Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-08-19
Newspapers and Crime.
LoaisriLle Courier-JonrnaL

many EDITORS OF American newspapers the
same delicate ssnsltiveness which eharae.
lied spinello with regard to the picture OF
the world which they produce morning after
morning, they would have some time age
met with Spinello's fate.
There is a noticeable tendency in the
daily press to adopt a pre- Raphaelite ex-
actness and redundancy of detail in print
ing reports of crimes. We do not object to
pre- Rsphselitism in landscape, wsterscape
OF figure painting, but the apple alton OF
the principles Of that school to the sketch
ing Of criminal matters and world foibles In
newspapers is in bad taste, is frequently
loathsome, is calculated to do a very great
injury to many readers. 1t is generally held
that no special line OF matter is put in type
for readers, unless there has come about s
demand for that particular class of reading
that CHASTITY and sickening details of muir.
ders and hangings, while shocking the
sensibilities of some people, must be print
ed with all the emphasis that fve-line
heads and small-cap suoheads can give
that accounts Of seductions and raDet
must be set forth with the greatest minute
ness of detail; that cutting scrspe In some
obscure country village, the actors in which
are unknown ten miles from their own burg
must be reported in full. In fact the most
trivial occurrences, down TO the finding OF
the fetus Of q negro baby in some obscure
part of little country town, must, accord
ing to the pre- Raphaelite school OF journal
ism, be spread before readers to the exclu-
sion OF the best of reading matter Of the
higher order. Such "news" as we have
mentioned is generally skipped by very
large number of readers, who regard it as
appropriate only for the columns Of the
Police Gazette. People who read the disgust
ing details of crime and swindltUg are very
apt to be contaminated and to receive sug-
gesiions which will blossom after awhile in
toa bloom of crime or wrong doing.
In making these remarks the Courier
Journal is perfectly willing to make the adj
mission that it has sinned in the particular
mentioned too often. Within the last two
or three weeks our columns of State spe-
cials, for instance, have presented some
very disgusting reading. Obscure white and
black cutting serapes, rapes, seductions,
corner grocery robberies, chicken stealing
and other matter more trivial and great
deal positively revolving have appeared in
our columns. This is not the kind of news
Gf nine-tenths Of it can be dignifed with
the name "newsn) which we pro
pose publishing. The news" above
mentioned has excluded from our pages
much matter Of deep interest to all who
like to read news OF high order and matter
of literary and scientific and political inter
est, together with the better class OF light
reading. That such matter should give
place to the literature of the slums is not
what we intend shall be. We are satisfied
that the majority Of the readers of the
Courier Journal are in accord with US on this
subject We desire to print something better
than general criminal record, let Others
choose Whist course they may. Weshall print
the news, but we shall endeavor to eliminate
the foul and mslodorous driblets OF de
tail, the publication of which would make
it appear that the taste and prediction foi
such stuff among our people is positively In.
superable and must be gratifed.
The excuses Of free press are disgust
ing, and In this country there is no lack OF
illustration as to the sudacity and indecen
cy of newspapers where there is no restraint
Nevertheless, Mr.. Pitt was right in his idea
that the dangers of an unbridled newspaper
press are corrected by the press itself. The
purer newspapers quench the coDfagra
iion started by the lIeentious newspapers
Newspaper influence flows in stresm
about the country. The one refreshe:
and invigorates and enlightens like
pure water The other burns and
scorches and destroys like a lava stream
among the vineyards and gardens which
nestle around Vesuvius. Fortunately, IN
our country the people are free 10 criticist
the newspaper press, and il We take public
opinion, IN its largest sense, we find that Fl
resents the assumption that the taste Of the
American people who read ruus in the
direction OF blood tub and b2wdy house
literature. This, notwithstanding The very
large amount of vicious reading which il
served in newspapers, and which, un-
denisbly, does a work Of corruption the
depth Of whose iniquity can not be
fathomed.
m .o,..,,. 49,. =, -, a 49,. ,;1o1- 4
this country than anywhere else In the world
Of we may except Greece, where newspa-
per reading is general), and q very large
percentage of our population get all theiI
information from the newspaper press and
are more or less influenced by 1t, although
not enslaved as are the French to theil
newspapers. To title with such a eonstitu
ency is ambominable; to feed them with
blood pudding is atrocious; to present word
pictures of unehaste deeds constantly to the
young is criminal Yet, considering oUl
large population, the mixed character, the
vast extent OF our country, the great num-
Der Of newspapers, the hundreds Of millions
of copies In circulation, the number seGu-
lousy devoted to the business Of cCTrupting
the popular mind is not so large as might be
supposed.
Macaulay, in the fourth volume of bis
history OF England, says:
From the day on which the emancipation
OF our literature was accomplished the purlfi
cation of our literature began. That purifca
ton was effected, not by the Intervention o.
Senates or Meg istrates, but bY the opinion OF
the great body OF educated Englishmen, be-
fore whom good and evil were set, ans who
were left free to make their choice. During
one hundred and sixty years the liberty of oul
press has been constantly becoming more anC
more entire; and during those enc hundred
and sixty years the restraint imposed OIL writ
ers by the gen sral feeling of readers has beer
constantly becoming more and more strict At
length even that class of works in which it was
formerly thought that voluptuous fmagina-
ton was privileged to disport itself, love songs
comedies, novels, have become more decorouS
than the sermons OF the Seventeenth century
At this day foreigners who dear not print g
word rejecting on the government under
which they live are at a loss TO understand
how it happens that the first press in Europe
Is the most pruolsh.
While il can hardly be said that American
newspapers are "prudish," yet as q matter
OF fact the leading journals OF the United
States-those which influence the widest
area of public opinion-are considering the
manifold tastes to which they have to min
lister, remarkably free from foul suggestions
The liberty OF til press is, as Macaulsy
says, influenced by the ''Testraint imposed OF
writers by the general feeling Of readers. ,
We sfe satisfied that the general feeling Of
readers is fstlY against the pre-Raphaelitt
school of journalistic collectors of criminal
news. Even lover Of the literature of inns
must experience a slight feeling of seasick
ness over the montony OF the telegraphiC
reports of stabbing, shooting seduction and
rape He is frequently willing to exchange
such stuff for bright, crisp and chsste gath
erings from the fields of literature, art and
travel.
OF course, no newspaper can exclude all
criminal things from its columns; that We
do not propose to do. There are criminal
acts which can be classed as news, but we
do not propose to adopt the practice Of put
ting out drag-nets and hooks and Crap
pling-irons TO rake the bottom Of every fou
pool, hunting for putrid morsels of crime
We will leave that for those who are fond Of
such business.
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