The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-06-28
Newspaper Morality.

LAS easy as lying" says Hamlet. Thi
5 ID one OF those happy touches of Shaks
furnishing fruitful text to all after. time
Self observant persons are aware of tn,
ease with which eKaqgeratiop and othe
varieties of falshood slip from the tongue
and the extreme difficulty of giving ST
exact account of the simplest matter. A2d
this difficulty is greatest to ardent and i'm
aginative persons, who naturally take to
writing. The very qualities of mind which
gave them their power to interest other
! minds are, in many instances, the qualities
that incline them to picturesque and effec
tive exaggeration. Telling the simple
truth is the hardest thing done either by
tongue or pen. How easy 1t was to repre-
sent Napoleon Bonaparte gailoping over
the Alps on q robust charger, gorgeouslv
caparisoned, his cloak flying in the breeze
aud compact legions pressing up the steep
activity This lie was imagined 10
moment but it cost NJ. Theirs much pain.
full toll and long travel to ascertain that his
conqueror crossed the Alps on mule,
muffied to the eyes in his cloak, aud at.
tended by one guide on foot,
In the press, as in literature, falsehood
has the additional advantage over truth
of being much less expensive. Your raw
hand will bring you in an accouut of
finance meeting which shall be of necessity
a mere tissue of misconceptions and mis-
statements. To get an approximately true
narrative of what occurred, without verba-
tim reports, you must send three persons
of trained intelligence; but a full and an
exact report, with the requisite descriptive
matter, demands the intense labor of twelve
men. Now the account stands thus It's
sue of green falsehoods two dollars vivid
narrative strongly resembling the truth,
thirty dollars verbatim report, eighty
dollars. In every department of news
paper, from the most Commonplace repor'
ing to the most important criticize
find that lies are very cheap ,,a , ~, We y;
very dear. al" ''utn Is
We must also bear 81 min, t,,o, g ,.;
is easy, it may also be for the a' m NJ ,Stng
highly efte. 1--we, That tawdry faisehooJ
o "a Ao" -parte bounding over the mountains
=" -urns at this hour hundreds of barber
shops in all countries, as the tale, equally
groundless, of Lincoln and the Scotch cap
figures in many histories of the late war.
Some men of very ordinary abilities so
succeed after long practice, in purging
their conversation Of the usual exaggera-
ton and credulities, bnteve this negative
part OF difficult virtue is apt to be pur-
chased by the loss of vivacity. Their CON
versation is as dull as it is correct. But
the journalist lies under an inexorable ne
cessity of not being dull. Incorrect he
may be, to a certain extent, and live but
ii he is dull, he dies.
And unhappily, there are ways open to
the journalist of avoiding dulIness two
wrong, and one right. The right way is
vigilance, tact, and hard labor in the
gathering and utterance of truth proper to
be told. The two wrong ways demand
vastly inferior powers. One is the inven-
ton or repetition of falsehood, and tie
other the revelation of matters not proper
to be told a fertile and sympathetic
mind, capable of public spirit, finds the
material for stirring and delightful jour
nallsm in a village !; but there ar. dull dogs
that even when posted in Washington, the
most interesting capital in the world, are
compelled t" exc out their daily dole of
rou'ane by calumnious invent on.