The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-08
FHE NEWSPAPERS.
fcontinued from Preceding Page:l

clergyman who departs from the
straight, set doctrinal sermon is not
tra nsgressing, but the clergyman VINO
has the interest of his congregation
at heart is governed by the dictates OF
his own conscience. So 1t IS with the
editor He must be the judge OF What
he will print and of what he will not
nyint He is accountable to the gem
eraI public and the general public
verv quickly shows by lis patronage
what they think of an editorial col
umn. Newspapers do suppress story
after story for the good OF the COM
munity at large. There IS hardly a
newspaper in the country which does
not do this every week. just as pub
fishers decline hundreds and thousands
Of dollars worth of advertising of
questionable nature.
Inaccuracies Too Common.
The criticism that newspapers are
inaccurate in statements has some
Justification. But in this they are
probably not sinners above others. Dr.
sheldon refers to an incorrect account
by a newspaper reporter of state
ment made regarding the Christian
E,Ddeavor movement. Such inaccur-
acies are all too common They should
be less common than they are, but
TO some extent they are inevitable. DIR.
sheldon knows how various are the
outside of a newspaper as reported in
good faith by those who heard or wit
messed 1t. Have you ever attended a
session Of Judge Urmy's police court
and heard the conflicting stories told
by witnesses many Of them really try
ing to tell the truth? Well. that is the
problem of the newspaper reporter
day after day in the search of news.
Out of such conflicting material re-
porters constantly must construct CO
herent and truthful narratives, sitting
the evidence and making due allow
ance for bias. Having emphasized the
responsibility of the public for mac.
curacies, I am quite willing to admit
frankly that the men who make the
newspapers are human too, and that
their shortcomings occasion much
more grief within the Office than out
side of it. DR.. Sheldon suggests as a
suitable newspaper motto, 1.-The truth,
the truth, the truth, "a noble motto.
It is indeed virtually the motto of
most publishers. Most publishers
would prefer on every account to have
their paper come out with a correct
rather than an incorrect account of an
incident, whatever its degree of i'm
portance. Entire accuracy is out Of
the question, because the human mind
does not always work accurately even
when it works honestly and there is to
be taken into account also, the fact
LldL the QdllV paper Is pIOQuCGu III a
very brief space OF time and under
great pressure The strenuous life is
perhaps best illustrated in a modern.
newspaper establishment. Here again,
the newspaper may be said to reflect
one of the evils of the time. I fear
also, that in this connection, there is
a general tendency to be unfair to the
newspaper. If nine incidents are re-
ported correctly in the columns of an
issue of a daily paper and the tenth
incident is reported incorrectly in
whole or in part, the tenth incident is
too often taken as portraying the reg
ular habit of the paper in recording
the news of the day.
Newspapers Not InfaIIIbIe.
&Of course newspapers are not in
fallible- They publish inaccurate
statements, largely because they Sc
cure the information from human be-
ings, with all the frailties of human
kind, but I think it hardly fair to say
that newspapers have the habit of
iuaccuracy. 1t seems to me that is
drawing it a little strong. 1t is easy
for the most careful writer to drop
into an inaccurate statement without
any idea of incorporating the facts
in the case. For example: DR.. Shell
don says in his paper that if all the
try spend for patent medicine
were thrown into the sea we
would have ten times the physical
health and vigor we now have, and if
it were all spent for the legitimate,
scientific methods of keeping well it
would increase the healthfulness of
the race twenty-fold. I do not imagine
that the doctor would argue that his
"ten times" his "tweny-fold" are ac-
curate statements and yet this is one
sort of inaccuracy for which newspa-
per are criticised, and I suppose not
1, 1ark1 7 gf ~
Sheldon imagines that the twenty-five
thousand dollar story about his play
originated in the newspapers office.
Does he imagine that it evolved out
of the inner consciousness of some re-
porter? do not know where the story
came from; do not know where it
was printed, but it is barely possible
that some of DIR. Sheldon's enthusiasts
tic friends said one to the other. He
easily could get big money if he would
allow it to be produced by a theatre
cal manager and another friend has
said, He could easily get twenty-five
thousand dollars for it, and a third
friend has said, DIR. Sheldon was Of
fered twenty-five thousand dollars for
it" and a fourth friend has repeated
the story to a newspaper reporter,
who had no reason for doubling the
good faith. the truthfulness, the -accur-
acy and the honesty of one of Dr.
is the way that story originated, but
this is the way that many such stories
originate. 1t is the glory of the news
paper, but to some extent also it's mis-
fortune, that in the very nature of the
case, what it says is right out in the
open where every one can see it. This
is what makes a newspaper so great a
power for good or so great a
power for evil. This fact puts a ire
mendously great responsibility upon
the publisher, a responsibility which
the American publisher feels more
keenly now than he has ever felt it
before, but which it is perhaps in
creasingly difficult for him to dis
charge, on account of certain condi-
lions inherent in our modern life.
DR.. Sheldon is correct when he
speaks of the weakness of the modern
newspaper in its publication of mat
ters out of proportion to their impor-
lance. This tendency should be cor
rected. I question whether it would
be possible to reform it altogether. or