The Portland daily press., 1882-07-08
A Sensible Word About Newspa-
perS.

Wilmington, DEL. Morning News
1t is great deal easier e !.
should print since the legitimate field Of activ-
ity includes every topic which engages the at
tentiol Of rational and decent society, while
the forbidden subjects are those against which
a man who respects himself instinctiyely re-
volts. Thus one of the first rules impressed
upon new Corners in well conducted newspaper
offices is this: ssWhen in doubt do not print.
This rule presupposes that the newspaper man
represents the average 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 general idea is often expressed in the
maxim that it is not what you put into news
paper 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 ex-
perience of the responsible journalist are up to
a certain grade. In the earlier history of jour
nalism the case was different. A certain bril-
liancy of expression, an excess of imaginative
power. Byronic tendency toward Bohemian
ism, that indescribable quality called "genius,"
which is unusually mere sham-these were not
only the qualities popularity ascribed to news
paper men but those which they actually pos.
sessed. Out of this atmosphere Of genius
came the tradition that newspaper man must
be not entirely 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
fits and starts and that he must cultivate some
pet eccentricity. In fact the notion was that
he must be very peculiar, and irregular, and
surprising, and that these characteristics made
him very great. This notion was utterly de-
stroyed BY the war. At that time the mass of
readers learned to demand the facts about cur
rent events, and the man with the flowing
neck-tie and the long hair and rolling eye was
knocked out of the printing shouse, never to
return. The newspaper man of to-day is a
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 behave himself as well as his business, to
represent as nearly as he can the average in
telligence and conscience of the community in
which he works, never going below the aver
age but always trying to lift it little higher.
His imagination is the least used part of his
mental equipment. He concerns himself with
facts chiefly, and with such facts as concern
other reputable citizens. While he pictures
the life of the time he avoids as much as pos
sible the bad life of the time. He tries
not to print what he would not like to
read aloud before refined women and innocent
children. He has fun and life and sparkle,
but these are decent in subject and pure in
their tendency.
1t is only when some half-ripe boy gets hold
of the printing press nowadays that it begins
to turn toward scandal and indecency. Igno-
rant himself, unguided, and with little sense
of responsibility, he has just wit enough to
copy the minor weaknesses of large newspa-
pers. Their sterling, solid qualities are beyond
his comprehension, and so he bends his lmma-
ture mind toward personal failings and moral
dirt He turns the press, which surpasses in
power all other social agencies for good, into
mere cider-mill of filth; and he becomes for
the time being terrific little social pest. His
nose becomes as sharp as terriers in the pur-
suit 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 contempti-
Bile survival, too. The public sense of decency
and the social instinct of self-preservation soon
force him to the wall in one way or another.
Honest and decent journalism ought not to be
credited with his incompetence and mischief
any more than the honorable profession of the
law should be held responsible for the disrep-
utable doings of a Tombs court shyster.