The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1903-10-15
NEWSPAPER 'ROASTS."
UnprofessionaI, Improbable and Should
Be Discouraged.

/ First among the sins of news
paper men, and a failing common
among country editors, are the
! petty quarrels among themselves.
! If there is anything that stiles the
country newspaper and warps the
judgment of its editor more than
quarreling with contemporary l
have failed to observe accurately.
But l am positive that there is not.
1t seems to me that these little
''scraps" among editors are pure
ly disregard for the dignity of
their calling and a gross violation
of the ethics of the profession, if
we are to place journalism in the
category of the professions, and
to-day more than at any stage of
the worlds progress is the news
paper given a place among the
callings of dignity.
Let us for one moment imagine
two lawyers, two doctors or two
merchants engaged in a foolish
little war of words and branding
each other with the appellations
of ''grafter, - ''shyster," etc., as
some editors are continually
doing. How long would their
supply of dignity last, and how
long would the public repose in
them the dignity due all men en-
gagged in honorable callings?
Whenever pick up an exchange
and see a 'roast'' directed at
some other member of the craft
at once conclude that here is an
editor who is wasting his energy
on the desert air and making
consummate ass of himself be-
sides. And isn't this about what
the average person thinks aboutit?
The same principle, in my opin-
ion, applies to attacks on private
citizens or even those in public
station. Just as soon as a man
becomes an apologist he is sur
rendering, and just as soon as
man starts to pursue the course of
malicious "roasts" just as sure is
his paper in state of decadence.
No newspaper can bein healthy
condition when its editor is in an
unhealthy frame of mind, and an
editor in healthy frame of mind
is an editor who is broad minded,
optimistic, generous, fearless and
free from malice. Not alone are
out and out ssroast" to be dis
couraged, but all indiscreet hints
and jabs of any description. Lit
tie sarcasms and semihumorous
squibs directed at individuals may
appeal to the vulgar sensibilities
of certain element, but that ele-
ment of right thinking people to
whom the newspaper that wishes
to attain any standing must devote
itself, as rule, has no time for
matter of this nature.
Newspaper men of a combative
nature often charge their bre thren
Of more conservative views with
weakness and cringing fear of
expressing themselves lest they
suffer a pecuniary loss, and rarely
are these charges true. Instead
the latter class have a deep sense
of the duty they owe the public
and their profession. There are
few editors in this land who will
not speak out fearlessly and hon.
estly when matters of grave public
concern demand it. And when
they do speak their utterances fall
with far heavier weight than those
who are continually harping on
the wrongs of society and jabbing
at public men and private indi-
viduals.
There is something inexpli-
cably grand in the feeling that
you are laborng in a community
where you have the good will of
all-not alone your patrons, but
your brothers in the calling.
Evolution in its onward march