The Press: Fake

A fortnight ago the New York Herald-Tribune had a great "beat." The headline ran: "New Yorkers Drink Sumptuously on 17,000-Ton Floating Cafe at Anchor Fifteen Miles off Fire Island" (TIME, Aug. 25, NATIONAL AFFAIRS). Other newspapers echoed the story 24 hours later, being careful to credit the Herald-Tribune with its origin. Many readers of these other newspapers felt that the credit had been given in sincere admiration for so great a "beat,"—credit where credit was due.

But there was more than admiration between the scrupulous credit lines. There was caution as well, lest the great "beat" were not true. Indeed the more sophisticated of Manhattan's dailies— The News (gum-chewers' sheetlet) and the great New York World, either through intuition or spectacular scepticism, maintained the attitude from the first that the cafe ship was a dream ship.

None the less, Reporter Sanford Jarrell of the Herald-Tribune, who had brought in the "beat," complete with nautical bearings, itinerary, wine list and anecdotes, had gained his superiors' , attention, for better or for worse. They questioned him, congratulated him, sent him off for further copy about his alcoholic argosy.

This time the details he sent in were skimpy, vague. Meanwhile other reporters could find no trace of all Jarrell had seen. Revenue cutters, scouring the seas, towed nothing to port. Suspicion grew. Haled to the Herald-Tribune sanctum, Jarrell was questioned again. He stuck to his story, begged leave to bring substantiating evidence, left the office. The next mail brought a full confession that his "sea cabaret" was a myth. Sore at heart, the Herald-Tribune apologized to the public and to the other Manhattan newspapers; posted Sanford Jarrell's name on the bulletin board as "dishonorably dismissed." On reporters' benches the country over there was much moralizing on the futility of trying to rise to journalistic fame through the overuse of one's imagination. Jarrell, unmarried, in his early 30's, came originally from Kansas City where he had been raised in a newspaper atmosphere. He has been in journalism about ten years, "which makes it all the more extraordinary." He bore a reputation for industry and reliability. He covered the N. Y. State Legislature for his paper last Winter. An outcast from journalism, he was reported to be "contemplating moving pictures as a means of self-expression."