Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1906-05-24
JOURNALISTIC ERA
c. w. Knapp Says 1t Will Come
In Ten Years.
PREDICTS MORE oAREruLNEss,

Fstsre VIII n. Aeon
Precise 4. MISREPRESENTATION. rar-
sAer Genera Tee ef Half New. ..a
Half Eastorfan Articles.
Remarking upon the discussions OF
newspaper making In 10 New York
Herald apropos OF the rscrudescence OF
Albert Pulitzer. who Intends to start
Q newspaper ON new lines next fall.
diminishing Imitation sensations with a
paragraph. Charles w. Knapp. pub
lisher or the st. Louis Republic, who
was recently interviewed at Breton
Hall by a New York Herald reporter,
Indicated that he expected Journalism
would undergo several changes In the
next ten years. one OF which would be
q more general use Of half news, hair
editorial srticles. such as the maya.
Zines have found successful.
lie said relative 10 MIR. Pulitzer:
He finds two indictments-that the
New York papers are all dull. and. to
the blind man who has On read 10
him. all alike.
Criticism OF newspapers Is always
easy. No newspaper manager or editor
10 without ability 10 pick flaws In
American Journalism. II II full OF
naws. These are due. I should say. to
h demands OF the readers. They do
not represent necessarily what the ell.
tors want"
How do you determine that readers
demand this and thstf'
by experimentation. II you don't
nee a favorable esponse to certain
efforts you have made 20 please readers
you drop those efforts and exert your
self along different lines.
Nobody doubts that the typical
newspaper OF ten years from now will
be radically different from what Il In
today. In every large city newspapers
have been leading the reader. TO n
Erenter or less extent. a sort OF yellow
debauch. From this there Is quite
clearly apparent n revolt ON the par,
OF the reader"
"You think people are nnding the
sensational press a borer"
g" will not undertake to forecast the
coming Journalism In this country ex.
cept 10 express my confident belief that
two changes are coming: First. that the
newspaper OF the future will he arcu
rate I'm the presentation OF facts and
more precise In the language employed
to set forth the facts: second, that mel.
Their the Sunday nor the week day
newspaper will grow any smaller. II
they change at all. they will contain
more pages instead or fewer.
There In greater need today for n
better written newspaper than hitherto.
because the constituency upon which n
newspaper must rely for support In
cludes nowadays a relatively larger
! number or persons who are critical
and who are judges of literary style.
They are affronted by the slovenly
English. by the lack OF form, IN which
American newspapers too often give
them the occurrences OF the day. A
better literary style will retard IA some
} measure the natural tendency toward
larger instead Of smaller newspapers.
Public attention increasingly cen.
ters upon the accuracy OF
by reason OF the extreme Indifference
TO accuracy In the so called 'yellows'
There was an example recently-the
dispatch denying the truth OF the re
y fN ''HhNN idtil UNIT Ult recent
earthquake had produced n transfer.
nation In Yellowstone park. sup
pose some reporter thought that would
make a good story so wrote II out OF
hand"
Perhaps he was asked to write Il by
the editor or publisher"
"Oh, / know the pressure that IA
brought upon the writer's. I've had 10
do with both ends. It's hard to come
In and say there's nothing In IT. But
there VIII he more cHrefulness by and
by-mOre carefulness M 10 matter and
IS to manner IL Will be required that
the fact shall be as II Ia. and that II
shall be old tersely. clearly. Ia n way
to satisfy an Intelligent reader.
"Wha do you think Of the complaint
that the great editors have ali gomez"
Never again. probably. will the edi.
torial come to the w. II possessed
forty years ago. The editors or that
period ] am sure could not have been
great editors today. Discrimination I'm
news values, recognition OF what is OF
Importance. OF what will shake the
thoughts and Ideas OF the ~peopie-these
are what 20 to establish public sentf-
ment nowadays more than written edi-
torials. One OF the evidences can DO
pointed out In the popular development
Of the magazines. They have taken up
news work which carries instruction
or the sort that used to be conveyed 10y
the editorial. The muck raker.' which
the president recently criticised. is
merely combining the editorial with the
nsws article.
81 do not want 10 he understood as
saying that the field OF the editorial has
been closed mp completely. II still as
sists. and viii continue 10 assist. the
work done 10 the news columns. aud
II is frequently still effective in awak.
sning public attention TO the necessity
for action whore a mere news presen.
tatlon might fail.
"In he future development OF news
papers there will undoubtedly be n
striking increase In what IL called per
senal jourDallsm'-tbst r.. the sort rep
resented In articles or series OF articles
which bear The signature OF the writer.
These Will have force beca use Of the
writer's public reputation Newspa.
PER- Of the better class WIFI fberpbv