Survey report at annual AAACE meeting. "About 40 per cent of the county extension agents now furnish extension information to their local newspapers regularly, only a very few altogether neglecting to do so, but there is a distinct need for editorial training for agents." Among the training means proposed: journalism courses for prospective agents while in college, state news-writing training meetings held by the college editor for county agents, correspondence courses in news writing, and bulletins on news writing. American Association of Agricultural College Editors.
Author emphasizes intellectual curiosity as a striking characteristic of the effective agricultural college editor. Among other cited credentials: agricultural college education, newspaper training and practical farm experience.
The report notes that many college operated radio stations have experienced restricted operations during the past year. "Those institutions fortunate enough to have a satisfactory place in the air are furnishing a valuable service and should safeguard their present allotments by sound program development. Commercial stations offer a broad and increasing opportunity for the college information services to reach thousands of their people through a medium so important in the present day scheme of things as to demand careful consideration."
Examines the status of the research bulletin and the place of the technical journal article. "There seems to be a growing tendency for research workers to publish, in their respective technical journals, what amount to progress reports of their work."
Feels that experiment station literature is losing ground in the scientific world. "..scientists generally are not looking to the experiment station bulletin for important contributions to science." Suggests that the station editor can help maintain high scientific standards, as well as high editorial standards. "Briefly, then, believing that the chief function of an experiment station is to experiment and that the chief purpose of its publications is to describe the experiments and announce the results rather than to persuade people to adopt new and supposedly better practices, we are striving to raise the standards of our technical publications addressed to the scientist, whether he is primarily interested in agricultural research or not, and to make the publications addressed to our farmers technically sound and practically worth while."