The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-08-16

today.
The Journal and Its ''Dispensary''
Ads
The Spartanburg Journal confesses
to having received sum Of money,
said to be $3.50 from persons "person-
ally interested in the retention" of
dispensaries in Spartanburg county
end elsewhere we print the
Journals explanation and defeuce
of its conduct. The Journal
printed matter, consisting Of COM
mnnications from dispensary support
ers, facts and arguments in favor of
the dispersary as against prohibition,
taken from other papers and from in
teriews with dispensary leaders. Not
line of it was editorial and not a
line of it was written in our (the
Journal's) Office, or by anybody con-
nected with this paper. 1t did not
influence or modify the course of this
paper one iota. "
Briefly, the Journal holds that, out
side of the editorial columns, there
need be no distinction in the manner
of printing and presenting matter
that is paid for and not paid for. If
the dispersary argument is printed in
another part of the paper from that
given to editorial discussion, it holds
that the public is not entitled to be
put upon notice that the matter ap-
pears in bought space. and not in space
reserved by the editor for matter of
his own choosing. Thus the Journal
contends by implication that the news
columns of newspaper may be sub
ordinated to a particular public 70 pri-
vate interest for money considera-
tion, and that the readers are not JUS
titled IN expecting to have the facts
presented without purchased color.
IF, for illustration. the New York
Herald, urnal of worldwide indu
ence, is printing dispatches today sole
ly in the interest of the settlement OF
the Eastern question to the advantage
of Japan, and ii it is printing these
to the exclusion of the Russian side
because Japan is paving the price, the
readers of the Herald have no ground
for complaint. This would be mild
extensicn of the Journals theory.
The absurdity of the Journals de-
fence is patent in the statement-so
patent as to be pathetic. 1t claims
to have warned the public that it was
printing this matter as advertising III
an editorial III the course OF which 1T
said: "This matter is not always
marked advertising, as we do not wish
to seem to discredit it, but it is SIM
ply offered fer what it may be worth
to the reader. - This means, ii it
means anything, that the matter
would baye been discredited i'll the
eyes of the reader had it been accom-
panied with a notice that it was paid
advertising. The journal was vii
ling to conceal the true source Of the
matter in order 20 enhance its effect
Behind every word printed in
newspaper there must be responsible
ty. If the words appear as adVert!s-
ing, the reader places it directly upon
the advertiser, but if it appear as other
than advertising, responsibility, not
otherwise manifest, is inevitably plac-
ed upon the newspaper. This respon-
sibility varies in degree. The reader.
for example, will attach more respon-
sibillty to a newspaper when it prints
a communication over an assumed than
over a real signature. The RESPONSE
bility for an utterance may be dlvld-
ed, but it cannot be escaped. All
this, we think, is automatic.
The idea that editing" ceases with
the editorial page is, OF course,
wholly erroneous. No two newspapers
present the news in precisely the same
way. While usually the endeavor is
to print tine news without bias. the
impress of the individual mind upon
it is never abseut. The News and
Courier could adopt a positive and
aggressive editorial course every
morning on its editorial page, aud, if
it desired. more than c:unteract its
influence by manipulation of the
news columns. Indeed, it is quite
possible that ali newspaper often
achieve as much by what they refuse
to priat as by what they do print.
The plain duty of newspapers is
to print advertising matter with uD-
mistakable signs. either in the pat
tern of the type or by an express
statement. We take it that the Spar
tanburg Journal was paid a higher
price for inserting the matter without
the signs than it would otherwise
have received. The price paid for the
omission of these signs was not a
price paid for advertising. If the
people of South Carolina are not to
know when they are reading raid
advertisement or disinterested eX-
preston in a South Carolina paper,
then the South Carolina press has
come to be an agency to degrade rather
than to uplift.
We disclaim any special interest in
.his Spartanburg incident. The fact
that newspaper has unblushingly
distorted and confused the Office of
the newspaper has seemed to make ed
visable the statement of principles
doubtless self lf-evident to persons of
average intelligence.-News and
Courier.