Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-09-24
THE IDEAL NEWSPAPER.

l do. 1t is vast power misdirected, and /
was almost going to say wasted. But /
In my fancy see newspaper not so misdi- |
rected of wasted, conducted under the |
largest sense of public and personal re-
sponsibility, edited with tact, ability and !
care, intelligently and Clearly, and, where |
the occasion requires, brilliantly written,
and yet furnished with all the resources
of modern enterprise and organization.
No newspaper answering this descrip-
ton now exists in the world, and perhaps
none Is likely to exist for a long time TO
come. But one will exist as soon as the
experiment is tried by man equal to the
task and master of the situation immedi-
ately at hand. Then the public, seeing
what newspaper really can be, will not
hesitate to make its choice; and after
that 1t will pay no man of
brains and ambition to fish mud out of
the sewers.
But, it may be asked, what ought a
newspaper to be, and what can it be? 1t
should, TO begin with, be history, and
complete history, of yesterday, neatly
and justly told. 1t should, to end with,
be chronicle of the life and thought, and
as far as may be, a reflection of the tenn
per and tone of the people, done with alb
first achieves these purposes will be the
greatest of practical successes, Just as
those newspapers which have approached
them nearest have been the greatest prac-
teal successes.
At the bottom of this scheme lie three
cardinal principles. They are:
Disinterestedness.
Cleanliness.
Capacity.
The ideal editor need not be-nay he
must not be-a neutral, or "free-lance."
Often the worst kinds of Servility and
corruption are found masquerading und-
er the pretense, and sometimes the &C
tual belief, of independence" No man
can amount to much in this world who
does not believe in something, who has
not some believing, and to say of man
that he is either a skamp or a skeptic
The ideal editor may be as partisan as he
pleases. But he must be disinterested
that Is to say, he must be what he claims
to be, and must seek to represent TRUTH
as he sees 1t, for truths sake, and not for
the sake of an Office or job. He must
| deal fairly and frankly by the public.
Even the prOfessed advocates of special
| interests by doing so have gained great
credit, how much more credit is to be
gained and merited by one who dedi-
Gates himself wholly to the general inter
est! Too honest to be bought and too
brave to be bullied, such an one needs
| only capacity to compass every end pos
| sible to the reason of his being. He will
| establish between his readers and him
! self perfect understanding as is estab-
| ished between the upright banker and
| his depositers or the honest lawyer and
| his clients.
| journalism, if journalists would only
see it, is quite as exact a science as law
and banking, and to it the same general
principles should be applied as are ap-
piled to other professions which depend
upon the faith and credit of the many,
and which look for their rewards to the
service they render the public. The
| banker who neglects his bank, the law
yer who quits his office to seek other
kinds of profit, or fancied profit, poll
teal or otherwise, than belong to his
| legitimate business loses-no matter
what he may gain by his venture-pro-
fessiOnal character and custom. So will,
and so does the journalist. journalism
is no less a jealous mistress than law,
and will reluctantly divide her favors
with another. Indeed in public life the
best, and all, that any man can have is a
constituency; and this, once acquired,
may not be trifed with. He who is true
to it will stand, as he who is not will fall,
| and the rule works precisely the same in
the press as in politics.
| There have been. of course some iOurn-
alists who have shone in official life, but
not many, because the conditions that
make a man brilliant in journalism are
| the reVarSa of thOSa vpbiob lya hi m hril
liant in office. The business of the jour
alist is to arrest the attention of the pub
lie from day to day, and this puts strain
upon the inventive faculties and the nerv-
Gus energy which are at war with the
! steady and sturdy composure ind1spen-
! sable to successful administration.
In his public intercourse the journalist
| Is debater, not an administrator. He
must be ready on the instant for all com
| ers is allowed no time to reflect or pre-
pare, and has to speak to every dis ointed
thought, giving each its proportion. An
event, an idea no bigger than the first ray
of the morning sun, appears above the sur
| face of affairs; he can not wait for this
| to disclose itself, but must deal with it at
| once; it shows its face little more, and
| he must mark the change and deal with
that; and finally, by the time it has reach
ed its complete development and is ready
| for statesmen to take hold of it, the jour
nalist has put it before his readers in
many ways, according as if it may have
altered its aspects in the process of ris-
ing above the horizon and ascending to
| its zenith.
| He who is unwilling to submit himself
| to the limitations which such work as this
! imposes had best leave journalism severe
ly alone; but to those who realize it and
| accept it there are lively times and plenty
of usefulness ahead, for few pursuits in
| the world are more variable and exciting
than journalism.
But I was speaking of literature and
| journalism, and the gradual crowding
out of the one by the other, Already the
great publishing houses are the great
| newspaper offices. The eminent propa-
gandists of Christendom no longer rely
upon books. To be excluded from the
| newspapers, or ignored by them, is to be
lost. To Mr.. Gladstone and to DR..
DOellinger, to Mr.. Ruskins and to Mr.
Henry George the newspaper is neces-
sity. The press of the world can any
day of the year, and by the flash, as it
were, supply fifty millions of readers.
Its wealth Is proportionate. Three or
TOUR newspapers can form syndicate to
overbid any possible combination of
book publishers the end must be, there
fore, that the best writing will find the
best compensation in the journals, and as
time goes on, the journals will gradually
draw to themselves the best writers.
When that time comes, it will not be, as
now in journalism, contest of epigrams
and epihets in which the sauciest come
off victorious, but an open and response
BILE competition for legitimate patronage,
based upon the principles of supply and
demand which prevail in other lines Of
business enterprise.
No man who has marked and consider
ed the wonderful progress of journalism
the last forty years can doubt this, or fail
to see that the journal of the future will
surpass the journal of the present day in
character and tone quite as far as the
Journal of to-day surpasses the journal of
yesterday in opportunity and equipment.
The ideal Journalist must be independ-
ent of the political managers and the
party workers. To be so independent he
must keep out of their company. He
must be independent of the advertisers.
To be so independent he must give them
a medium of communication which they
can not dispense with He must be indie