The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-07
THE CoMING NEWSPAPER.

Ex-Mayor Grant, of New York, is an
unmarried man. and, being a prominent
citizen, the newspapers of the metropo-
lis assume that lis matrimonial pur-
poses are matters in which the public
is deeply interested. and on which it has
the right to be I'M ormed. Consequently.
it happens every few months that his
engagement is announced on the au-
thority of nobody in particular, the
name of a life ent lady being used in
each instance. MIR. Grant has at last
been moved to protest. He says he does
not understand the motive of the re-
ports, but he does know that it is not
the right of the to couple
the names of young ladies with his
name, thus giving them a publicity TO
which they ought not to be exposed,
and against which they nave no means
of shelter. 1t is not fair journalism, he
says, and is not a thing which a decent
journalist can defend. The ex-Mayor
is quite right. 1t is not fair journalism,
and decent journalists do not defend it;
nevertheless, a great many newspapers
which boast of the title 'enterprising"
operate under a policy which not only
permits but encourages this sort of in
vasion Of personal privacy. Mr.. Grants
case is merely a sample of the many
continually occurring.
Exactly what constitutes news in
the legitimate sense is a question on
which there is always likely to be a
difference Of opinion. Editor Dana has
expressed himself as feeling justified in
printing an account of anything the
Lord permitted to happen, but Dana's
remark must be taken with a degree
of allowance. for eve the columns of
his paper have their limitations, and
certain things that happen are reported
in them briefly, if at all. But, though
he may defend the publication of all
daily events of general interest, he can
not approve the turning of a newspaper
into a medium for the transmission of
petty personal gossip. This is precisely
what a class of ~wspap is becon-
ing, and the big papers of the large
cities are the greatest offenders in this
respect. Some of them are little more
than enlarged editions of the cross
roads weeklies, which chronicle the do
ings Of a country neighborhood, but
with the difference that, whereas, the
country paper takes the pains to be
fairly accurate in it's record of local
happenings, the metropolitan daily
prints whatever comes to it's dragnet;
whether true or false does not matter,
so long as it is sensational.
In a syndicate article. recently. a
number of journalists gave their opin-
ions aS to what the daj1v pewSnanor of
the twentieth century would be. Their
views differed on minor matters. but
their ideal paper seemed to be one COM
bining all the feature of the present
day sheet in an improved degree. The
field of news would be better covered,
the literature would be of a higher
grade, and the artistic" features, mean
ing the Illustrations, would be nearer
perfection-certainly a desirable thing
if Illustrations are to be used. They did
not decide that gossip is not the chief
end and aim of a paper-perhaps be-
cause they believe that the public wants
gossip and must be gratified; neverthe-
less, the paper which is the ideal of
many persons will not be a record of
gossip-inane, if it is no worse. 1t will
A4O& @S ~ 49,
of columns if there is no news to justify
it; it will nave no articles written to fill
space; it will have no carefully planned
Sensations" a term commonly used to
describe a column of pyrotechnic twad-
die hiding, perhaps, a single i~nsignif-
cam fact, perhaps having no truth in
it. 1t will have little or no syndicate
matter, few Illustrations or none. no
magazine features, no forty-page edi-
tons. 1t will print what it considers
to be legitimate news. and It's first rule
and it's last in regard to it will be ac-
curacy. There will be no unauthorized
personal news: the editorial discipline
will be strict and the force sufficiently
large to give each nan opportunity to
do his work we'll and without undue
haste. A few papers are working
toward this ideal now. and though the
undertaking is more difficult than out
siders can understand, they will doubt
less nave come nearer their aim when
the twentieth century dawns.