The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1888-10-21
NEWSPAPER ETHICS.

AIAwYEB, when asked to plead cause,
demands his fee before he opens his per-
suasiye mouth. You may hang and be
damned before he will give you his
legal service gratis. If one desires to
know what investments are good and
likely to be profitable, the broker who
advises him is quite sure to charge a
commission for making the purchase.
WHY, then, should an editor be expected
to advocate all sorts of public projects
Dro bono publicoF The contractors for
improvements make money out of them.
Why should they not pay the editors who
present their arguments to the publicf
1t is not considered derogatory for the
highest lawyer in the land to appear be-
fore the city council and advocate the
granting of a franchise; but the editor
who charges money for doing the same
thing is assailed with cries of a "subsi-
died press" We are not saying that
the cry is unjust, but we do ask where
the difference is between that which the
lawyer is praised for doing and that for
which the editor is denounced. Theman
from whom the lawyer asks fee pro-
ceeds to draw his check; the man from
whom the editor asks pay cries "black-
LOU UObu uO bAc bCl1
Why is there one code for the Bar and
another for the Press?
THE above is clipped from an ex-
change. A good many editorial re-
marks similar in sentiment are float
ing through the press. 1t is to be re-
gretted. The idea implied in the
extract above is that a newspaper man
should be paid for advocacy, for "ser.
vices" as lawyer or physician.
That idea is false one, is based OF
a wrong conception of a newspaper
mans duties and his relations to ths
public, and such an idea works mis-
chief in furnishing an excuse for vena
suggestions and veiled demands tina
resemble blackmail as the mist resem
bles the rain.
No newspaper man deserving thu
name, would endorse the extrac
which heads this column or quote j
approvingly. IL he did he would
show that he didn't understand hi
business.
Leaving high ideals, correct princi
ciples, noble impulses, aud SO on tt
one side, and looking at the matter a
a cold business proposition, it is no
policy for a newspaper to favor /;
cause for coin.
"Why," asks our mistaken contem
porary, sis there one code for the Bar
and another for the Pressw Because
in the very nature of things ther,
must be.
First and foremost a newspaper
must have public confidence or it cam
prosper. Nothing more quickly de
stroys the prestige of newspaper, be
gets distrust of and SO reduces it,
value, than the well founded suspicion
that its editorial and news columns
are the property of whoever wants tc
pay for their use. Even a religious
journal will, after while, be injured
by this.
An editors relations to the public
are totally different from lawyers
A lawyers duty is solely to his
client, whose interests he is paid tc
attend to. An EDITORS duty is to the
entire public, whose interests he, b!
reason of his position, must see con-
served.
The lawyer is perfectly right in de
manding coin for spoken advocacy
for he has assumed no implied duty
to look out for public welfare. Tht
newspaper would be perfectly wrong
in demanding coin for written advc
cacy, for it has assumed those obliga
tions and in abandoning communit!
for individual interests would betra.
its trust,
1t is not well to lose sight of thes,
things.
The distinction we make is a yer,
plain one, easily seen by all. If tn,
newspaper man who wrote the ex
. tract we quote, really believes wha
he implies, he's in the wrong place
He is failure as a newspaper maj
and probably wouldn't fare much bet