Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-11-15
Sensational Journalism.

Among the literary aud social "sen-
sations" of the day in England, hard
ly one has been more lively-we can
hardly say profound-than that pro-
duced by an article in the Conten,po-
/ rdry ReUiesc which has for its title
"The Last New Thing in Journalism"
1t is directed against certain weekly
papers published in London which
are filled with personal paragraphs
and which treat questions even of
greatest public Importance from
personal point of view. 1t is very
| sharp, and indeed is most formida-
BILE arraignment of the public as we'll
as the publishers of these papers. 1t
is anonymous, but an author and
motive were at once found for it in
the general report. 1t is said to be by
MIR. Robert Buchanan, poet and essay
writer, and to have been written by
him in revenge for the rejection of
his articles by some of the very pa
pers which he attacks. Here at once
is wrong view taken of it. The ar
ticle is published without a name, and
stands on its own merits. What mat
ter who wrote it, and with what mo-
tive? If its assertions are true and its
opinions good, let them be judged by
themselves They are not to be af
fected by the identity of the writer or
his possible motive. Suppose that
that motive were pique, if the thing
is good in itself, what matter again ?
Suppose, on the other hand, the mo-
tive pure and good, if the the thing is
bad itself, let it go speedily into the
limbo of things forgotten. But it is
good and sound, hence the commo>
ton that it has stirred up. The point
of the article is expressed in one SEN
tence: "Scarcely anything is too ig-
noble to find its way into print in
some shape or other" The indict-
ment extends over many pages; it has
many counts; it touches many sub
jects, but there is the gist of it. Moth
ingis too ignoble to be printed =
nothing is too ignoble, if printed, to
fail to find reading, buying public.
The kind of journalism which is the
subject of this much talked of article |
is an ignoble attempt to supply an ig-
noble demand. 1t is base business
base on both sides; baser than much |
business that is more criminal. On
one side, men and women, who might |
ill up their leisure time by pursuits
innocent at least, if they could not
bear the strain of having them elevat-
ing, choose 10 sit down to printed
scandal and pruriency, and what is al
most worse, presentation of all sub
jects in such mean, debasing aspect
that life and human nature are con-
stantly soiled before their eyes. Jour-
nalists, whose opportunities to teach
what is wholesome, to purify the pub
lie taste, and TO elevate the public |
tone of mind, are greater than those
ever before possessed by any sort or
profession of men, descend from this |
elevation to the lower level, to the |
lowest level, and live by smirching |
the regulations of men, and even of
women, by giving some people pain
for the pleasure of those whose pleas
ure is the pain of others, and by |
teaching that nothing is good, nothing |
is great, nothing is admirable. Mu-
tual admiration is narrow; but COM
pared to this, mutual admiration is |
grand. lofty, elevating'-"Nebul9" IN
The GALAXY for November.