The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-30
JOURNALISM AND POLITICS.

In an address recently delivered be-
fore a class of students at Yale uni
versity Colonel George Harvey. editor
of Harpers Weekly, discussed journal
ism and politics 1t was his judgment
that the newspaper man should keep
out of the personal side of politics, that
he should never become a candidate for
any office. He continued;
That true journalism and the pol
tics that seeks personal advancement
are not and can not be made corpora
tive: from the radical difference in
their very natures and the impossibility
Of reconciling what should be the ideal
ism of the one with the prCcdcalism
of the other they must be essentially
antagonistic. That in fact they are is
evident. The chief, if not indeed the
sole, aim of the political is to win the
favor of the majority. To achieve this
purpose he does not scrupIe: in the Ian
guage of his craft. hes keeps his ear
To the ground and the magnitude of
his success is Il easur by the shTewd-
ness with which he divines popular ten
denotes sufficiently in advance of their
general manifestation to appear to be
the leader of movement 10 establish
newly discovered principles rather than
az a skilful conjecturer Of evanescent
popular whims.
1T follows necessarily that the jour
nal animated by any other than a like
motive, that is. the desire to profit from
wandering to modified selfishness, is so
hateful to the aspiring politician that
in his view il must be discredited.
Hence the frequency and virulence
of assaults upon newspapers which
for one reason or another dis
sent from views expressed by polite
ians, sometimes no doubt in sincerity.
but always in hope of currying public
favor. The reasoning Of such a jour
nal is seldom combated; a mere ques-
tioning of its motives is deemed and
generally is found TO be vastly more
efficacious. So it often happens in even
these enlightened days that a newspa-
per undergoing no change in control
may today be pronounced patriotic and
devoted to the cause of the people and
tomorrow be denounced as a servant
OF special interests and an enemy of
the country, in precise accord with its
defense or criticism Of political meas
ures and men"
There is a good deal of sound truth
I'm Colonel Harvey's remarks. General
" speaking, he should not be an of
ficeholder or a candidate for office.
The temptation to stand well with the
majority. even if a sacrifice of per-
sonal convictions is involved. is often
weIl-nigh irresistible. At the same time
it does not necessarily follow that be
cause a newspaper man is in politics his
paper must be dishonest The news
paper man who is intrinsicany honest
will be honest whether he is in pol
itics or not.
But, after all. very few responsible
editors or mana gers of newspapers ever
do get into politics as officeseekers. It
is a very well known fact, to the news
paper profession, at least, that news
paper connection is a handicap rather
than a help TO political preferment. In
tie course of his work it often becomes
the duty of the newspaper man to
print items that are painful to- those
about whom they are written. Edito-
rial policies are unpopular with people
who are attacked.
1t is human nature to remember an
injury and forget a favor. Nobody