The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-11-27
HAVE WOMEN GOT SENSE:
The Views Of Women Newspaper Writers.
From the Business Woman's Jour
nui,

TFrO;n the Business Woman's Jour
nal.
Que of the cieverest newspaper wo-
men know confessed to me recently
that she had become an utter pessimist
in her opinion OF newspapers and Of the
stuff they print. Her writing is prin-
cipalIy along the line of specials sup
posed to be of general interest to women
and adapted for the columns or depart
mcnts designed for the feminine mind.
She also handles for her own paper
most of the out-of-toWn exchanges, and
she has found it, she says, to be all al
most invariable rule that the sillier and
more trashy Of her screeds are widely
copied in the newspapers, while those
which are Of better sort IN both sub
iect and treatment are left unnoted.
"rhe fact is" said she, 'if / should
wlite as we'll as can, so that I really
could take pride and pleasure in it, 1
should very soon lose my situation. If,
on the other hand, could bring myself
to write the perfect trash which | see
is most popular, I could double my in
come. AS it is, | reconcile my self
respect and my pocketbook by pursuing
a medium course.
I have talked with many experienced
newspaper women on this topic Of late,
and their testimony is invariably like
that quoted above. Many, however,
unite with her in drawing from these
facts an erroneous conclusion to the
effect that the women readers Of the
newspapers do not want good things,
nor even know them when they see
them. The contrary is proved by the
success Of really first-class periodicals
designed especially for women, such as
Harper's Bazaar, the Womans Journal,
Good Housekeeping, and those newer
claiments Of popular favor, the Busi-
ness Woman's Journal, the Woman's s
Cycle, and the like; while the high: class
monthlies confidently count on three
fourths of their readers being women.
The fact is that women have no
voice and no choice as to what shall be
sent for their perusal in the newspapers.
With two or three notable exceptions
among our large newspapers, the wo-
mems departments are edited by men.
The stuff furnished by the syndicates
comes next; and the articles to be used
are usually chosen by men who almost
Invariably select the most fantastic and
improbable, the slangest and loudest.
When a paper has women writers upon
itc staff even, who are expected to fur
nish original articles for the woman's
column they seldom have much Liberty,
writing usually only what is ordered,
while the final authority which accepts
or condemns remains man, who
known nothing about it.
What can one do, however good ln-
tentions, abounding enthusiasm, or
broad an outlook she may have, if the
manager of her paper says, "The trou-
bic with all you newspaper women is
that you shoot over your readers heads.
The average woman never gets to be
more than 16 years old. She leaves
school then and marries and settles
down. After that all she cares for is
her crochet work and her babies and
new cooking recipes; and that's
what she wants to read about in the
newspapers 2"
And yet the man W no to my know
ledge, made the above remark is an
unusually clever and able editor and
manager, who b S achieved an almost
phenomenal success. With eyes wide
open to every new thing in h profess
sion, and brain quick to grasp any idea
which might be turned to the advant-
age of his paper, the modern editor yet
fails TO read the signs of the times so
far as women are concerned. He still
persists in holding to his preconceived
ideas OF her, ideas obtained from good
ness knows what source; for the type
described above is as surely extinct as
the dodo! He obtains the services of
high-priced experts to take charge of
his yachting, base ball, military, politi-
cal, labor, secret society, and a score Of
other columns, but he thinks anybody,
especially any man, can manage the
woman's department. The material
which goes to make up that depart
ment consequently is not what little
honest investigation would show wo-
men to be interested in to-day, but
what some man thinks women like, or
should like.
That newspaper will certainly score
high in fame and fortune which shall
be the first to give to woman's distinc-
tive activities and interests clubs
and societies, her education, her philan-
thropies, her duties public and private,
her amusements, her thought, progress,
and pursuits-the same attention now
accorded to those Of men; which shall
represent fairly, in short, the woman's
side Of life.
This cannot be done in a column or a
department. The trouble is that most
editors, when they devote any attention
to women's affairs whatever, think
they must give a lot of stuff which in
reality no woman expects a newspaper
to print or thanks it for printing
matter which she can find in better
reliable form in the class periodicals on
fashions and household matters. Let