Albuquerque morning journal., 1910-12-02

crime. suicide and hearsay scandal
are solely supplementary and occupy
but the passing moment for the aver
age intelligent reader. Supplement-
aries can always be eliminated with
out disturbing the main principle,
and by as careful censorship OF news
AS is exercised over advertising, the
news scheme can he diverted. Psy-
biologists have shown that crime
news has criminal effect on undevel-
oped minds. suicide reeitals lead to
followers Of example. ! would never
nrgue 10 exclude these happenings
for they belong in the field OF news.
But | would emphatieally advocate
conservative treatment. The yellow
tinge In such stories arises purely
from competition If my competitors
refused TO publish the letters from
divorce applicant to her lover,
would never send photographers ana
reporters to the country place where
they met clandestlnely But with one
angie made pubic by my competitors,
Il IS up to me 70 find another ana
with expedition. because readers are
looking for It. have been educated 70
look for IT, Cooperation IN the pub
fishing field can eliminate the obnox-
inus details \ binding agreement 70
avoid them would be difficult 70 fol-
low for some time. inasmueh as edi-
toflal departments ere now keyed to
that string Hut the change would
eventuallv come. Just as II has been
made 10 the present standard. Mu-
tual agreement TO let the highly SEM
sational alone and setting measure
of what constitutes the highly SEN
sat1anal, Is the only solution toward
eliminating crime and scandal from
the news columns
Charles NJ Day editor Sioux Falls,
S. ID. Argus-Leadcr - am afraid
that Mi. Dooley was right when he
said. News is he'd news. The popu-
laifty of the modern newspaper
comes largely from the iact that II
covers the whole field OF human IN
terest and human activity People
are interested in the recounlng OF
stories of crime. whether by word OF
mouth. or through the newspaper
and the task OF reforming human ma
ture is quite q considerable one
do think that the regular news agen-
eies could do much 10 elevate the
public taste by refusal 10 feature
crime news ana by rigidly excluding
much Of tho pointlcss gossip and
sendal. but It is likely to be true that
the circulation Of high-browed news
papers would suffer in competition
with those less eouscientiously edited.
II would all be easy were Il not ter
The ever present fight for circulation,
and the manifest public hunger tof
something that viii thrill. surely the
established news agencies might Try
The experiment OF decreasing the
dose but there would be a raucous
outcry if Il were cut OF entirely.
News pages have been seasoned 50
strongly fer So long that they would
seem stale and flat If topics OF crime
and scandal and gossip were sud
denly eliminated"
II. n. stafford, editor oklahoma
city Okla, Oklahoman' y have
,,,.aa,,.,,s ltttla svnnr idea
OF eliminating IN toto all nLeiision OF
crime and scandal Ia the news col
umns. a newspaper which adopts
policy involving as much iofgetS itS
'ihissinn believe, however thai
evcnts Of this character should pc
played down rather than up as ~
the practice with so many OF our
newspapers. In this way we will pn
able to curb. and in time destroy the
evil effects Of present day practices
Rnt IL is manifestly out OF the ques-
tion 70 establish hard and fast poll
ries affecting every such incident
The circumstances alone must deter
mine the matter The prime essen
tial therefore, If we would destroy
the baneful influence of indiscrimin-
ate publicity in all crime and scan
dads IL a news editor whose heart "
In the right place; who Is more Goa
cerned about the well-being OF the
reading public than the financial as-
rrandizement incident to extra street
.t.lg 81