The record-union., 1897-06-22
NEWS AND NEWS METHODS

The Record Union" some days ago
suggested that the San Francisco press
during the presence of the, Christian
Endeavor excursionists in the metropo-
lis refrain from booming" criminal
news and making horrible details of
crime, seduction, unfaithfulness, out
rage, defalcation, cruelty and the like,
sensational by methods of illustrating
and reporting. This suggestion was
warmly approved by a Los Angeles
contemporary, and later by the interior
press generally. All which moves the
San Francisco Chronicle" to say:
The Chronicle" mentions the fact in
the hope that it will serve as a hint to
the people of San Francisco to refrain
from wrong doing. If they fail to act
on the suggestion and perversely insist
on committing crime, this journal Will
be compelled to do it's duty by present
ing a daily record of their derelictions.
The idea advanced by our eontempora-
ries that our visitors will be unfavor-
ably impressed with the state of so
ciety in California if we expose our
shortcomings too openly is humbug-
ging one There is too much crime in
all sections of the Union to permit any
one to be unfamiliar with it, and we
cannot gain the respect of really relig-
ious people by suppressing facts and
acting the hypocrite.
Our esteemed contemporary entirely
mistakes. Neither the Record Union"
nor any of the interior press has sug-
gested that the San Francisco papers
shall suppress news of crime. No such
meaning can be extorted from the sug-
gestions. But what it did and does ad-
wise is that in giving the news 1t be
presented with very much less of
sensationalism in text and Illustration.
We submit to our esteemed exchange
Of the metropolis. that such of the press
as indulge in hysterical reports are not
called upon by the demands of truth
and publicity in giving the facts re-
lating to a murder, to make it the oc-
casion for horrifying pictures Of the
corpse, the severed head, the mutilated
body. the bloody clothing, the distorted
features of the criminal, the exagger-
ated portraits of the witnesses, the
blood soaked clothing, the knife and
matchbox in the pocket of the dead
one, pictures of the clotted hair Of the
victim, and so on ad nausea.
Nor it is submitted, is it essential to
the publication of news and news
paper, that every possible bit Of scan
dal in the slums of the city or in pri-
vate life, every misstep by some un-
faithful wife. every fall from virtue by
deluded young women, every pilfering
by a dishonest clerk, every skeleton in
private closets, shall be wrenched into
the glare of publicity and made prom
inent by flaming headlines. gross por-
traits and unblushing suggestive text.
These things are not illustrative or
representative of our society or our civ
tlization. There is vastly more of good
than of evil among the homes of San
Francisco There is more Of virtue
and purity than of lapse and degrada-
ton among the women of San Francis
co. There are in San Francisco more
hard-working, conscientious, honest
wage ~earners than there are gambling
and defaulting clerks.
No one objects to publication of news,
but it is the method employed against
which protest is entered-a method that
tends 10 impress the stranger in our
tents that the horrible or scandalous
ical of California, and IS illustrative of
the regular order of the day. The
Chronicle" Will certainly distinguish
between what the interior press asks,
and what its expression has been con-
torted to mean.