Editorsofnewspapersandmagazinesoftengotoextremestoprovidetheirreaderwithunimportantfactsandstatistics.Lastyearajournalisthadbeeninstructedbyawell-knownmagazinetowriteanarticleonthepresident'spalaceinanewAfricanrepublic.Whenthearticlearrived,theeditorreadthefirstsentenceandthenrefusetopublishit.Thearticlebegan:'Hundredsofstepsleadtothehighwallwhichsurroundsthepresident'spalace'.Theeditoratoncesentthejournalistafaxinstructinghimfindouttheexactnumberofstepsandtheheightofthewall.
Thejournalistimmediatelysetouttoobtaintheseimportantfacts,butthetookalongtimetosendthemMeanwhile,theeditorwasgettingimpatient,forthemagazinewouldsoongotopress.Hesentthejournalisttwomorefaxes,butreceivednoreply.Hesentyetanotherfaxinformingthejournalistthatifhedidnotreplysoonhewouldbefired.Whenthejournalistagainfailedtoreply,theeditorreluctantlypublishedthearticleasithadoriginallybeenwritten.Aweeklater,theeditoratlastreceivedafaxfromthejournalist.Notonlyhadthepoormanbeenarrested,buthehadbeensenttoprisonaswell.However,hehadatlastbeenallowedtosendafaxinwhichheinformedtheeditorthatthehehadbeenarrestedwhilecountingthe1,084stepsleadingtothefifteen-footwallwhichsurroundedthepresident'spalace.
报刊杂志的编辑常常为了向读者提供成立一些关紧要的事实和统计数字而走向极端.去年,一位记者受一家有名的杂志的委托写一篇关于非洲某个新成立共和国总统府的文章.稿子寄来后,编辑看第一句话就拒绝予以发表.文章的开头是这样的:“几百级台阶通向环绕总统的高墙.”编辑立即给那位记者发去传真,要求他核实一下台阶的确切数字和围墙的高度.
记者立即出发去核实这些重要的事实,但过了好长时间不见他把数字寄来,在此期间,编辑等得不耐烦了,因为杂志马上要付印.他给记者先后发去两份传真,但对方毫无反应.于是他又发了一份传真,通知那位记者说,若再不迅速答复,将被解雇.但记者还是没有回复.编辑无奈,勉强按原样发稿了.一周之后,编辑终于接到记者的传真.那个可怜的记者不仅被捕了,而且还被送进了监狱.不过,他终于获准发回了一份传真.在传真中他告诉编辑,就在他数通向15英尺高的总统府围墙的1,084级台阶时,被抓了起来.
