Los Angeles daily herald., 1873-10-07
Personal Journalism.

lIt lolIoWlilT aftlcIe dpIWaTtu tWo
weeks ago in the columns of the San
Francisco NeWs Letter. 1t so entirely
accords with the views of the editors
of the HERALD, and so fully repre-
sents the feeling of most good citizens
that it is here reproduced. The Ian
guage i'm which it is cOuched is as ele-
giant as forible, and Il model Of COM
positions:
A bOmbastic generation chants the
march of improvement, and its chief
refrain is, freedom Of the press. As q
rule, the NeWs Letter inclines rather
to gay than grave, to lively than Sc
we're. Yet there are times when Sc
rious evils mOveus to wrath, and our
seal of disapprOval is set just now up
on that ulcer in the side of progress
personal journalism. We do not real
ize how insidiOus and certain have
been the works of this rampant intru-
der, until we learn from II glance at
circulation lists, that those papers are
considered jejune and unreadable
which are too respectable to bristle
with sensational points CLEANED from
tho privacy : family circles and inner
lives Time was when mans home
was his castle; but now, those who
would he ANONYMOUSLY elected from
the drawing room, penetrate to the
closet, where hangs the family
skeleton, open wide the doors that all
the world may see, and rattle the
bones that all the world may hear.
xsr1n OF
ing, names We're disguised by accOmo-
dating blanks, or ut most in unOffend-
ing initials. Now they are giving m-
cOmpromisingly complete. The man
of acute feeling who shrinks sensitive
ly into privacy, awakes to find his
name i'm huge capitals, his doings in
long paragraphs and himself the
theme of every breakfast table.
Youthful indiscretiOns are dug from
under the kindly drifts of accummula-
ted years, polished by practiced hands,
and held to the searching light of pub
licity that friends and family may be
,lazed with their unwelcOme glitter.
Stories that had best be forgotten, or at
least unrccorded, are given with EN-
largements and additions for a greedy
public to swallow, knowing well that
every detail has been gathered in the
sloughs of disgraceful weakness. A
black sheep in an honorable family is
their fayorite prey. The prayers of a
father, the tears OF mother, the grief
of shame-bowed sisters, they disregard.
A fashy heading, sensational
column, an extra sale or two must be
considered before all the grief and
shame, and the higher the social alti-
tude and the more respectable the sur
roundings, the greater their stock in
trade. Many a girl whose feet might
have been timely stayed in the down.
ward path, has been moved to reck-
lessness and defiance through the rash
publicity OfpersOnal journalism. Many
u youngman who would have repented
and expiated first fault, has been
moved to further SHINING in the same
way. 1t is said that we live in fast
age, when energies and enthusiams
die early, and that stinlulants alone
will revivify them. Let the stated ap-
petites of the reading public be regaled
with tales of dangers by flood and
field, or murders most foul, of wars
and fires, and disasters by sea and
shore. Let the men who have wit
tingly placed themselves before the
public, and their names ut the point of
Journalists pen, be written about and
joked about, criticised and laughed
over, but let the sensational narauders
be displaced from the family hearth
stone, upon which they have taken
their unlimited stand. Personal jour
. nalism should be frOwned upon, dis
oouro0ad un,,a trnpizad IF IL avery
mans duty; for no man knows when
it may attack himself or family. Like
boil, it is unexpected in its attack
and Irritating beyond endurance; like
an ulcer, itsdischarge is continuous and
vile; like a leech, it fastens itself, and
may not he displaced until it is
gOrged; and, like leech, too, it can
yomit forth its horrible meal mt will,
and return with fresh unctionto batten
upon its familiar food. =