The record-union., 1897-09-04
THE OLD AND NEW SCHOOLS.

THE OLD AND NEW SCHOOLS.
The San Francisco Wasp" is pleased
to pay legitimate journalism a comph
ment by declaring that one Of the ira
ditional journalists of the old and hon
orable school had the temerity to de-
clare that the pretended gold find in COT
fee Creek in Trinity County was
fraud.
1t should not be necessary to make the
distinction between the old and new
journalism that the former was enter
prising in obtaining truth and that the
latter is enterprising simply in invent
ing lies. 1t is monstrous that a state
ment of this kind should be true and
yet it is so. The stories of Coffee Creek
were invented very largely in the Of
fees of the San Francisco press. Some
of them came over the wires, but they
We're sent by men who did not know
one thing concerning the gold finds of
which they wrote. They were commit
ted, however, by the character of the
stories whether they were true or not.
The reporter stationed at Carville or
Trinity Center who heard nothing dur
ing the day to send was liable to be
discharged. He knew that his paper
would very much prefer that he should
send down a fiction than to send nothing
at all, and therefore he chose to send
the fiction.
That practice of this kind should
have found defense at the hands of any
honorable man is simply amazing. One
paper published in the San Joaquin Val
ley declared that the exposure of these
objectionable frauds was merciful but
contrary to public policy. A statement
like this can scarcely be defended on
any ethical ground We presume that
never before in the history of journal
ism has a statement been put forth in
defense of misrepresentation and fraud;
that While it may be merciful to the peo
pie who are to be deceived by it, it is
not consistent with good public policy
not to permit the deception to proceed.
The immortality of this position is
chargeable directly to modern journal
ism. No editor of twenty-five years ago
would have declared that it was far
better to have untruthful statements
made daily than to have them corrected.
Twenty-Five years ago, no man in the
profession in the State of California
would have committed his paper to the
doctrine that false news could become
a boon to mankind; that while the great
mass of those who would be deceived by
the news would lose their money and
their time, a few would be benefited.
and that for those few the many should
be sacrificed. That is a modern senti-
ment and grows entirely out of the kind
of education for which modern journal
ism is responsible.
1t seems almost incredible that all the
lurid stories of gold finds in Coffee Creek
were untrue; that just in one instance
there was some truth in the statement,
and that upon that column after column
of invention was printed in the San
Francisco press, for which there was alb
solutely no foundation in fact. The
truth alone should be regarded as news.
Its ascertainment alone should be re-
garded as journalistic enterprise.
We entertain the opinion that where
a man has been deluded to go to Klon-
dixie, to Coffee Greek, to Peru.
or any other place by state
ments put forth by a journal.
he has a good action in court of equity
against that journal for damages. We
would like TO see the experiment tried
and force the issue upon the attention
of the courts.
Suppose a paper published a story to
the effect that mines are being discov-
cred every day in a distant part of the
country; that there is large amount of
unappropriated ground in which there
is an equal probability of finding gold
TO that in which the gold has been act
ually discovered. Suppose that it in
dulges in lurid stories to the effect that
one man took out $4,000 per day for
several days; that claims fifty feet
square could be sold readily for 100000
as soon as they We're discovered TO be
good placers; that a large extent of ter
ritory invited judicious investment and
enterprise Of this kind. Suppose that
some one visits the country melted to
do so by this information put forth upon