The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1906-10-02
WHOLE NO. 1892.
ETHICS oF JOURNALISM.
Address by Charles M. skinner at
Church OF Our Father.

Address by Charles M. skinner at the
Church OF Our Father.
Charles NJ Skinner. well known as
Journalist and author, spoke at lay
mans meeting in the Church Of Our
Father on THE Ethics OF Journalism"
Among other things he said
This is the day of the man In tho
street.-The common man. And tito
press is the voice of the common man..
speaking a little more clearly. and
little more highly than the man speaks
i'm his person. but representing his
aims and his interests II gives more
space to the dog fight than n sym
phony concert. i'm the assumption that
more people read about the dog fight
than about the concert 1t announces
scientific discovery I'm ton lines. and
gives 4 page TO descriptions and pic
lures of two illiterate sluggers maui
ing one another i'm the ring because
the prize fight interests the common
man more vehemently than does the
discovery. It is objected that It in
vades homes and exposes matters of
private concern; but it has a better
right to expose a man as a rascal than
he has TO be one
The faults of the press are known
20 itself and there is steady better
ment that keeps pace with that of it's
public. Even the yellow editor. who
denounccs crime with his left hand,
on the editorial page while he adver-
tises and encourages it by glowing ac-
counts on the news pages with his
busy right hand, is Improving. slight
~. But with all its admitted short
comings the press is right; it stands
for health. safety, honor. progress,
liberty. I does so because the man
in the street stands for exactly that.
The newspaper that dared to stand for
anything else-but it could not and
would not. 1t would be the quickest
mode of suicide. The newspaper rep
resents all interests. not equally, but
I'm such supposed measure as it eli
entelc demands. and at base it must
be true in all things It's exploiting Of
crime is harmful. its society flub-dub
is weakening; it gives too much atten-
tion to politics; it has the common
American idea that government is the
be-all and cnd-all of social existence,
instead of the means to an end; it
| stands. too. in peril from commercial
| ism that would check freedom of ex-
| preston for gain; but withal it is the
| strong true and hopeful expression of
| the republic.
1--WE need men who will fight munic-
! ipal corruption. The press will always
! support such men. But it must not
be supposed that it is any part of the
duty Of the press to turn aside from
its news getting and its comment.
4 to actually set in motion the machin-
cry of the law against corruption. If
men are content to be robbed. they
deserve all they get. 1t is a healthful
sign that. although in the last cleo
tion the people voted for the wrong
ticket they did so against the almost
united appeal of the whole press of
the city. Here the people were wrong.
| lut it showed that they had the cour-
| age of their convictions; that they
! were taking on a mood to fight their
| own battles. The world is growing
| better The press grows better with
! it, and little faster In its ideal it
represents. not the mob, but what the
mob is capable of being. In thou
! sand years the man i'm the street will
have arrived. ana the press is doing
| its share to aid in the ARRIVAL
] Brooklyn Eagle.