Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-04-15
ACCURACY OF PUBLICATION.
Tho Great Aim of the Newspapers
Which 10 Wonderfully Attained.

Which 10 Wonderfully Attained.
The uncertainty and unsatisfactory
ness Of the information furnished to
the reading public concerning events
transpiring in the seat Of war In the
far east are proving quite exasperating
to those impatient people who are
anxious for quick action and definite
results. stirring movements and san
culinary battles. The blame for the
dilatoriness Of the war generals Is laid
upon the newspapers, and some peo-
pie are disposed to point to the un-
satisfactory, incomplete, sometimes
contradictory war news service as
proof of the general unreliability OF
the newspapers. Edward Box has re-
Gently contributed a magazine article
in which he develops this idea or
newspaper untrustworthiness, and the
subject Is receiving no little attention
lust now. Mr.. Bok's article Is very
easily disposed of. He undertook
subject about which he had no prac-
tical knowledge, and he evinced a lack
Of appreciation Of the first function or
the newspaper, which Is to inform It's
readers upon matters currently trans
piring. To indicate what he considers
to be examples of the careless meth
DDS prevailing In some newspaper Of
fees, he tells Of cases which, to the
practical newspaper worker, appear
apocryphal, but which at the worst
show the application Of modern meth
DDS for the amplifcation Of news items
| without detracting from their element
of correctness. He tells Of the elabo-
ration of twenty word cable into a
two column story. This Is not re-
fiection upon the newspaper metho1'
but is rather creditable to Its facili-
ties. A twenty word cable message
telling Of the poisoning OF the Ameer
of Afghanistan, for instance, Is OF
small interest to the average reader:
but II to that message shall be added
spicy story of all the vast interests,
historical, political and geographical,
centering about the Afghanistan po-
tentate, such a story as may be writ
ten in any well-equipped newspaper
office, the article will be given only
its due Importance and will educate a
wide circle Of readers on a subject OF
the greatest value.
The newspaper Of today Is, IN fact,
marvel Of accuracy. Reliability is
| its principal asset. The discovery OF
an error, however slight, in any pub
! lication, causes more commotfon IN
the news department than does the
scoring Of a scoop by a contemporary
which the public believes to be the
one disaster which upsets the newspa-
per Office. When a reader finds a sin
gle mistake in newspaper ne IS apt
to conclude that the whole edition Is
unreliable, and the publisher exercises
the utmost care to prevent his pa
irons from reaching such a state OF
mind.
The extraordinary exertions now
made by the newspapers of the
country, in the face Of unparalleled diff
flculties, to secure reliable news Of
the war deserve the commendatfon
rather than the criticism Of the read
ing public. Intelligent people Will I'm
derstand that correspondents at the
scene Of hostilities are barred from
all channels Of reliable information, are
not permitted to go to the front, where
the facts are to be learned at first
hand, and are compelled to submit to
the operations Of a strict censorship
whenever they do by chance obtain a
statement Of fact worth cabling. The
result Is that the news Of actual his
tilities must be sent from such neutral
points as Cheefoo, Tientsin and Shang-
hal, which are so distant from the
field and so deficient In means Of com. com
munication as to make the task doubly
difficult. Under these circumstances 1t
Is apparent that the newspapers are
doing remarkably we'll. and there
should be no criticism Of the publica-
ton Of rumors which sometimes turn
out to be unfounded, since the source
Of these rumors is invariably given;
the reader is not asked to accept them
as fact, and they constitute the best
information upon a subject that read
ers Of the newspapers imperatively re-
quire news about-Memphis Scimitar.