The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-08-15
THE NEWSPAPER MEN.
WHAT THE REV. DIR. TALMAGE HAS
TO SAY OF THEM.
Sensible Talk by the Famous Preacher as
to the Work Of the Press---He Does Not
Believe in Impersonal Journalism.
T From. the Minneapolis Tribune !

Believe in Impersonal Journalism.
From. The Minneapolis Tribune
Every newspaper reporter in New
York is my personal friend. | have
been betrayed by about every class of
men in the rid, but never by a news
paper man, and | believe there is a.
spirit OF fairness abroad in the news j
papers that is hardly to be found any
where else There is no man, how
ever poor, if he has been done an in
justice, that cannot get himself set
right by the newspaper. We find a
great deal of fault with the newspa-
pers. Perhaps by our own indistinct-
ness we are reported as saying just
what we did not say, and there is
regular riot of commas and semicolons
and periods, and we get used to talk
ing about the 'blunderiEg printing
press Or sometimes we take up
paper full of social scandals and di-
vorce cases and we talk about the
filthy, scurrilous press, but could
preach whole sermon on the ever
lasting blessings of a good newspaper.
Il good newspaper is the grandest
temporal blessing that God has given
the people of this century,
''In the first place all the people
read the newspapers, and the newspa-
pers furnish the greater proportion of
the reading to the people. They don't
read books. The old people look for
the deaths, the young look for the
marriages, the business man reads the
business and financial columns, and
those who are unemployed read the
want "ods,' Great Libraries make few
intelligent men and women, but ne VS.
papers lift the nations into sunlight.
"My idea of good newspaper is
mirror of life itself Some people
complain because the evil of the world
is reported as well as the good. The
evil must be reported as well as the
good, or how will we know what to
guard against or what to reform?
There is a chance for discrimin nation
as to how much space shall be given
to reports of such things as prize fights,
but the newspaper that merely pre-
sents the fair and the beautiful and
the bright side Of life is misrepre-
sentati~n. That family is best quail
fled for the duties of life who have told
to them not only what good there is in
the world, but what evil there is in
the world, and is told to select the
good and reject the evil"
"Do ycu believe in impersonal
journalism p
81 believe "a eat improvement will
he made in the newspapers when they
drop the impersonal style. The best
pens and the best minds are engaged
to day in writing for newspapers and
their writings often appear in the edi-
torial columns, yet most of them die
unknown, and live, many of them. on
incompetent salaries. After a while
their hand forgets its cunning and
without resources they die. The world
never knew them. If this imperson-
ality were dropped in the more i'm
portant newspaper writings, it would
be greater justice to those who engage
in newspaper work. 1t used to add
weight To an article i'll the New York
Tribune to see the initials H g. at the
end of it. When men sign their
names TO what they write, literary men
will come to a larger appreciation,
No honorable man would write any
thing that he would be ashamed to
put his name to, and writers can then
be held responsible for what they write.
The editorial impersonal We will not
then stand betw eel. IA man who has
been assailed and the writer who is
responsible for The article