The Russellville Democrat., 1879-07-03
The Newspaper of tbo Future.

MT. w hitelaW Reid, cuitor Di the New York Tribune, delivered q very able address before the 2dd annual press convention of New York, at Rochester on the 18th inst. His theme, referring to the press, was, "Our Common Work-Its Needs, Tendencies and Possibilities" In speaking of the newspaper of the flu ture he admitted that the quantity of news could not DC increased in the next quarter or half century at the same ratio of proportion as in the past. The papers already contain as much as the average reader has time to glance over, much less read and study carefully. Mir. Reid's idea iS that news will be more careEaiiiiy se-
 lected and better written up, and possibly had in his minds eye such paper as the Tribune as a model for the ambitious editors of the fu- ture. There is 10 doubt that the peo- pie have had surfeit of large papers and that many readers have looked more to the size of a paper than to the quality of the reading matter
 This surfeit has produced a reaction, however, in tendency to better style on the part of editorial writers, and more appreciative and discrim mating taste on the part of all thoughtful readers. This must con- tinue as intelligence becomes more generally diffused and the masses are better educated. Mir. Reid says: "Now it is news; by and by let us hope 1t will be the brains" MT. R. further calls for class of Me Cauley-like reporters, who shall write up everything in the most fin ished and condensed style. Just there his fancy gets the better of his solld judgement. Such style as he would introduce can never be ac- quired by many writers and only by gifted few who seclude themselves from the busy haunts of life and de
 vote themselves to slow and hard study. The people want facts more than style or word painting. The masses, however practical and intel ligent, are not up to the McCauley style and never will be. Something like the easy facile style of Dickens suits them much better, and even
 that is often too diffusc and labored. We are of the opinion that the re- porters of today cannot be greatly
 improved upon. McCauley's are not born every year, and when they are they are not likely to remain perma
 nently in the line of reporting for a daily newspaper. Mir. Reid, howev- CT, makes one good point Tn particu- lar, which is worth noticing. He says that the papers of New York, faulty as they are to-day are better than their readers, and that the press constantly ressts great tempta- tions to come down to a level with it's surroundings. He says, and we close with this quotation, which is truthful and just, "The thing always forgotten by the closest critic of the newspapers is that they must be measurably what their audiences make them--what their constituents call for and sustain. The newspa- pers cannot uniformly resist the popular sentiment any more than the stream can flow above it's fountain. To say that newspapers are getting worse is to say that people are get ting worse. That doctrine our su perfne moralists have crooked ever since we had an existence as peo- pie, but whenever the crisis came we have always found that, beneath l the surface froth, the currents of na- tionai life flowed pure and strong as ever. The evil tendencies of the press in our day are to Be seen plaln- ly enough; they have been seen in all days since the newspaper was made. It even works more evil now than it ever wrought before because it's influence is more widespread, but it also works more good, and it's habltual attitude is one of effort to ward the best its audience will tol- rate, ,"-Mempllis Ledger.