The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1859-04-08
American Journalism.

Ih0mas JenersOn IN MS uhv Wrote:
at is a melancholy truth that a sup
preston of the Press could not more COM
plctely deprive the nation Of its benefits.
than is-slony N IL abandoned prostiti-
ton to fslschood. Nothing can now be
believed which is seen in newspepcr.-
Truth itself becomes suspicious by its be-
ing put into that polluted vehicle"
A contemporary adds: If Jefferson were
alive to-day, what would be his express
.sioni No homo or circle so private that
its sanotisy y not invaded by the press;
no character too pure or too influential to
escape the Misrepresentation of the press;
no cause is too sacred to be spared the
ordeal Of editorial ignorance and malice.
If Washington were alive, he would have
more than one ''scoundrel Freneau" to
silence--hc would find calumniators
wherever partisan policy demanded the
calumny in order to accomplish some par
ty end. t-h
Does any one doubt this! Look back
at the history of jefferson, Hamilton,
Adams, jackson. Clay, Calhoun, Scott,
Harrison, Webster-names now surround
ed by the halo Of glory which comes from
true greatncss---how they were maligned,
libeled, misjudged, assailetl, held up to
scorn and ridicule by "the press" Look
into the papers of to-day, religious and
otherwise, and what chapter stares us
in the face! Every page, almost, reeks
with personalities; libels are as countless
as the very types; charges too gross fol
possibility meet us in the brief paragraph
and in the more sententiouis "leader;'
columns are devoted to reports of cases
which common self respect would declare
to be private matters; motives are so mis-
construed as to make a crime where really
a virtue exists; suspicion, aspersion, hate
revenge, seem to be the animus of the
editorial pen.
A free press, rightly administered, is
a blessing; wrongfully administered, it is
fearful instrument of demoralization.-
If our moral status as people has deteri-
Grated, the press is greatly, chiefly to
blame; for it can inculcate virtue, peace,
love for justice, love for home, for our
country, for true moral excellence; it can
sustain the Sabbath, the purity of the bal
lot-box, the righteous administration of
the laws-does it do this? Alas, no
Is there no remedy for this state of
things? There certainly is, plain, prac-
ticable, radical cure, which the people
themselves can compel if they will. No
ney is the breath, spirit, lungs, of every
Hoe-press in the land-it is the hand of
every hand-press. Let every citizen, who
would preserve his honor and self-respect,
firmly and solemnly refuse to pay one dol
lar to the support of any paper which does
not reach to the prescribed standard of
honesty, intelligence, disinterestedness,
devotion to truth. Let every paper which
does attain to this standard have hearty
support. There will Mea be change-a
revolution as radical as that which our
fathers effected-good and useful papers
would soon usurp the place of what is
now so generally bad and demoralizing.-
Let no claim of party-papers, state-organs,
county press as such have your counten-
ance-patronize them only for their hon
esty and general excellence; where these
are wanting, burn off your right hand be-
fore IL shall give money into their cof4ars