The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-27
THE DAILY NEwsPAPER.

Charles II. Strong Sunday night. on the
Rev. Mr.. Sheldon's experiment in running
newspaper at Topeka, Kan, is that
he has very much better understanding
of the requirements of a daily newspaper
than the Rev. Mr.. Sheldon. 1t is true that
from financial standpoint Mr.. Sheldons
experiment was success, but it would
not have been if it had continued for
month. The large circulation of the paper
was due to curiosity People wanted TO
see what Mr.. Sheldon put into it. When
they discovered that it contained very lit
tie that was of interest they had no fur
Their use for it. Mr.. Strong understands
that a newspaper TO be read must con-
tain the news of the day, foreign, do
nestle and local. II must contain, as near
as possible, about everything of a days
doings that is of human interest. Mr.
Sheldon filed up his paper with sermons
and religious disquisitions. That would
have been well enough if people would
read a paper of that kind If they will
not read it what is the use Of printing it?
A newspaper is not taken from principle,
but for the matter ii contains.
Mr.. Strong is right in saying that only
the truth should be printed. There are
newspapers that prefer a sensation to the
truth, but it is probable that the great
majority of newspapers earnestly seek the
truth. The truth, however, cannot always
be obtained promptly and what is thought
to be the truth often turns out. on inves-
tigation, to be so far from it as to give
1t might be said that nothing should be
published as fact about which there is
the least bit of doubt. If that policy were
adopted the very conservative newspapers
would soon have 40 go out of business,
because it frequently happens that days
intervene between the first report of a
matter and the discovery of the truth in
respect to il. In the meantime The public
wants to know what the report is and the
developments leading up to the truth. AS
a matter of fact, the truth relative to
many of the most important events is not
discovered for years and sometimes never.
The best that can be done is to print
the most reliable information that is OBJ
tainable. In the hurry of making a daily
newspaper it is not always possible to do
even this, because of the want of time to
make a thorough inquiry. All that the
public can reasonably ask is that news
paper shall be conducted honestly and
with fair ability. If the management is
honest there will not be much of which
fair-minded people can complain.
Mr.. Strong is right in saying that 1t is
a mistake to try to please everybody. 1t
is a mistake because it is impossible to
please everybody. One will commend what
another will condemn. People divide on
every question, and they differ in their
views as to how a newspaper should be
conducted. There is nothing probably con-
corning which they differ more, because
the daily newspaper deals with about
every matter in which they are in any
way interested. The newspaper that is
likely to please the greatest percentage
of it's readers, other things being equal,
is the one that shows from what it prints
that IL aims to be clean, TO keep close to
the truth and tries to be honest in gath
ering news and discussing public ques-
lions.
Mr. Strong thinks that more attention
should be given 10 kindly acts and benev-
client deeds. 1t may be that more atten-
ton is devoted to crimes than to chart
ties, but it is not because of a desire to
push that class of news to the front, but
because 1t is made prominent by the po-
lice and the courts. But no news that is
of human interest is neglected. Whatever
is thought to be of interest is printed
Pretty nearly everybody has views as to
how newspaper should be run. 1t would
be a difficult matter to find two men
holding views on this subject exactly
alike. 1t is evident therefore that those
who make newspapers must be guided by
their own judgments. If they should go
outside for advice there would be confu-
sion and failure. newspaper cannot be
any better, from any point of view, than
the community in which it circulates. If
1t keeps on about the same moral and in
tellec<ual plane it will probably be salts
factory. If it occupies too high plane
it will not be appreciated and will be
failure and IL too low a plane it will be
condemned and repudiated.