The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-03-04
LETTERS ON JOURNALISM.

The European ana American Press Conn
Journalism as Trade antl
journalism as a PrOfessiOn-,Th News
Department and the Intellectual Dc-
partment.
From the N. Y SUM-
Almost every country has more than
once produced a history of its national
press. Quite recently we had the book
of the late Frederic Hudson on the
American press. Mr.. James Grant gave
us his not very satisfactory work on the
origin and progress Of the newspaper
press in England, and NJ Eugene Hatin
produced his eight volumes on the po-
litical and literary history of the French
press But don't know Of any attempt
having ever been made at a comparative
study of the press Of various countries.
Should the S,m be of the opinion that
many years of journalistic experience,
both In the Old and in the New World,
can entitle q man to undortakea q study OF
this kind, 1t will, perhaps, find room for
a few letters on this subject.
TO begin with: What is the press Is
it trade or profession The answer
would be that it is "a trade in England, a
profession on the Continent of Europe,
and partly trade, partly u profession,
i'm this country. The proof of this is
easily shown. notwithstanding the CO.
lossal development Of the press of Great
Britain, the journalists do not form
there a separate body, like, for instance,
the medical men, the military, the
clergy, or the lawyers Most of the con
tributors to the English press. and GER
tainlv the most valuable OF them, are
before everything else, barristers, cap
tains, curates, professors, and the like
They take to newspaper writing either
for pleasure or for the purpose of keeping
the pot boiling, as long as they are young
and their actual profession does not pay
them sufficiently well. Even tho Eng
lish reporters cannot be considered as
belonging to the newspaper profession,
for their real business is shorthand
writing. And the short handler writer,
who can get a situation as II
private secretary to q member OF Parlia-
ment, banker, or railway director,
always prefers it to reporting Parlia-
mentary debates, judicial proceedings,
or transactions of scientific societies
The short hand writer's take to press re-
porting chiefly for the sake Of practice,
and only i'm cases where they cannot get
any other permanent employment.
In this way journalism as profession
is reduced in England to very small
number of men, consisting Of the editors
whom are purely business men, trained
from an early age to the general manage
ment and material makeup Of the paper.
They very seldom contribute to the
journal they edit, and the large majority
of them are utterly unfit to write.
On the Continent of Europe it is just
the reverse. A journalist there is only
a journalist, and can seldom do any
thing else. Ii he belongs to any other
profession. he must give it up before be-
coming journalist, for neither would
his clients trust him, nor would tho
press accept him II he tried to follow
two callings at one and the same time.
Persons holding Office under the crown
arc not allowed to write for the press
and civil service clerk, or evcn pro
fessor Of an imperial or royal university,
who should attempt to employ his
leisure hours in journalism, would soon
receive an intimation that he had bet
ter mind his regular business. Occa-
sional exceptions are made only in favor
Of military and naval officers writing on
military and naval subjects.
The American system stands, so to
say, half way between the English and
the Continental systems. Journalism
Is profession here at least in the sense
that most of the contributors to the
papers remain connected with the press
all their life long, and seldom pursue
any other calling ut the same time, un-
less they embrace that esscntiallyAmer-
lean one Of politicians. There Is much
less esJyit de corps in the journalistic
profession in this country than in Con
tinental Europe; but this is the result
of the peculiar conditions Of American
life, and of the fact that journalists here
are chiefly news men-not literary men.
They have, accordingly, no intellectual
interests to bind them together, while,
on the other hand, not being exposed to
persecution by the government, they are
not driven into solidarity by common
feeling OF danger and the instinct OF self
preservation.
Another point Of similarity between
the American and the Continental
European press Is that nearly all the
best American papers show q desire not
only to inform the public OF the current
news, but also to instruct and oGGa-
siOnally to amuse the reader. The
feuilet0n so popular in Europe, both for
the purpose of introducing fiction as
we'll as scientific articles, has been in
substance, though not in form, intro
duced in all the leading American
papers. At all events, In their weekly
editions they have several columns de-
voted to applied science, as well as to
stories and even to poetry. These ele-
ments are excluded from almost all
English papers, except the weekly
publications and one or two OF the even
ing journals.
In all other respects the American
newspaper closely approaches the Eng
lish. The importance attached to news
Of every kind, the practical nature OF
the information, the enterprise displayed
in collecting the news, and above all the
exertions of the managers to bulld ny
the newspaper into large advertising
medium, are essential characteristics Of
the American as we'll as Of the English
press. On the Continent of Europe 9
paper starts on principles entirely
different from those which bring
into the world an English or a1
American newspaper. A party o.
men Of certain political, philosophical
or artistic views come together ane
launch the paper for the purpose o
promoting their chosen cause. They
strive to create q circle Of readers fol
their organ; they are almost inyariabl!
set Of propagandists OF something o.
other; literary, intellectual and politica
interests are for them far above an.
practical considerations. The question
as to whether the paper is likely to pa.
or not, Is usually the last one inquiries
| into: as to advertising considerations
| they scarcely ever enter the heads OF tn
founders Of these journals.
In England and America quite tn
reverse is the case. A new newspape