The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-02-27
ONE KIND OF A NE WSPA PER.

| The Providence Journal in these days Is
in the extreme Cf distress il we may
Judge from the reports of the license COM
nilsson investigatio that appear in its
columns.
The trumped-up charges that The Jour-
nal brought against the city government
last fall and by which Il deceived the peo-
| pie into elec ing Democratic adminls-
tration have been proven false wherever
they Rave been tried, a though the trial
has in every instance been conducted by
men who owe their rol tical elevation and
he people by The Journals unf unded
| assertions The journal is very oil
newspaper. II has all the prestige that
/ comes from a large circulation among
the people for long period of years and
despite the fact hat confidence in it has
| many times bern shaken and lost the re-
suit of the election, last fall, as we point
| ed out at the time, demonstrates that
"newspapsr talk" false as well as true
talk. exercises a tremendous influence
when it reaches large number of persons.
Many citizens Who voted contrary to
their rule in the municipal election las.
fall, did not, we think, believe all the
monstrous stories The Journal gave Gu
rency to, but where so much smoke was
made some littl fire was suspected, and
"change-for-the-sa -sake-of-a-change" sa idea
| as associated with Wig rous Democratic
cam. a gning and the reiteration of un-
mitigated falsehoods on the part of the
! most vindictive partizan newspaf er in the
United States, the Providence Journal.
The corruption and malfeasance in Office
charged agairst the license commission
was prime issue in the campaign and
when the Goo Goo city government un-
dertook to justify itself by investigating
| the commission The Journal evidently
trusted that the eff rt would be success
full. Citizens who have followed the full
and impartial reports OF the proceed inss
OF this investigation as given in TIE
NEWS may well anticipate the outcome.
Already the Ialsity and malevolence OF
the charges brought have been exposed
almost without the need OF evidence in
defense. The Journal tegan by devoting
a great deal of space to the report OF the
proceedings so long as there was little to
report except the unconfirmed charges
hit by complainaats against the
board. Immed ately, Row ever, new light
tegan TO be shed ON the natter The
Journals reports were less fully given
and were dlstin uishsd by what did not
appear in them. All evidence and all
points In controversy nding to affect The
Journals posi ion wee carefully warped
or suppress d entr ly. with the result
that the rtport became nsibly dimin-
ish since cent proceedings have only
tended to knock The Journals charges
higher han the proyertial kite and ex-
hibit II before the people as a proclaimer
Of tn ngs that arc not SO.
Ju now The Journal is engaged in the
process OF extracting sunteams from
cucumbers in the matter of he license
commission invest tion, and presents
the always wretche1 spectacle Of a news
aper caught In the act OF deception
practiced upon its readers and trying to
squirm out, instead OF acknowledging
th1t II ha' been misleading, il not self
msled What 1t says or does not say
cannot, OF course, affect he result OF
the iDvestigat on. II may suprress evil
dence and garblo its reports to hold its
case as long as poss bic before its readers.
The investigation committee, however,
will report he result as they climate il
and what that result is likely 10 be may
already be guessed by rorrons who read
the columns OF IHE NEWS.
incidentally we can but sympathize
with the yourg men Of the newspaper
profession, who, occupying the res onsi-
tie position OF reporter, are taught the
methods OF so-caled reporting that pre-
vail In The Journsl office.
Never to Intentionally misrepressnt Il
a principle that ought to be cardinal I'm
the profession OF newspaper work.