The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-06-26
A SAMPLE OF MISREPREsENTA
TON.

man IN public life tand one can be- In
public life without being in office Is
more irritating than misrcpgescuta.
ton of his position. and yet Il seems
| to be impossible TO prevent misrcnrr.
sentation, a newspaper man calls
upon YOU, often as you are getting on
the train or getting on, and asks a
| question. II you refuse to answer the
| question your refu-al will be miscon.
| strued and yet when YOU answer It
| you take your chance upon . msuuO
! tation, and II YOU are misquuted the
unfriendly papers are sure TO seize
! upon the misquOtatiOn and build cdi.
! torials upon 1t, gladly assuming that
| you are correctly quoted The fol.
lowing is n case in point. Mr. Bryan
went to Baltimore in response 70 an
invitation OF local committee To de.
| liver his lecture, The Prince o.
| Peace" during the session Of the
| Methodist conference.-the entire pro
ceeds going to the local committee
which had In charge the defraying of
| the expenses OF the conference lie
+ announced to reporters that as he was
not there np0n Il political mission he
would not discuss politics. One OF the
| reporters asked him: viii your nd.
vocacy OF government and state owner.
ship OF railroads be prominent in the
campaign" Mr.. Bryan replied, THAT
Is not a present issue and do not in.
tend that II shall be made an issue
The people who are pressing II are
trying TO sIdetrack the real issue
which is the effective regulation OF
railroads" The reporter, instead of
reporting what Mr. Bryan stated. pub
llshed the following: This is not
pressing issue, and | do not intend
that It shall be leading issue. be.
cause the people who Will press It are
trying TO sidetrack the real issue.
which is the regulation OF railroad
rates" and he described Mr. Bryan as
saying II with emphasis and deter.
mination." A comparison OF the two
statements will disclose the fact that
the word pressing" was substituted
for the word present" This may
have been a typographical error, or
the reporter may have written the
word carelessly 1t will be noticed
also that the word leading" was in.
serted before the word issue" The
two words pressing" and leading"
change the entire meaning Of the sen.
tence. Mr. Bryan stated that it would
not be a present issue; that is, not an
issue to be considered at this time,
and that he did not intend that It
should be made an issue by those who
were using II to escape from the real
Issue. Then the word rates" was
added. and this limits the railroad
question to the subject of rates, where.
as the term used by Mr.. Bryan. "ef.
fective regulation OF railroads" covers
other things besides rates. 1t will he
seen, therefore that the reporter by
using three words that Mir. Bryan did
not use gave the opposition press a
chance to misrepresent Mr.. Bryan's |
attitude. II MIR. Bryan had actually |
said that the railroad question was not |
pressing issue, It would have been |
equivalent to saying that II was an |
issue but not as important as some |
other, but to say that II was not |
present issue was equivalent to saying |
that II is not ar issue at all at the pres |
ent time. II MIR. Bryan had said that |
1t would not be a leading Issue f. |
would have meant that It would havi |
been a minor issue. but he said thai
ha ne al To-
is an entirely different proposition
There is no way to prevent thes
Misrepresentation this is on. |
an ustration--without refusal { |
answer questions. The newspapers
are doing q great work and the RET,
resentatiyes are, as n rule. console,
tious and anxious to report correctly |
but II is not always possible to have |
an interview taken down in longhand |
and the memory is not infallble With |
the very best Of motives Il newspaper |
man may unintentionaly add word |
or phrase, and the phrase omitted OF
added may change the entire sense of |
the sentence or may give unfriendly |
critics a chance to draw wrong con |
cfisions from the interview.
Mr. Bryan has stated time and time |
again that the question of government |
ownership Of railroads is not an issue |
and will not be an issue la the cam |
paign. The question Of regulation Is |
an issue, and those who are opposed 10 |
regulation, recognizing the weakness |
OF their position, are constantly striv. |
ing TO deceive the voters and to turn |
attention away from the subject under |
consideration to some othe- subject
Sometimes interviews are doctored |
in the newspaper office after they |
have been sent in. Mr.. Bryan has had |
newspaper men complain to him that |
interviews sent in by them had been
edited In the office so as to conform to |
the editorial policy Of the paper OF
course, no defense can be made OF
such journalism and yet there are
daily papers which stoop to such meth.
DDS In their selnsh subserviepcy to the
exploiting interests.
"a srJhuta tn tho Int - |