Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-20

news, when he must Know, OF Ougnt 10
know. that not one muck raking' maga-
zine story in 100 gives a single important
fact that has not already had newspaper
publicity The muck rake magazine
writer. with few exceptions, simply gathers
together in striking succession or contrast
what the local newspaper has printed in
detail a bit at a time as II occurred. He
tries to give a birds eye view (too often
grossly distorted) OF a public scandal, or |
q civic tragedy that has been already un-
rolled in the newspapers in several acts,
and the magazine Is in great demand |
among the people Immediately affected and
familiar with the facts eager to see wha; |
a fantastic tale can be woven and how /
much Of the truth has been suppressed to |
make it thoroughly sensational
We are told that partisan newspapers |
suppress news reflectlng on the party and /
party leaders menRcing party success. |
II So there is always a partisan paper OF
the other party sure to print 1t. We are |
told that "nonpartlsan" leaders are meeting
with cheering response when they found
weeklies in order 70 reach their natural
following. The referance to weekles
founded by "nonpartisians' plainly points
to William j. Bryan's Commoner, Tom
Watson's Monthly and LaFollettes Maya
zine Let some one who disagrees with the
policy and the purpose of any one OF these
papers submit something that does not
accord with the editors "nonpartisan' ideas
and see how quickly 1t is suppressed by
prompt return to the writer as "unavail-
able"
We are told again that five cities have
started periodical publications for free dis
tribution at taxpayers expense Ito ac-
quaint the citizens with municipal hap
penings and affairs" as if what is thus
given were suppressed by the newspapers
Every intelligent person in each OF those
| cities knows that the reason is an en-
| tirely different one. Those municipal pub
! lications are purely advertising sheets got
ten out by the officials to boost their towns
! and incidentally themselves and impress
the people with the grand work they are
doing. Not a thing of news value appears
in any of them that is shut out OF the
daily papers and if occasionally they pro-
duce something worth while from the pen
of some one worth quoting, the whole item
is eagerly seized by the newspapers and
only by reprinting in the newspaper Sc
cures the publicity 1t deserves.
| Finally, we are told that because of
newspaper suppression of news, the
spoken word is once more a power and
so the demand for lectures and speakers Is
unsuitable" and the platform bids fair to
recover its old prestige; the "smotherers'
are "dismayed" by the growth of the chau-
tauqua circuit; congressional speeches give
vent to "boycotted truth" and circulate
widely under franking privilege (why then
free postage); clubs are formed to listen
to facts and ideas "tabooed by the daily
press" more is made of public hearings
before committees of councilmen or legis-
tors. But what is making the spoken word
a power? Is it the hypnotic influence OF
soul-stirring oratory or the unansweraole
logic with which 1t argues? Is 1t inquis-
itlvensss to learn facts that the news
papers are conspiring to stifler is II
not rather because of the publicity
which the newspapers freely accord, be-
cause through newspapers the speaker
whose voice is heard by a mere handful
of people, reaches thousands upon thou
sands who do not know him except by
newspaper reputation, and whom he has
never seen at all? Why does a chautauqua
circuit rider try to beat the record for long
distance talking? Why does he crowd and
push to make a seconding speech at
great national convention? Why does he
pitchfork his remarks with bizarre Ian
guaEe? Why is he so complacent to be
snap shotted for his photograph? Why
does he take to farming (at financial
loss)? Why-if not for the free newspaper
advertising which is to create the in
satiable" demand for him as a lecturer and
enable him to increase the share of the
gate receipts which he hopes to get? If
the Congressional Record is a mine Of
} 'boycotted truth" which the newspapers
: are suppressing 1t ought to be the most
popular publication extant and boast big
ger circulation than them all Why buy a
muck rake" magazine If you can get it
all for nothing by a simple request to
your congressman? How does it come that
more is now made of public hearings be-
fore investigating committees? How do we
get such Investigations anyway? Are they
not in nine cases out of ten the outgrowth
: of newspaper exposures and are they not
fully exploited in the newspapers? If the
work of investigating committees belonged
to the class of important news sup
pressed" by the newspapers, what effect
would the Investigations have if they
should eventuate only in voluminous re-
port made weeks and months after all the
heat had cooled and the whole affair had
been forgotten?
Not only do 1 deny that democracy has
been struck a Staggering blow" by the
detection of the press" but l assert that
modern democracy is as much a product
OF the newspaper as the newspaper is a
product of democracy. a few black sheep
in the newspaper fold do not make the
whole flock black, nor do the combined
mperfections of all newspapers condemn
them to failure. Personally, l would like
d to see the experiment Of an endowed news
paper tried, because 1 am convinced COM
parison would only rebound to the advan-
tage Of the newspaper privately conducted
as a commercial undertaking. The news
paper most akin to the endowed newspaper
In this country is published in the in
terest OF the Christian Science church
With IT, important news is news cal
culated to promote the propaganda OF tn,
faith, and close inspection of its column!
would disclose news suppression in every
issue. On the other hand daily news
paper standing on its own bottom, mus
have readers to make its advertising space
valuable, and without a reasonable effof
to cover all the news and command public
confidence, the standing and clientage o
the paper cannot be successfully main
tanned The endowed paper pictured to u
as the ideal paper, run by board Of gov
ernors, filled in turn by representatives o
Il the various uplift societies enumerated b.