The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-05
THE LOCAL PRESS.

THE LOCAL PRESS.
About year ago Rev. DR.. 5. r.
Bishop, in the course of an interview,
remarked that the press OF Hawaii,
with all its faults. kept itself clean and
was rather high in the scale of re-
spectability when compared with some
journals of distinction on the Mainland.
In saying this DR.. Bishop voiced a
sentiment; not uncommon among our
people who note with pride that the
opinions of the Hawaiian daily news
papers are not for sale and that the
men who produce them recognize their
obligations to moral community.
Feeling that the Hawaiian press de-
serves this need of praise. the Adver
tiser read with surprise and indigna-
ton an article credited to a correspond
ent of the New York Tribune in
which the following structures appear:
Nearly every newspaper published in
TIE Islands is subsidized by corpora
ton, and under the protection of the
ostentatious patronage of the subsidizer
. able to levy blackmail with impunity.
Come of the least corrupt newspapers
sonfine themselves TO political hbels as a
source CT revenue. but others know no
limits TO their appetite for dishonorabIe
sai.. i lhR
We know of no newspaper in the field
Of daily journalism here which is SUBJ
sidized by anybody or has ever been &C
eused of Ievying bIackmail, political or
stherwise. In a small and gossipy place
like Honolulu a blackmailing newspa-
per would soon be known as such and
ndeiibly branded; and the fact that no
such brand appears IS pretty fair evil
here as elsewhere, the newspapers are
abused by people who have been worst
Cd by them or have reason to fear their
senrchlights; but the general regulations
sS our press Is good. =
Domestic scandals are the favorite
means Of livelihood among the newspa-
pers. Many families have been ruined
fnancially in their efforts to prevent the
publication of facts which endanger their
social standing, and others have been So
cially ruined by exposure in the columns
of papers which they were unable to sat
fsfy pecuniarIy Prominent families
have been compelled to flee from the ISL
andS and take up residence in the United
States in order to avoid infamy at home
This is a sheer libel Domestic scan
dals here are usually kept out of
print but not for pay. The talk about
families being ruined financially or
driven away is entirely new to US and,
we believe. to the people of these ISL
andS.
AS rule the newspapers are conducted
by men whose practices in America have
forced them to leave. These men are,
therefore, well prepared to carry on their
hideous trades as soon as they arrive in
Honolulu. Indeed. they ascertain the con-
ditions in the Hawaiian Islands before
they leave America.
The editor of the other morning paper
came here by invitation of his employ
ers from the Boston Traveller; the
editor who serves during his absence is
an old resident of sound antecedents
and good character The editor of the
Star is the present Superintendent of
Public instruction, who has lived here
half a lifetime and his managing edi
ter was, before coming here, a repu-
table journalist in Chicago and San
Francisc. The editor of the Bulletin
came to Hawaii several years ago at
the request of the then owners of the
Advertiser, from a newspaper at Ban
gor Me- and is a man whose personal
character so far as we know. has suf-
fered no reproach. The editor of the
old Royalist paper, the Independent, has
been a resident of Hawaii for over
twenty years and as he came srom
Denmark has4.'no practices in Aneri-
ca" to apologize for. AS for the bust
ness managers of the local press they
have never, we believe, been accused of
any offence against law or morals here
or anywhere else.
1t is true that circumstances have In a
measure forced the newspapers to shame
full practices. No legitimate newspaper
could flourish in the Islands, for the rea-
son that the circulation of the various
sheets Is confined to 1000 white men and
the advertising columns must be filled
for less than dozen firms. Under the
conditions the newspapers must diverge
from the usual policy. They must not
gather news for the public, but for the
sake of those interested. They, there
fore. announce marriages for the purpose
of preventing them, publish obsequies in
order to terrify the bereaved and give ac-
counts of social events In order to morti-
fly the entertainers In order to under
stand this it may be necessary to know
that of twenty-four marriages of prom
inent persons announced to take place
during the past year nineteen We're
broken off owing to accounts published
in the newspapers concerning the prn-
cipals, and four shooting ARRAYS result
ed In which editors or reporters were
shot. OF six prominent persons who died
five were traduced. and of three fashion
able social events that took place in Ho-
noiulu two were described in the papers
as feasts of Phryne.
There are something like 10000 white
people, including Portuguese. in the
Islands, and about $500 to 1000 who
take English daily newspapers. Adver-