The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-01-13


! mainly from young men Money can
. not buy it. It cannot be transplanted.
Tt must be work of training end de
veIopment.
Insincerity the Curse of Journalism,
a high grade man may be added here
and there with good results. but. as
/ general proposition. d publisher makes
a sorry mistake when he buys up an
other mans organization. moves il TO his
j own shop. and fancies he viii get the
J same results as The other fellow.
This IS true alike in literary work and
in business. cannot tell you just why
/ it is so, but I know that it is so.
/ This fact is my excuse with myself
/ for not having already accomplished
more with my own newspapers Time is
an important element in the develop
ment Of a newspaper or magazine. Cap
/ itaI alone cannot do it..
/ The daily journal particularly. is al
most wholly the product OF the men a
+ publisher has about him As the men
are, so viii The paper be. The men,
/ then. are the fundamental thing in news
paper making
Hence nv statement that we need a
new school of Journalistic school that
viii swing away from the hasty, sloppy,
|insincere work OF the present. / don't
mean TO say that all our work is in
sincere and careless. but I assert that
/ this is The prevailing tone Of he Amer
! lean press
The great trouble is that reporters
have not been trained 10 be faithful
n their work; and To be faithful means
that first. il is necessary 10 see a thing
as 1t is, and then to tell it 50 that ii
VIII both read tr-e and shade true
This question Of shadings. by the
way, is one whose Importance ian
scarcely be cverestimated. 1t is the
shading more than the bald statement
of facts that gives the coloring TO =
story that constitutes the real picture
the reader absorbs.
II is partially in the matter of col
oring OF Shading that the present school
cf newspaper men is deficient and un-
faithful TO facts. and as TO the facts
themselves. they do not always see
clearly This. I think. is q sufficiently
mil6 presentation of the case.
In the discussion OF the problem !
have the advantage OF considering il
10th from the point Of view OF the citi-
gen and from that. Of the newspaper
and magazine publisher.
am sure that 1 have not criticised
the news .gatherers Of America unfairly.
am confident that they themselves viii
agree with me.
The excuse they would doubtless give
for much OF the unJrustworJhy work
that is flashed over the wires is that
their newspapers must have something /
suappy with which 10 I'LL their columns, /
and sensation or two. # possible is
kind Of champagne for the reader.
The snappy work and the sensations
are all right. If true. but there are not /
enough Of the genuine sort 10 go around /
Genesis of the Newspaper Man.
The newspaper man Of today is a
composite type. the product of the New
York sun" and the New York World" Of
fifteen or eighteen years ago.
These two newspapers represented /
two distinct and widely different styles Of I
journalism. The World" was alert, dar- (
ing, aggressive. and sensational. II was
about the Hvelfest thing that ever swung /
into New York from the West. Nomin-
ally it was here long before Mr.. PuIit- /
zer's day but actually it came in with +
his advent. !
II shook up the entire American .
press. It did new things. and did them /
with a dash It's circulation bounded !
from nothing 10 hundreds Of thousands
other newspapers were being forced /
upon the rocks. The World was Tt" /
The result Of this cyelonic success
was that most men. and especially young /
men just entering the profession. ac-
cepted Mr.. Pulitzer and his newspaper /
methods as the only guide to position
and wealth. hence the great army of
Pulitzer journalists that stretches from
the shores of Maine 10 the Golden Gate.
No man has ever stamped himseIrI
more thoroughly upon mis- generation
than has Joseph Pulitzer on the journal
ism of America. He was the originator
and the founder Of our present type Of
overgrown newspaper, with its ilIustra-
tons. and its merits and its defects
Influence Of the Old "Sun." (.
The part the sun" played in this
Feereating and re5uveuating of the
American press was purely literary. Il II
was the FIRST newspaper 10 make fiction
out Of facts-that is. 10 handle facts I
with the skill and the manner Of the
novelist. so that they read like fiction
and possessed all It's charm and fasci-
nation.
The sun" al that time consisted OF
but four pages. and am convinced that
ii was the best example Of newspaper
making ever produced anywhere. With
the exception Of one or two of these
hcfion-fact stories so charmingly told.
it was the perfection Of condensation.
accuracy. briIliancy.
have never heard a newspaper man
speak Of this four-page Sun" without
pIaiutfve note of regret that we do not
have il yet. But the World, with its
many pages. was sweeping everything
before il. and the sun. like all other
ne sspa pers. felt that it had TO fall into