FROM THE ARCHIVES:Chequebook journalism, as newspapers tried to secure survivors' exclusive stories, was among the revelations exposed by the US senate hearings into the sinking of the Titanic. JOE JOYCE
Mr. [Frederick] Sammis, the Chief Engineer of the Marconi Company [which operated the telegraph system], was then called. He resented bitterly the imputation that he had been the means of suppressing news from the Carpathia [the ship which went to the Titanic’s rescue], which, he said, had resulted in his neighbours pointing the finger of scorn at him.
He said that he told the Carpathia’s [wireless] operators to hold their personal stories for sale, in order to get a reward for them. He did not send the messages direct, but telephoned to Davidson, in charge of a wireless station, and instructed him to tell the “boys” that an arrangement had been made to care for them. He thought it would “brace” them up.
He carried out the plan, and went to the Strand Hotel to meet Operator [Harold] Cottam [Carpathia’s telegraph operator], but failed to get in touch with him. The operators each got $750 for their stories [from New York Times].
Senator Smith – Did you get any part of that?
Absolutely not; and no other official of the company received anything. He acknowledged that a mistake had been made in the manner in which stories had been “placed,” saying – “I think it would have been much better to have placed them with the Associated Press [news agency]. They would then have had general circulation, and there would have been no sore toes.”
Continuing, he said [Harold] Bride [telegraph operator on the Titanic] and Cottam should not be blamed for not sending news from the ship. If there is any blame, it should fall upon the captain of the Carpathia . . .
Mr. Sammis said the American operators on board the ship receive $45 a month [about £9], and English operators £4.
Senator Smith – Do you not believe that it would have been more creditable to yourself and your company if you rewarded such heroism as was shown by Bride rather than seal their lips and arrange a pittance for them from private means? We were all doing the best we could.
I dislike to press these questions, but I want to bring out the facts, in order to end the practice, which is vicious, and which shall be stopped.
Witness said he was in complete accord with Mr. Marconi, who frowned upon the custom, but the abolition of the practice would have to be effected with great care, in order to save the feelings of the operators.
In reply to further questions, he stated that he did not think that the question of salary entered into the matter . . .
Mr. Bride, the surviving operator of the Titanic, was then recalled. He was first asked how much he received for the story of his experiences on the wreck from a New York newspaper. He said that he got £1,000 [he actually received $1,000].