New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-17
NEwyORK DAILY TRIBUNE, TUESDAY, JULY II, 1885.

savage to say about the license ana ripaio,s
that are allowed in the local columns OF inc
nevspapers. He buys one journal after announcer
on the railway trains, and after ransacking
everv mage for an extended report or the
previous days proceedings of the British Par
lament. ia forced to find recreation in follow
ing the adventures of the reporters In tneir
scamper about town In search OF local
intelligence. His disgust Is expressed unre-
seryedIy in the chapter on the American Press
which Is invariably to be found toward the
close of his volume. He seldom fails TO
record his conviction that there Is no such
thing as privacy in American life, and that not
only the amenities, but the common decencies' Oh
good society are systematically neglected Id
the profession of journalism. These structures
have been repeated so often in England that
a permanent impression has been left upon the
public mind. The American, as seen through
English eyes, is the helpless prey OF swarm
Of buzzing reporters, fastening upon MIN as nc
eats, works or sleeps, boring him with impertl-
nent inquiries, and singing him with wilful
calumnies.
Now the English critics are aware that there
are two methods of reforming this glaring
abuse in American journalism. The first is 10
demonstrate practically that the local intelli-
gence of large city can be collected without
the aid of newspaper reporters. The London
Journals, however, have never shown how tins
can be done. London is nation by itself,
having a population larger than all Scotland
and almost as large ms that of either Ireland
or Egypt. But so far as the nation OF London
is concerned, the daily journals could
easily be dispensed with, for the
chronicles they present OF its daily
life are meagre and superficial The attention
of those journals Is wholly engrossed with
what happens in the world outside London,
so that with the exception of Parliamentary
debates and the law courts, everything that
occurs in the city itself is systematically neg
lected. Inasmuch, therefore, as the London
newspapers have not acquired the art OF
collecting local information, they cannot be
expected to teach the American profession how
the work can be done without the aid OF reporters
The alternative method of reforming the abuse
and abominatiOn of interviewing remains
TO be considered. This consists in raising
the reporters business 10 higher level,
investing it with elegance OF man
ner and social prestige. and diguifying it
as n ulplOHldtiC DIOltoosoH WIN hio'DhAS f~'N-
niscences of its own. The London Times,
being nomnay the leading journal in Eng
land, was the proper agency for introducing
new methods of interviewing" and thereby
educating the American press IN the refine
ments of the profession. 1t has not shlrked
IFS responsibility. but has allowed its Paris
correspondent to elevate despised calling, to
impart to it literary and social distinction,
and to render it one of the most elegant and
refined OF the modern arts. His series OF inter-
views with Gambetta. Bismarck. lsnail and
the other great personages, whom he has cared TO
admit to his confidence, or barely to honor with
his distinguished patronage, ought to exert an
educational influence upon the entire Amrrc"n
press. There is no reason why the bumbest
reporter OF a crossroads weekly should degrade
himself while pursuing the rounds Of pro-
fessonal duty. He has only to acquire the
grand manner In order to tower in epical Dig
nifty above kings, statesmen and aldermen.