Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-12
A Sensible Word About Newspapers

[From the Wilmington (Del.) Morning News It is great deal easier to say what a news paper should not print than it is to say what 1t should print, since the legitimate field of activity includes every topic which engages the attention of rational and decent society, while the forbidden subjects are those against Vhich man who respects himself instinct lively revolts. Thus one of the first rules impressed upon new corners in well con ducted newspaper offices is this: ''When in loubt do not print" This rule presupposes that the newspaper man represents the aver age sense of decency of the community and that the doubt with which he regards the matter will be shared, only in an intensified degree, by society at large. The same gen. eral idea is often expressed in the maxim that it is not what you put into 8 newspaper, but what you keep out of it that makes it successful.
 The rule and the maxim both rest upon the assumption that the personal character and experience of the responsible journalist are up to certain grade. In the earlier his tory of journalism the case was different. certain brilliancy of expression, an excess of imaginative power, Byronic tendency toward Bohemianism, that indescribable quality called ''genius," which is usually mere sham-these were not only the qualities popularly ascribed to newspaper men, but chose which they actually possessed. Out of the atmosphere of genius" came the tradi- tlon that newspaper man must be not en- tirely reputable; that he must not be too willing to pay bill that he must certainly get drunk upon occasion and must be at all times ready to drink; that he must work by its and starts, and that he must cultivate ! some pet eccentricity. In fact the notion l was that he must be very peculiar, and irreg- nlar, and surprising, and that the character | Istics made him very great. The uoton was utterly destroyed by the war At l hat time the mass of readers learned to de- l mand the facts about current events, and
 the man with the flowing necktie and the ! long hair and rolling eye was knocked out of \ the printing house, never to return. The ! newspaper man of to day Is plain man. who
 lives with his family, pays his debts, goes to ! church, keeps himself clean in body and ! mouth and spirit, and generally tries to be
 nave himself we'll as his business to rep | resent as nearly as he can the average intelli 1 gence and conscience of the community ir
 which he works, never going below the aver
 age, but always trying to lift little higher.
 lis imagination is tho least used of his men
 tal equipment He concerns himself witt
 facts chiefly, and with such facts as l concern other reputable citizens. While
 he pictures the life of the time
 he avoids much as possible the bad life oi
 the time. He tries not to print what he
 would not like to read aloud before refine C
 women and innocent children He has fun
 and life and sparkle but these are decent 1T I subject and pure in their tendency.
 l 1t is only when some half ripe boy gets
 hold of the printing press nowadays that il
 begins to turn toward scandal and indecency.
 ignorant himself. unguided, and with little
 sense of responsibility, he has just wit enough
 to copy the minor weaknesses of large news
 papers, Their sterling solid qualities are be 1 yond his comprehension, and so he bends hil ! immature mind toward personal feelings and
 moral dirt. He turns the press, which sur
 passes in power all other social agencies fol 1 good, into mere cider mill of filth and he ! L4;,, sE- EIx
 social post His nose become as sharp as ! terriers in the pursuit of human weaknesses | and sins, and the deeper he can stick it into
 moral sore the happier and prouder he is | He is survival of the worst, and very
 puny and contemptible survivor, too Int | public sense of decency and the sooiai instino l of self preservation force him to wall in on, l way or another. Honest and decent journal
 ism ought not to be credited with his incom | petence and mischief any more than the hon
 orable profession of the law should be helt
 responsible for the disreputable doings of
 Tombs court shyster.