The Newspaper Attache Nuisance

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The Newspaper Attache Nuisance

One of the perils of arriving at distinction here in the United States, above all countries, is the frightful curse of being thenceforward hunted by newspaper attaches. When a notable person arrives in any of our cities, he is set upon, pursued day and night, and not permitted to find any rest for the soles of his feet. No hour, no place, is secure. If he ascend to his place of rest, behold the “gentleman of the press” is there; if he descend to breakfast, the same ubiquitous gentleman is there—and if he walk forth upon the street the attache is there—and even if the great man go into the yard, probably the shadow is there!

It seems to us this must be terrible. To have such eyes fixed forever upon you! To have such steps following you wherever you go! And then to be so misstated and made personally ridiculous in the newspapers!

Are there some persons that like such attentions? Perhaps so, for a little while, for a novelty; but it must soon become a sickening nuisance.

For all this, if the job were well done, and the narration well made, might be commendable. There will always be curiosity about “distingue” people. “The style is the man,” said Buffon;¹ and the little particulars of his looks, manners, likes, dislikes, diet, costume, &c., are important and indicative. But these New York and other newspaper reporters don’t succeed in presenting the “style” of their subjects—they are not “artists.”

Why don’t some of the papers set up first-rate reports?

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