The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-30

papers in such a way as 10 promote BY
suggestion 10 weak minds all that is
depraYed in life.
The same newspapers make it a
daily business 10 feature the worst side
Of life. 10 debauch their readers by con-
slant parade Of evil Their excuse is,
of course, that they print the news as
they find il, and that publicity is the
only sure preventive and corrective Of
crime. As a matter Of fact. they print
such stuff because they find a large
constituency which revels in it and is
ready to pay for it; they thrive on the
sale Of news garbage and glory in it.
At the same time the same newspe-
pers preach virtue editoriaIly with an
air OF sanctimonious purity that might
accord well with the editorial page OF a
church publication.
x =
The communication from the Council
OF Jewish Women indicates the one sure
way Of reaching this evil-the refusal
to support such newspapers, and the
education of public sentiment 10 a
proper appreciation of the danger from
impure news. Happily the very large
majority Of the newspapers of the
country is not given TO the exploitation
Of vicious news Further, the standard
is better now than il was twenty years
ago or ten years ago. and it will con-
tinue 10 improve. Merely as a matter
Of dollars and cents the press Of the
country is learning that decency, like
honesty, is the best policy. Some pub
fishers are slow to learn it. but even
the worst Of them are having it forced
upon them. The New York Herald for
instance, has been compelled to discon-
tinue a class of advertising openly in
tended TO promote evil. which it carried
for years as d part Of its regular ad-
vertislng business. Some Of the largest
and most influential dailies in the coun-
try have for years barred from publica-
ton stories of certain classes of crime.
The newspapers of Salt Lake, with one
possible exception, would not think of
printing such details of an immoral
class as were published twenty years
ago as a matter of course and without
protest from the reading public.
As long as newspapers are printed
reports Of crime will be published be-
cause they are of news interest. The
quiet death OF a citizen at home is not
Of interest except as he may have been
Of
same man might be of national interest
The good men do is a commonplace;
the evil. unfortunately, is always news,
but the form Of its publication may de-
termine whether the public good has
been served or whether an injury has
been done by the newspaper.
So far as The Herald is concerned, it
believes that the news of murders, di-
vorces, scandals and social happenings
of an unsavory nature are best mimi
mixed when published at all. 1t never
publishes social scandals unless as part
of a court proceeding and then only
after a careful editing. 1t might have
to plead guilty to giving undue prom
inence to divorce cases, a subject that
leaves room for reform, though posi-
bly, the conspicuous publication Of such
cases has led and will still lead to i'm
provements in the laws which make
promiscuous and easy divorces possible.
Generally speaking. the policy Of The
Herald has been to present a clean, de-
cent record Of the days happenings in
such form that no reader could be in
jured by its perusal. It has systemat-
ically emphasized the brighter and bet
ter side Of life, the good deeds. the I'M
selfish devotion of men and women
to their kind. the movements for ma
tional and communal betterment. Still
further. The Herald believes that the
press. generally has the same standards
and that the newspapers Of the country,
with a few conspicuous exceptions. are
better than they we're a generation ago,
and constantly improving in this re-
spect.