ABSTRACT

Throughout the twentieth century, reporters and other news workers not only wrote about the news, they wrote about each other, their bosses, their daily grind in the newsroom, and journalism itself in the form of workplace poetry. This occupational verse was a way to relieve tension, vent about controlling editors and annoying readers. Writing the verses fulfilled a playful impulse and killed time between assignments. It helped to bond news workers with each other in the newsroom, and it allowed them to form their group identities in the face of difficult circumstances. This article briefly explores how occupational poetry, sometimes called “doggerel” by critics but even by its own creators, became part of the professionalization of American journalism and reflected changing newsroom values, priorities and a growing white-collar consciousness among news workers during and after the interwar years and during the early Cold War. Paradoxically, it echoed the blue-collar roots of many reporters, and their struggle and resistance. Ephemeral by nature, newsroom poetry survives into the present as an important commentary on the occupation.

摘要

在整个20世纪，记者和其他新闻工作者不仅撰写新闻，而且还互相交流，与他们的老板，他们在新闻编辑室中的日常琐事以及以工作场所诗歌形式出现的新闻本身。这节职业经文是缓解紧张情绪的一种方法，可以减轻控制编辑和烦人的读者的负担。写下经文充满了嬉戏的冲动，并在两次作业之间浪费了时间。它有助于在新闻编辑室中将新闻工作者彼此联系起来，并允许他们在困难的情况下形成自己的团体身份。本文简要探讨了职业诗歌，有时甚至被评论家，甚至被其创造者称为“ doggerel”，如何成为美国新闻业专业化的一部分，并反映出不断变化的新闻编辑室价值，在两次世界大战期间和之后以及冷战初期，新闻工作者的工作重点和不断增长的白领意识。矛盾的是，它呼应了许多记者的蓝领根源，以及他们的奋斗和抵抗。新闻室诗歌天生就是临时性的，作为对这一职业的重要评论，一直活到现在。