the big fire is old, but the
discovery of the body is new. Hence the rewrite man would begin with the
later development--perhaps thus:

| The body of a watchman was found this |
|afternoon in the ruins of the H. P. Jones|
|Produce elevator, which burned to the |
|ground this morning with a loss of |
|$150,000. |

The new story, while retelling the principal facts in the previous
account, would give prominence to the latest news, the discovery of the
body. As an example from a newspaper, let us take the follow-up of a
murder mystery. The first stories on this murder simply said that a
grocer had been found dead in the cellar of his store and murder had
been suggested. The follow-up on the next day (printed here) deals with
a new development--has a new feature--and carries the story one step
further in the attempt to unravel the mystery:

| Developments yesterday in the story