The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-08-16
THE SECRET OF NEWSPAPER sue.
CESS.

The death of Mr.. Bennett, the
founder of the New York Herald,
has produced some very queer COM
ments and improyemcnts-qu to
those whose memories can recall
more than ten years. Probably few
of his contemporaries knew
show sweet an Ovid was in Murray lost;,
and few of his fellow citizens were
aware, until he died, of the qualities
and illustrious services of the late
editor. His demise also occasioned
some further remarks upon the pa
per that he founded, and the secret
of his success. Perhaps, then, L
may be useful for those about to
take part in international rowing
matches, or other similar perform
ances requiring grea, deal of ''taIl
talking" TO refeCt that the tallcst
talking will no more make i news
paper successful than it will ~
boat-race. There is no law o.
ture more absolute than that
trees will not grow frrin ioad-5tn
1t you want corn !o,. must II
corn; and if we want success,
must plant success.
There are many VINO think /:
the Herald was made by !a7~ti'
and that there is nothing iii5- a
ing your own trumpet. Tic t. uf
of Little Pcdlington
Shall, Pedlingtonia! hail, thou favorea;
spot.
What's good is found in thee; what's
not is not"
And they remember the Little Ped
lington Weekly Observer, and con-
slider it the prototype of the Her
aid. But they are very much mis-
taien. The public may be a TOOL,
and so many able editors evidently
consider it, but it has nevertheless
sense enough not to take q mere
braggart at his own valuation. 1t
does not believe newspaper to be
interesting and enterprising because
it shouts in the most enormous type
that it is so, but because il is so. 1t
was not the Boosting but the per-
Torrance of the Herald which gave
it its prominence. Its news was
fresher and fuller than that of its
rivals, and the public discovered it.
But the discovery was due to the
fact, not to the Growing over it.
The paper might have crowed its
capital away and it would have been
useless. Nobody ever bought the
Herald or advertised in it because it
constantly said that it was the great
est vehicle of news in the country,
but because it made itself such.
The newspaper which daily de-
clares itself to be the leading news
paper of the world is believed just
as much as the tailor who announces
himself to be the first of .tailors, or
the beIlows-mender who advertises
that all beilows-mending but his is
ridiculous. Ii you buy an umbrel-
10 which lets the water through, you
go to another shop for your next
umbrella. And it is as true of
newspapers as of umbrellas. If
they give the news, and if the news
is what the public wants, it buys
them. If their comments are wise
and witty, and that is the object
sought, again the papers are sold.
But 1t Is never because the paper
calls itself a miracle of enterprise,
nor because the editor declares that
he Is the only real master OF his
profession.
We speak merely of the kind of
success which the Herald has
achieved. To suppose that it was
mere charlatanism is to mistake the
fact entirely. The other papers at
tackled IL as Satanic, as outraging all
laws Of morality and decency. 1t
was forbidden TO the families of
many who read it at their offices !;
and there was time when it was
almost .disreputable 10 be known as
q reader of the Herald. This, of
course, was not IN consequence of it's
news, but in spite OF it. The other
papers ASSUMED to despise rival of
whom they were jealous, and whose
influence upon thefn WAS percepti-
BILE. They said great many severe
| things of ii which were true, but
the whole truth they, OF course, did
not tell. And Lad the Herald CO :
ceived the idea of q really -
newspaper, of which the He,s
the smallest part, it might ala
have superseded its contemporaf
Its editorial theory WAS that q r.
nal should merely echo public on
ion, and that the true editorial
ulty lay in an instructive percepil
Of its changes. II was tn ost-l
ror instead of a magnet; II reflected
the position, but did not d eaVs a.
reader on to q higher. II had 40
theories and supported no causes
except as they seemed to be popular
and successful. Everybody, there
fore, read it, and nobody cared for
it. Ii you read the Herald you saw
the present average opinion. This
gave it great power, because there
is always an immense multitude
who wish to agree with everybody
else, and when they read the Herald
they believed that it knew the senti-
ments of the majority. 1t was
therefore always very foolish to
deny its Influence, merely because
that influence was of q certain Find.
II was independent because it asked
no favor of any party aud laugii he'd
lat patronage. Yet il made great
mistakes even in its own way. Thus
1t mistook public opinion at the be-
ginning Of the wal, and changed AL
most 100 late for the safety OF its