Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-05-27

stroyed by the American fleets. The
dispatch came from the Associated
Press, and its very wording discredited
the news by saying that it was uncon-
firmed. 1t was sent out as a mere
rumor, coming from foreign source
and its truth was not youched for. The
Associated Press paper in handling it,
brought this fact out in its headlines,
and the public was in no manner de-
ceived, but was made to thoroughly
understand that the report was doubt
full.
Tie next day the evening paper
which is using the service of an agency
that relies on the hourly editions of the
sensational yellow publications in the
larger cities, made great TODD in two
separate articles about the Associated
Press fake" which was not a fake"
in its Sunday contemporary, and made
the incident the occasion of an attack
upon the greatest, most conservative
and most reliable news gathering as
ISOLATION in the world, and an exploit
of the curb stone agency which sends
''only reliable news" and not sen
sational matter" calculated to mislesd
the public
The irony of fate was eXemplified
scarcely twenty-four hours later when
the only reliable representative of
the "curb-stone" agency presented to
its readers dispatch printed in capital
letters, in double column, and double
leaded,' surmounted by handsome
poster type, containing sensational
report of a big naval battle in the
Windward Passage, in which Sampson
was alleged to have duplicated Dewey's
magnificent victory. Crushed by
Sampson-Another Decisive Blow
Struck at Spanish Power-Cervera'
Fleet Destroyed by the American Fleet
in the Windward Passage We're some
of the startling headlines, and the
only reliable thus scored another
brilliant beat" of the Associated Press
papers, with vengeance.
AS member of the Associated
Press, the Inteligencer calls attention
to this incident, as it might to many
other similar ones, in connection with
the denunciations of an Associated
Press dispatch which was given merely
as a rumor, untouched for, and not
as a positive statement. 1t wouldn't be
strange if, in a slime when military
and naval operations are being conduc-
sociated Press might occasionally be
led to handle matter which is afterward
found to be based upon false reports,
but the public will note that in such
instances that conservative organiza-
ton is always careful to either follow
up promptly with the confirmation or
denial as soon as it is possible to obtain
it officially, or it expressly indicates in
the news its authority, or the fact that
it is confirmed, for the government of
the judgment of its readers.
The fake" of the newspaper which
is continually railing at the Associated
Press service, in comparison with its
''curb-stone" service, would not attract
much public notice were it not for the
fact Of its claim, persistently INDUCED
in, that 1t is the "only reliable" news
servant in the city. The public has
been too long acquainted with the AS
ISOLATED Press to be deceived by any
such claims. Both morning papers in
this city get the Associated Press SER
vice, and will continue to give the
VI eeing pubic :ba war news froIo
the greatest and t-Si equipped news
gatherer in the world, without any vio-
lation of the necessarily proper war
measures of the government.