Des Arc citizen., 1859-04-29
TFrom the New York Times JOURNALISM. M

sA power as that of journalism should be wieIded in the interest of Christian nor aIs, and under constant sense of the re- sponsibilily which religious obligation in wolves. That the daily journals ot this city have improved immensely in this re- spect within the last ten years, as well as in enterprise, ability and general courtesy, no one who has given the subject any at tenlion can doubt and 1t Is equally cer- tain that, with the improved taste and ln- creased culture of the mass of the people. this improvement will continue. The daily Press may not be all il should be- but the same defect characterize every other profession and every other human contribution. All we can reasonably ex- pect to ask is that it's tendencies should be in the right directon-that it should be growing better, instead of worse and we think this may be very safely and very confidently asserted of the daily Press of this city, taken as whole. In all the respectable journals due regard Is uniformly paid to the religious observan- ces and feelings of all denominations ---a fair proportion of space IS given to reli- oious intelligence the obligations ot Christian duty are fully recognized, even if not always fully met, and m. their dis cussions of public affairs Christian morall- tv is almost uniformly accepted as the ba- sis of their judgments and opinions. We believe this to be true of a large portion of the daily newspapers of this clty-and it is becoming more and more true Of them all. ....-
 Exception is taken, we are aware, to the character of much of the intelligence that is published-to the details given ot murders, police cases, divorce trials, &c. In part this complaint Is doubtless just and there is room and need for improve ment in nearly all our newspapers 'n this respect But it is not fair to overlook lhe reason of this fault, nor 10 place the re- sponsibiity of it too exclusively upon the Press. It belongs mainly 10 the commu- nitv. A newspaper must be published upon business principles 1t can only ex' ist as it is sustained by the community; It is very easy to sheer at a publisher io' seeking primarily to increase his crcpIa
 ton butit would be just as sensible tt sheer at merchant for endeavonng lt extend his trade, or at physician io
 seeking to enlarge his practice. Int public support is absolutely essential to | newspaper, unless for party or otEer purT
 noses of their own, individuals are vii
 Iine to contribute the money winch 1t re- Iouires and in that case it becomes mls sionary work instead of a business opera
 tion A.
 Now, it is clear and undeniabe fact tha the great body of the people want news
 paper for the news. They want to kno' what is going on in the world, and 1t IS tn
 business of their newspaper to tell them If it does they will take it; II not, the
 will stop it and take another. And la ! men,able as the fact is, nevertheless IS
 fact, that crime in it's various forms an
 successive stages, fills very large page ,be daily history of the world-and cannt he ignored without ignoring very larg and a very important part of the cprrentlr IT tellgence. Equally true is 1t that mn
 persons out of ten in every eonmunlt
 read the narratives of great crimes wit
 much more avidity than they accoun of benevolent and religious movements
 any of the more ordinary and less exclun
 incidents of daily life. The tragic ei'
 ment, in life as in fiction, has siron
 hold upon the imagination, and every ie persons, whatever their moral and rel
 gious character, are insensible of its tasc
 nation. .t,.. t