Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-02-20

their business upon a vastly radical
and entirely different basis under a law
adopted years ago under a monarchial
and tyrannical form OF government
1T is not an easy thing, gentlemen,
to unite the newspapers Of Maine as a
unit upon any single proposition. and
do not believe that it could be ac-
con,plished if the proposition were not
one that appealed to the gentlemen of
my profession as eminently just and
fair in its provisions. There is no dis
position on the part of the newspapers
of Maine to evade any just RESPONSE
bilities. We ask only to be put upon
the same broad basis with our fellow
citizens, and with the other interests
of the State, and we ask that the harsh
and unjust rules of law which apply
only to newspaper publishers and to
no other interests and to no other class
of citizens snail he so far mitieated
that We may stand upon a fair and
equal basis with other citizens before
the law. More than that we do not
want; more than that We have never
asked for. We are today under the old
Massachusetts law of libel which came
to it from old England. Massachusetts
has adopted law more in harmony
with the spirit of modern civilization
and more in harmony with the modern
conditions obtaining in the business Of
newspaper publication. We ask that
the old law which We inherited from
Massachusetts, at the time of the SEP
aration shall be exchanged for the new
law now in force there, and which has
proved very generally satisfactory. not
only to the members Of the legal pro-
fession and to the newspaper publish
ers of that state, but to the general
public as well. We are opposed, gem
tlemen, to the old law of libel for two
reasons; first, it fails utterly to recog-
nize the existing conditions Of modern
Journalism, and second it makes I'M
just determinations against newspaper
publishers which do not apply to any
other class of citizens or any other
business interest of the State.
"At the time the old law of libel was
enacted in England, as has been clear
~ shown by Mr.. Heath. primarily to
protect royal prerogatiye, the newspa-
per publisher was his own reporter
and his own editor; oftentimes he was
his own compositor and his own press
man. He might possibly have had in a
single issue of his paper news collected
from so or &C sources, or a hundred
sources at the outside. The discovery
of the telegraph, the telephone, the in
vention Of web perfecting presses and
typesetting machines has radically
changed all this. Today news may
come in "a hours into a newspaper office
from thousand different sources. This
must practically be edited, set up,
stereotyped, proof read and printed
within the short space Of from 8 to 10
hours. The Marconi system bids fair
to add a new and broader field to the
scope of newspaper enterprise. Today.
even the daily in small city covers not
merely it's local field, it covers the lead
ing events of Europe, of Asia, Africa,
the Orient and the islands of the Pa
cific. Now, gentlemen, it is impossible
in the rush and hurry of newspaper
ublication-meeting the demands of
the public for the current news of the
world-it is impossible, ] say, that err
rors should not creep into newspaper
work, no matter how carefully they
may be guarded against. None of us
are infallible, and the newspaper pub
Usher under modern conditions is pc
culiarly liable to. honest error. Such
being the circumstances we claim that
the old law of old New England which
made the newspaper publisher a spec
lal subject for legal crucifixion is an
and should no longer
have a place in the statute laws of
modern and progressive state.
There is nothing in the world that
the editor of a reputable newspaper
guards more carefully against than
errors of statement. The genius of
journalism is the genius of judgment,
and the question for an editor to decide
is never what to put into his paper so
much as what to keep out of it. Men
who work upon the night desks of dali
lies acquire a wonderful faculty for
detecting almost instinctively spurious
news. 1t is said that bank cashiers by
long practice can detect counterfeit
bill almost by the sense of touch, and
it seems to me that some such faculty
as this grows up in time with the care
full and conscientious desk worker of
the modern newspaper. However care
fully these things may be guarded,
WStcI oIIlCcIc dIiu cdIIcSI anu uOT-
est a newspaper editor may be in his
work. it is inevitable that in the hurry
and haste of publication and with the
thousands of sources which he must
draw upon at short notice for news
items. that inaccuracies should be
wholly avoided. When an editor has
done his part in good faith. when he
stands ready and willing at all times
to correct any unintentional errors
which may have crept into his columns,
we do not believe that he should be
made to stand before the law in a po-
sition radically different from any of
his fellow citizens. He should, at
least. not be burdened with presume
tive malice or obliged to plead the
truth at his peril or be prohibited from
putting in evidence his honest efforts
to repair whatever damage he may
have caused. Much less should he be
crucified. in his innocence, by the in
Fiction of excessive or punitive dam
ages. The imposition of such penalty
as that is unjust, unreasonable and I'M
called for by any possible exigency of
public or private welfare. If any cit
izen has been injured by a newspaper
it seems to me, and it
seems to the newspaper men of the
State whom / am here this afternoon