The morning call., 1893-10-26
CLEAN NEWSPAPERS.


The appeal for purity, addressed by the
ladies' meeting at Miss Vests boarding
school to the newspapers Of the coast,
ought to command respectful hearing
There is truth as well as common-sense in
the ladies' contention when they say
We believe the time has come for the papers
10 take higher stand on the question of public
morals. we deplore in them 'sensationalism,'' -
not the exposure of crime. We deplore "per-
sonalites." not the public announcement of
personal acts. We believe that it is a minority
of your readers who demand sensational. per-
sonal or immoral details rather than the clean
statement OF facts and truth. There is too often
a minuleness of detail in the reports given OF
crime, wickedness and senSuaity, which can
crafty only prurient and vulgar curiosity or
awaken such curiosity in innocent and inexpert-
enced minds. We feel that spreading broadcast
vicious and debasing news in our homes and
among our children, and the consequent know-
edge and easy familiarity with crime in all IFS
forms, has a tendency TO lower The tone Of
thought among The best of our people and TO
strengthen the worst instincts among the
morally lower classes.
This demand may be summed up in
single sentence: the ladies want the
newspapers to be in closer touch with the
times. In the perverted stage the news
paper is nothing if not sensational 1t
delights in reporting police cases which
are unfit for publication. 1t gives full
details of aggravated assaults. murders
ana executions. 1t is profuse in details
OF divorce cases. This class of matter
fills its pages because experience shows
that it is popular in clubs and other places
where coarse minded men usually abound.
Where civilization PREVAILS and men mar
ry and have children the popularity of
sensational and prof1igate journ alism de-
Gays. No father wishes TO receive in his
house a paper which he las got to hide
from his daughter. But the coarse-minded
class remains large; SO large that unscru-
pulous newspaper publishers think 1t
worth while to cater for ii. 1t is only by
studying periods of years that it is seen
how steadily that class declines in num-
bers. and how uniformly the class which
demands decent journalism increases.
In rude places the Bloody Tomaho,Ck
suits public taste, and Its profits are
often in proportion to lis rutrescence.
But by and by when the village is de-
yeloped with schools and churches the
place of the TomGhdlgk is taken by n de-
cent sheet which publishes the news with
out invading the coaca. Even without
going 20 the baekwoods for illustrations
comparison OF the newspapers which were
published half a century ago in the East
ern States and in England with the news
papers which appear in those localities
to-day shows how taste has grown purer,
A.
journalism has become.
Obser vation abuudantly confirms the
statement of the ladies that sensational
journalism ''has a tendency 10 lower the
thought among cur best people and TO
strengthen the worst instincts among the
morally lower classes" In communities
where crime and vice in their various
forms constitute the staple material of
journalism mems conseiepces grow callous
through familiarity with the violation of
moral and statute law. A criminal is not
an object of general reprObation. Knaves
and jurv-briberS walk the streets and de-
cent people bow to them. Thieves associ-
ate with reputable men. A dissolute life
does not entail general odium. People
laugh at the triumph of villainy over JUS
tlCcs 1ucl0 As nO Bcu6Ihl uISpOellIOu 10
ostraciZe those who are vile Where this
is the prevailing tone OF public sentiment
wrong-dealing must be more prevalent than
it is in communities where viciousness en-
tails contempt; and, in like manner, pub
lie opinion must be more prone to err on
questions which involve moral c0nsidera-
tions.
There have been periods in history
where professors of letters threw re-
straints to the winds. Such a period was
the early Roman empire. when the genius
of the poets was devoted to the gIorifea-
ton Of depravity. The result was social
and politica degeneration which is with
out parallel. Another such period was
the era following the French revolution,
when charity bids US assume that the
French people all went mad. In both
cases the public mind had been corrupted
by licentious publications. which sapped
moral principle and familiarized the masses
with pictures of wrongdoing. That which
on these occasions was carried to an ex-
treme which brought its own cure is being
done to-day in less degree in every COM
munity which sustains a press devoted to
sensational descriptions of vice and crime