Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-02-04
THE PROFESSOR AND THE PAPERS.

THE PROFESSOR AND THE PAPERS.
Professor Munroe Smith. of Column
bia University, Is the author of an eX-
tremcly interesting article in the Feb
ruary number Of The North American
Review, entitled THE Dogma of Jour
nalistic lnerrancy." The policy of the
newspaper in rarely admitting mistake
is fundamentally sound. he argues, and
was forced upon the daily press by the
the necessary Inconsistencies of its
judgments. But, he alleges, the ra-
tional doctrine of journalistic iner-
ernncy, which represents the necessary
policy of the newspaper tends, in some
cases. to pass into a dogma with ccr-
tain unfortunate and injurious conse-
uuences which Professor Munroe
Smith endeavors to describe. He con-
trasts judicial inquiry with news
gathering:
"A comparison between judicial in
quiry and news gathering Is the more
legitimate because the work of courts
is in some respects akin to that OF
newspapers. Many -latters which fig
ure first as news become in time OBJ
jects of judicial investigation. Courts
disentangle their facts, as journals get
their news, from testimony. Like news
gathering. (and unlike scientific inves-
: i,r,t i,Ij al is
under some limitation as regards time.
except In police courts the work Is
not hurried, but controversies must be
terminated and the calendar must be
cleared. The methods of the news
gatherer. however, are very different
from those employed by courts The
reporter. as a rule. hears but one side,
and Very little of the evidence on that
side. He hears testimony which court
would exclude as irrelevant or mis-
leading. He often relies wholly on
hearsay. He does little If anything in
the way of questioning witnesses
or determining their freedom from
bias. and he seldom investigates their
reputation for velacty The crudity of
his processes is attributable mainly to
haste. When courts have days or
weeks, he has minutes. or at best,
hours. The pace at which he must
work is quickened by competition; for
news is spoiled if rival journal pub
fishes 1t an an earlier edition"
Professor Monroe's position is one
too often assumed by newspaper read
ers and his conclusion is quite as in
accurate as he would charge against
the daily news reports. The fact is
that good newspapers are accurate
when they make positive and definite
assertion of fact. Professor Monroe's
nsistence that a newspaper puts it
self behind every line of news pub
lished is inaccurate and unjustifable.
The newspaper gathers in day the
happenings upon a
sphere. 1t hurries to its patrons with
rumors, reports, the greater gossip of
a globe. 1t offers this as report |
rumor. globe gossip The story of a |
dynamitards plot against the Ameri-
can fleet is given precisely for what |
it is worth. Such a report has come
from Rio and Paris. The newspaper
does not assert its absolute truth 1t
tells what is being said and reported |
1t makes no claim to positiveness. A
theater burns at o'clock in the aft
ernoon and the T.-R. before o'clock
that evening tells it's subscribers 100 !
miles from its office that 500 are re-
ported dead in the Iroquois disaster.
1t makes no claim to absolute accur-
acy. Such accuracy is impossible.
Chicago doesn't know but the T.-R.
gives it's readers the estimate of men
looking on at the ruins and the most
The Jap fleet starts on a secret move-
ment at daylight. Not ten men in the
world know whittier it is bound but
the IRIS subscribers that evening
read the absolute fact that it has
started and the speculation as to its
destination, made by those best fitted
to speculate. That is news off the bat.
Short order news. Accurate as may
be.
When real newspaper states a
fact when it says that a thing oc
Cured at time and place, when it is
absolute and definite in statement, the
facts are as stated, not nine times out
Of ten, but 999 times out of 1,0OO And |
that is nearer absolute accuracy than
college professors and most sciences
attain.
Newspapers are generally accurate.
They are generally truthful. Add the
hundreds thousands of accurate report
and statement and subtract the errors.
The balance will show you.
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