, 1882-12-16
Criticising the Reporter.

Every nov and then somebody sends q
note to the newspaper cr,ticising the re-
pcrsers WORK, most because Of that indi-
viduals ability to nose out and dish up in
piquant shape the little details Of .'atfsirs,'
saiacious or otherwise- The reporter has
simply supplied demand Ii the pub
iic had not demanded il the reporter
would not have collected end presented
It The taste, If 1t be vitiate and un-
Sholesome, belongs not to the reporter So
mush as 10 the communi'y IN which he
works. IL Is not v,riated or un-
wholesome taste which dos no: descend
10 immoral Levels Curiosity to see be-
hind the scenes of our neighbors awakens
the demand for such items as We are talk
ing about. 1t is news, such rs j; Is, and i;
Is relished. Ii one paper does rot supply
It another will, and 1t will be pa,ronized
on that very account.
The public vii not be content t. hear
that Mr. Loveabout has run away with
Miss Lnyeanywhere. Tie readers Of the
paper want TO know all the antecedents of
Mr. LoYeabout; his former love making,
If he had any, which is pre,umable, and
especially his efforts in behalf of Miss
Loveanywhere; and about his standing IN
society and that sort of thing Then the |
public will be just as curious about Mss
ovesnywhere Why she should be run |
away with; what her family think of 1t;
what arts she used to Capture Loveabout: |
whether she was the sort of girl for a |
young man 10 run away with, ami If she /
had ever before been run away with |
When that is all told they want 10 know
the route these parties took, where they
stopped, the number Of the room at the hotel
they occupied, what questions they asked
the clerk. II the runaway people belong
IN high life the curiosity is heightened.
Then the reporter interviews the clerk OF
the bell boy, and pours into the ear Of
the chanbermaId lot Of taffy to ger her
to disclose what she knows abOnt the 1
parties. He visits the rooms they occu-
pied III the hope of finding some
scrap OF paper or dropped feather
which will wing his Imagination. He
visits parents ut both parties and
digs at them until the whole story Is in
his possession. All this is put into cold,
hard type. With the facts sprinkled here
and there. with proper literary condi-
ment, and it is deyoured fret of all by
the majority or readers.
Perhaps man who max S himself con-
spicuous by some act like this has the in
alienable right t. Withdraw from the
world as he sees ht, hnt before he did it,
he did hot think So towards others who
had gone before him IN that weaving way,
and he read with avidity, whatever mas
printed about them. The public IS Just
like him, and it clam ors for a Reporter to
hunt him down.
1t is the same with all the events " hich
Come within the range of the reporters
work. The public is not satisfied that a
house burned down on Main street, and
the remains of human being were found
in the debris The cause OF the hre must
be tod, who discovered 1t, the insurance,
all the gossip about 1t, the finding Of the
bones Of the man who found them first,
all the CHASTITY details must be marked
out.
interviewing is another feature, and,
when it is fully and properly done there
are a thousand interesting things in It
Do not criticiss the reporter He is
simply supplying a demand one may
not like il but there are one hundred who
do.