The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-05-23
TWO KINDS OF NEWS.

Our able New YORK collaboration, the
| San, two weeks ago devoted three columns
OF its space to an expose of the padding
celP' in the ttfice of the Chicago Asso-
ciated Press. II asserted and proved that
| the alleged cablegrams which that insti-
tuition had been furnishing 10 its patrons
as news fresh from the seats of war IN
Europe had not been the work OF special
correspondents in Macedonia, at Miiouna
Pass, in Larissa, Athens or Constantine
pie, but had been evolved by an extremely
versatile and phenomenally ubiquitous
individual in London, and by one other
genius of equal parts in New York.
The London agent had been sending a
skeleton" of news daily to the New York
agent. by whom it had been diligently
padded and made fat and thus trans
mitted 10 the Associated Press news"
papers Under various heads and dates.
Many papers thus mongrelly stocked
have reared lin their imagination) choice
litter of war CORES pondents about them,
and have conferred upon them the dis
tinction OF having their dispatches"
copyrighted by the managing editor.
As the war between Turkey and Greece
nears its end, THE CALL feels that the time
Is at hand when brief review of its news
treatment of the situation, as compared
with the queer handling thereof by the
patrons OF the Associated Press. may be
interesting. 1t has been noted al over the
country that THE Calls daily dispatches
and pictures bearing upon the war have
been straightforward. bona-fide news on
the one hand, and accurate portrayals of
scenes and topography on the other.
Particular attention in the East, from
papers of the Harper's Weekly class. has
been paid to THE CALLS faithful accom-
panlment of the Geographic news with
pictures illustrating the features thereof
as the scenes have shifted from day to day
These pictures have been not merely
chance cuts or copies or old plates
dragged from dusty shelves, but anthem
| tic reproductions of the actual places and
| incidents on the day following from GER
tain exclusive resources not enjoyed by
| other San Francisco papers, and assisted
by familiarity with the southern part of
Europe which our contemporaries EVIL
| IDENTIFY do not share.
For example, THE CALL published the
first picture of the battle In Milouna Pass,
the first picture OF Pharsala and it's eta
del, the first picture of VoIo and its har-
Dor, and other exclusive views, together
with a series of maps infinitely detailing
the locations, marches, maneuvers and
| battle preparations of the respective
armies as they pursued their ways. No
| service in the United States excelled The
| CALLS for reliability and promptness, and
very few, if any, equaled it.
Mark the contrast between this service
from real newspaper and the service
furnished by the Examiner with its copy
righted" cablegrams from the Assoc ated
Press padding cell in New York and its
news agent in London-that amazing en-
CINE of ubiquity, who had his headquar-
tiers in Pharsala and his HEADQUARTERS
in London. Many of the special dis
patches from PharsaIa or Athens, which
the Examiner published one day, were re-
nashed and related and published the
next day under the head Of Delayed in
Transmission" from another part of Eu-
rope altogether! In some cases whole
sentences were copied bodily from one
days dispatches" into those of the next
day. On May the mismaneging editor
forgot to change the lenses of the article
which he rehashed from May 6, with the
result that the battle fought on the 5th
inst. was referred to as having occurred
on the 4th
This is how the Examiner has been fax
ing news and deluding its readers while
THE CALL has been doing its plain duty as
newspaper. All the people of San Fran
cisco are not gong to be fooled all the
time by such dishonorable and contempt
Bile sabterfuges as this monarch of takers
has been practiclng upon them under
cover of the tin pan which it has been
brazenly beating the While in its own
praise.