The morning call., 1893-11-13
INTERVIEWED THE EDITORS.
Papers Should Print the News, but
Omit Some Details.

Rev. NJ. j. Ferguson, pastor of the
First Christian Church, Twelfth street.
near Howard, prepared himself to talk
on the subject of the press reform by
interviewing a number of editors and
newspaper men. aud the criticisms which
he made upon the daily papers were, he
said. the criticisms which editors them
selves passed upon the papers of the city.
II tried to look at the question from the
standpoint of newspaper man." said Mr..
FERGUSON, land while l was very court
eously received in my investigations. with
one exception, and the editors all admitted
that there was ground for improvement.
each one thought that it was some other
paper than his own that needed reforming.
"But before | proceed to criticize the
press for what / conceive to be its fault, [
want to give il credit for the good which it
certainly accomplishes.
"It often aids in uncoverlDg crime when
the police are baffled. 1t restraints men
from doing wrong because they fear the
publicity of the paper more than the law
and its penalties. They are great helps in
every charitable movement and give the
news which is absolutely necessary to the
business world.
"But for all they do we still have the
right to demand that they shall be perfect,
for they have become so closely inter-
woven into the life of the public that they
are public institution.
II found various opinions among news
paper men as to what will be compiished
by the present agitation. Some OF them
say it is spasmodic. that it is merely tenn
pOrary, and that when it is past and gone
nothing will have been acc0mpiShed by it..
But if this is organ lied with some perma-
nent influence then it will not be forgotten
a. .srr ft,n
petition must remember that her name Is
worthless unless by her action and her
patronage she supports those papers which
try to publish clean sheets.
I'VE must not require any higher
standard OF the press than of any other
newspapers with sensationalism. There
| are sensations that are legitimate. The
assassination Of a President or dynamite
outrage, or any piece of news that COM
mands the interest of large number of
people are legitimate sensations and are
worthy of all the space that is given them.
But as against this. so many things are
magnfied and an artificial stimulus is
given the public's curiosity by the publ
cation of all the details, which ought not
to interest the public, and would not but
for the prominence given them.
$50 far as the charge of personality is
concerned, If a paper dealt only in gen er
complished by it. When man in Office
performs dishonest act or another man
is false TO his trust. that man must be ex-
posed. But paper has no right to attack
and try to break down any character for
personal reasons or for any impure
motives.
''In all this discussion the problem is.
What is news and how shall it be treated
So far as the fact of crime being COM
mittai ia c0ncarnp6 it wOul0 ha again If
public policy to suppress ii. AT the same
time the public do not need to know all
the details Of the matter, and it is this that
we object to. The news is badly handled
because a great majority of the news
gatherers are little better than barroom
loafers and their intellectual and moral
stupidity are responsible for the way news
is handled. There are reporters who are
not in this class, but they are in the mi
nority.
1.-THE editors answer to all these objec-
tons is that thu newspaper is a business
enterprise, run for the purpose of making
money. and they must furnish what read
ers demand. But there was time when
papers did not only reflect the thought of
the masses-they led il, and by champion
ing even unpopular ideas they were the
educators of the people. A newspaper
should not be run simply for the money
that is in it. They say we certainly can
not object TO the advertising column con-
tanning whatever the editor sees fit to pub
lish, but they put ads in the news COL
umns and lottery articles on the first page.
and extra over it in big letters.
THE editor who is an editor simply for
what there is in it is not fit to be an editor.
The news ought to be chaste. truthful,
delicately handled, and above all. educa-
tional. The newspaper should be
preacher Of Righteousness"