Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-11-06
THE IDEAL NEWSPAPER.
An Interesting Essay on Journalism ~
Henry Watters0n.

THE IDEAL NEWSPAPER.
An Interesting Essay on NAL "
Henry Watterson.
Yet, after all, has not literature, and
particularly fictitious literature, under lts
old forms, very nearly run it's course? Is
there anything in books which the news
paper, adequately rendered. cannot better
produce and supply, except the records OF
times when there were no newspapers, ID
hitting that works OF III imagination have
exhausted their possibilities and spent their
force? Mind you, no man thinks less OF the
current newspaper than I do. 1t is q vast
power misdirected, and l was almost going
to say, wasted. But / have in my fancy q
newspaper not 80 misdirected and wasted,
conducted under the largest sense OF public
and personal responsibility, edited with
tact, ability and care, intelligently and
clearly, and, where the occasion requires,
brilliantly written, and yet furnished with
all the Of modern enterprise and
organization.
No newspaper answering this description
uOW CAl0t0 III INK "OIIu, duO pCIudDo AOnV
is likely to exist for a long time to come.
But one will exist as soon as the expert
ment is tried by q man equal to the task
and master of the situation Immediately
at hand. Then the public, seeing what a
newspaper really can be, will not hesitate
to make it's choice; and, after that, it will
pay no man of brains and ambition to fish
mud out OF the sewers.
But, it may be asked, what ought q news
paper be, and what can it be? It should,
to begin with, be a history, and a complete
history, OF yesterday, neatly and justly
told. 1t should, to end with, be q chron-
icle of the life and thought, and. as far as
may be, q reflection Of the temper and tone
The newspaper which first achieves these
purposes will be the greatest OF the practi.
cal successes, just as those newspapers
which have approached them nearest have
been the greatest practical successes.
HIRE CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.
At the bottom of this scheme lie three
cardinal principles. They are: Disinter.
estedness, cleanliness and capacity.
The ideal editor need not be-nay, he
must not be-a neutral or q free lance"
Often the worst kinds OF servility and cor
ruption are found incorporating under the
pretense, and sometimes the actual belief
Of Independence" No man can amount
to much in this world who does not believe
in something, and who has not some
method in his believing, and to say of a
man that he is not a partisan is to imply
that he ia either a scamp 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 most seek to represent the
truth, as he sees it., for truths sake, and
not for the sake of an office or a job. He
must deal fairly and frankly by the public.
Even the protested advocates of special
interests by doing 50 have gained great
credit; how much more credit ia to be
gained and merited by one who dedicates
himself wholly to the general interest? Too
honest to be bought and too brave to be
bullied, such a one needs only capacity to
compass every end possible to the reason
OF his being. He will establish between his
readers and himself a perfect understand
ing; just such an understanding as is estab-
lished between the upright banker and his
.depositors or the honest lawyer and his
clients.
The business of tine journalist is to arrest
the attention of the public fromda today,
and this puts a strain upon the inventive
Inc the nervous energy which are
at war with the steady and sturdy compo-
sure indispensable to successful admins.
tration. In his public intercourse the jour
nalist is q debater, not an administrator.
Corners, il allowed no time to reflect or
prepare, and has to speak to every dis
jointed thought, giving each it's proportion,
An event, an idea, no bigger than the first
ray OF the morning sun, appears above the
surface OF affairs; he cannot wait for this
to disclose itself. but must deal with it at
once; it shows it's face a little more, and he
must mark the change and deal with that;
and finally, by the time it has reached it's
complete development and ia ready for
statesmen to take hold OF it, the journal
list has put it before his readers in many
ways, according as it may ave altered it's
aspects in the process OF rising above the
horizon and ascending to its zenith.
He who is unwilling to submit himtelf to
the limitations which such work as this
imposes had best leave journalism severely
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.
LITERATURE N JOURNALISM.
But / was speaking OF literature and
journalism, and the gradual crowding out
OF the one by the other. Already the
greatest publishing houses are the great
offices. The eminent p%ropagan-
dists of Christendom no longer rely upon
books. To be excluded from the news
papers, or ignored by them, is to be lost.
To Mr.. Gladstone and to DR.. Doellinger, to
Mr.. Ruskin and to Mr.. Henry George, the
newspaper is a necessity. The press OF the
world can, any day Of the year, and by a
flash, as it were, supply 5O,OOO.OOO of
readers. Its wealth is proportionate. Three
or four newspapers canform a syndicate to
any possible combination OF book
The end must be, therefore,
that the best writing will find it's compen-
sation in the journals, and, as time goes
the journals will gradually draw to
themselves the best writer's. When that
time comes, it will not be, as now in Jour-
nalism, a contest OF epigram and epithets, |
in which those who are the sauciest come
off victorioue, but an open and RESPONSE |
BILE competition for legitimate patronage, |
based upon the principles OF supply..and de-
mand which prevail in other lines OF bust !
ness enterprise.
No mar who has marked and considered |
the wonderful progress OF journalism the
asst forty years can doubt this or fail to !
zee that the journal of the future will sur
pass the journal of the present day in
character and tone quite as far as the
ournal OF to-day surpasses the journal of
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