Tool of the trade

The reporter’s notebook, treasured artifact of the craft, faces its own digital disruption

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Unfussy, utilitarian, ubiquitous — the reporter’s notebook carried an aura of authenticity. It’s where the raw truth mixed with the unvarnished thoughts of the journalist. The Times, NPR, and myriad other news outlets regularly run essays and analyses under the heading “reporter’s notebook.” It’s the title of a long-running documentary show in the Philippines. And, despite technological advances and dwindling numbers of journalists to use it, the notebooks are still produced, albeit for a market that may tap into nostalgia or aspiration more than reportage.  

Stationers didn’t just outfit the traveling White House press corps. In 1972, the company shipped an estimated 30,000 notebooks every month to newsrooms across the country. These books had a brownish-yellow card stock cover with the word “Reporter’s” written in curly letters across the top. Below were lines for contact information, the dates of the notes within, and an address and a phone number to call to order more (Virginians were invited to call collect). 

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