Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-02-04
OUR BOOK TABLE.
CUBAN SKETCHES BY srEELE-DoMEs-
TIC FOLKLORE BY DYER.
Two More Of the Transatlantic Series Of
Novels-Frof Rawlinson's View OF
the Origin of Nations-Etc.

THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER By Charles Dudley
Warner. Boston James R. osgood Co.
This is the essay which Mr.. Warner read
before the Social Science Association, at
Saratoga Springs, last September. 1t is an
interesting paper, and one the general public
will be benefited by reading. Is is not phil
osophical, but very practical consideration
of the relations of the public and the modern
newspaper. MIR. Warner shows that the pub
lie have no more right of interference with,
or Of dicsation to, a newspaper publisher,
than it has to direct the conduct of any other
purely private business. A paper is pub
lished to make money for its owner, and for
his personal advantage solely. If it claims
to be an organ, or to be published for philsn-
thropic purposes, it will be found that the in.
stance is exceptional, and that these excep-
tions are too few to vary the rule. Never
theless, he holds that the true editor has high
ideals, and hopes to benefit his fellow men by
his paper. As rule, the successful journal
pecuniarly is the b 81 Journal. The papers
that rely upon party support, upon manipu-
lation Of stock reports, the putting of doubt.
full enterprises, generally come to grief. Some
papers, as do some preachers, succeed by SEN
sationalism, by trimming, by shifting ETC..
blt a papers real poweris based on its ability
to free itself from all such entanglements,
and to be thoroughly independent. The pub
lie has no rights in the newspaper that it does
not pay for The notion that the subscriber
or advertiser has auy right regarding it ex.
cept ts cease Patronlzins it, is absurd. All
such ideas are based on misrepresentation of
what newspaper is The Calm of the pub
lie to have its communications printed in the
paper is equally baseless. If any one is in
jured by the paper he has his remedy at law I;
ar,If he 1ox ohoulI he o1r 70 of.
ford every man the fullest protection and the
most ample reparation. The advertiser has
no izht in the paper but that he pays for.
Nothing SO seriously Injuries a paper as for
the idea to go abroad that its editorial col
umrs 10 the slightest degree represent any
property control by the advertisers. Most
papers cost more than they sell for; they sci.
dom can live upon mere subscriptions the
profits depend on the advertisements, and the
advertisements depend on the circulation.
The couutingroom always desires to concil-
late the advertisers but the editors desire to
make the paper especially accept ible to the
general reader. Between this necessary Sec
saw-the necessary advertiser and the neces.
sary subscriber-there is many newspaper
wrecked. Another prevalent and false idea
is that q newspaper is a ch irritable Institution.
It is private business, as is the merchants,
and should no more he expected to give some
thing for nothing. Its space is the equiva-
lent of money to it; it is its means of life !;
yet the manager of the paper is constantly
beset to give away his space, and
generally for purposes that interest
only the fewest of his patrons.
Mr.. Warner very humorously and pointedly
recises the many appeals made to favor this,
that or the other enterprise TO do this. that
OF the other thing. which will be TO the
special gain of some private interest. He
says: Il have known rich churt hes, to
whose members it was a convenience to have
their Sunday and other services announced,
withdI aw the announcements when the editor
declined any longer to contribute weekly
fifty cents of space" This is the simple
truth, and Mr.. Warner puts it very mildly
at that He next considers what news is,
and then the attractive arrangement thereof.
He considers the question of editorial resror-
sibility, and holds that it is exactly that which
attaches to every other member of society.
The American newspaper is susceptible OF
some Improvement bat has little or nothing
to learn from the journals of other nations.
As we use the word, the French journals are
not newspapers at all. But if they neglect
news, they give the intellectual ferment, dis
cuss politics and the social drift, and sup
ply the material that Paris likes to talk
over; and if these things are trivial. never
tbeless from them the American journals may
take hint. Mr.. Warmers chapter on the
collection of the news is the most interesting
part of his essay. He believes the system
which depends upon the labors of Geographic
operators as news collectors to be full of
weakness. These agents are generally trained
to regard only the accidental, the abnormal
and the startling in news, and their judg-
ment OF what is important is not only biased,
but is formed by purely local standards. In
M -, ~,
statement and not wholly correct iu assertion.
He admits that special agents cannot be en-
ployed in every place. The papers of the
day are loaded with accounts of casualties
and crimes, concerning people Of whom we
never heard before and never shall hear again,
the reading of which is of no earthly use to
any human beiog." This also is putting the
case stronger than the facts justify-consid-
erably; but there is much worthy of con-
sideration in the words quoted. Mr.. w. does
not propose a remedy for that of which he
full choice OF agents, closer supervision of
the telegraphic news reports, q more diligent
winnowing out of the chaf from the wheat.
Ore of the most striking features of the
country newspaper he finds to be the wonder
full development Of local and reighborhood
news, and this he believes to be of recent
date. Largely these local items are vsPid,
aud of small interest to any save those they
Immediately concern, but they ike to see
them in priot, and take the paper for that
purpose. He believes that this sort of read
ing belittles and contracts the mind, and is of
small benefit to any one but he does not
propose any feasible plan of improvement.
He deplores the mania for notoriety,
and regrets that the newspaper is the
vehicle of i.-sometimes the occasion,
but not the cause. The newspapers
may have fostereJ, but cid not create
this hunger for publicity. The very people
who talk about the violation of the
sanctity of private life are often the very
people who will show that they regard the
paper as devoid of enterprise if il fails to
furnish the regular amount of personalities,
detailed reports of private affairs etc. Re-
porting, Mr.. Warner consi 1ers at length, and
the necessity Of making the system In the
highest degree trustworthy and reliable. He
inclines to the belief that in this department
is to be found the chief weakness Of the
American newspaper. Too often one must
read reports in half dozen papers of large
cities. in order to strike a general average,
and thus arrive at what the truth really is.
Mr.. w. makes sweeping charge, and not
without grounds, but it is too general. There
are journals which make it their motto and
rule to be sure Of the facts, and to report
nothing. rather than be in any doubt as to
the truth of what is stated-and among such
this journal is one-aDd such papers are far
more numerous than Mr.. Warner leads his
readers to believe. Indeed it is one of the
most encouraging signs of the times that the
public is becoming more and more dis GRIM
mating in this respect, more and more exact
irg regarding the reliability of newspaper
reports, and that the reliable and reputable
press is receiving daily the encouragement
that is its due. The result is that higher
order of talent and character is being de-
manded and employed on the newspapers of
the day, and with it comes corresponding
reliability and conscientiousness in re.
ports Mr.. w. is correct when he says
that reports, in a certain class of papers, are
often colored, warped and misleading, and
correct in his demand that reports shall be of
character to inspire public confidence and
trust, and that they shall preserve the spirit
of the matter and the occasion, and the mean
ing Of the most important discussions
presented, even il but briefly done.
We car not fellow Mr.. Warner throughout
all the subjects he considers, but have shown
the scope of his criticisms and the character
of his treatment of the matter in hand, and
conclude this glance at the essay with q final
quotation which is a high tribute to charac-
ter of talent which finds full sc,pe on those
American newspapers that are conducted on
the higher planes Of excellence: Report
ing requires as high ability as editorial
writing perhaps of different kind. though
in the history of American journalism the
hest reporters have made the best editors