The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-05-15
The Honor OF the Press.

open anu ABOUT winch II Is Impossible To us
cover anything mysterious the newspaper of
to-day is coming in for effort to make 1t a
mystery Worthy persons talk darkly of some
insidious. invisible control; the labor and So
eialistic sheets deride the 'capitalstic press,
and even clergymen -deplore what they call ten
denotes" AT the annual dinner of the Periodical
publishers Association of America, held in New
York on January "a 1911. the Episcopa bishop
Of Michigan. DIR, Williams. remarked that 'peo-
pie In the country had lost confidence in the
daily papers. believing them to be under CON
troll Like most critics he did not reveal the
control, nor did he seem to know that 'peo-
pie in the country consume but limited guam
titles of daily newspapers. Like all aspersions
It seems To come from opinions and not from
facts.
The critics who build up these opinions would
not need to be taken seriously but for their
persistent reiterations. The japanese have
proverb that where dog barks in folly ten
thousand echo II as real alarm. Not long
ago attended an 'uplift" meeting in crowded
part of New York city. where the audience
was foreign-born and socaistic in learnings.
Several young men made burning statements
about the controlled" press, based on well
known" facts-all OF which proved to be vapor
ngs. At another meeting OF a very high elias.
literary club in Brooklyn. a lawyer with wide
public experience calmly charged that great
New York daily, absolutely owned by one man,
had accepted pay for reporting one of Robert
G. Ingersols lectures, to the exclusion of
feminine criIc who wished TO have her remarks
follow the report Nothing of the kind ever did
or could occur in the Office of this particular
newspaper, or, for that matter. any other pub
lished In New York city; but this good man,
with great emphasis and JUNCTION.
Now. l think l assert without the pos
sibility of contradiction thar the successful
newspapers of America are those owned by
their proprietors. There a good many
tombstones in the Journalistic cemetery that
mark the .fforts of some rich man or interest
run a newspaper. Such a sheet never yet
ran anywhere but into the ground The
statement can be made concerning party organs,
THERE DOES NOT E&lST TODAY IN
AMERICA A SINGLE SUCCESSFUL HARD
AND-FAsT LOYAL PARTY NEWSPAPER,
WHILE THE JOURNALS ENJOYING THE
WIDEST CIRCULATION AND GREATEST
FINANCIAL SUCCESS ARE INDEPENDENT.
with Democratic leantngs Even in proverbiaily
Republican States or cities these papers have
the lead This sort of constituency does not
bow to Interests The political indie tendency
/ of cities is becoming marked. A city con-
stituency Is alert and welI informed and Is
not to be misled~ A misleading newspaper would
quickly lose IT'S readers. and without readers all
Is In vain
How newspaper deceive or mislead the
public by what it openly prints advocates
There is no secrecy in type and ink. The story
IL there. right or wrong. true or false, and the
paper is responsible To the reader and the law
But, says the critic the advertisers dominate
the newspapers. This is fatty untrue Not only
do they not dominate, but seldom never
try In the twenty years / have been
employed on Ne" York newspapers none Of tho
three publications where / worked
dominated ny any advertiser or advertisers,
and the requests for favors outside @ mention
/ Of spring and fan openings were practically
nil, l know Of but case in which an ad-
vertiser yentured to ask favor politically, and
that not for himself but for n friend and WAS
/ publicly and stcrnly rebuked by the newspaper
TO which he appealed. During the sixteen years
/ in which have passed upon the dvertisns
business of the New York World recall my
one organized effort on the part of advertisers to
influence the paper. There few excellent
| Brooklyn business men who differed about
rapid transit program in which they We're
not Interested financially except so far they
shared the common benefits. The paper was
unyieldins and it lost some business. out OF
the thirtN-odd large advertisers In New York
| | recall but two requests for the suppression
of news which could be credited to the head of
I the house; save the good name of a
friend and the other not to unduly display a
tragedy. Neither request granted. In the
latter case two morning papers out Of the seven
! In New York did oblige, but THE rest not
! influenced III any manner
Last year the Worlds advertising revenue
was sS's2s o0o not one pennys worth of which
came In through any other consideration than
value as an advertising medium pure and simple
! During the eighteen years have been with
the paper Mr.. Joseph Pulitzer. the proprietor
and director has sternly insisted that the paper
pole! must much as a hair q
hxeaath 4a>fasar sf ans prtssstts. interest nnaer
/ the sun--not even his own. The only thought
has been; How can we make the paper better
and more Independent?
| / do not recite this boastfulIy or 10 assume
that newspapers are snperhuman, but to clear
the name Of both the advertisers and the news
papers
AS for what is called the influencing Of the
press by the interests meaning the financial
group nothing could he more absurd. When
| the World exposed the Insurance scandals in
New York 1t heralded that these Interests"
were immune because they were large adver-
tisers. Primarily they We're not large aayer~
Users They only pretended to be. Advertise
ing concealed corruption fund. none of W hief
reached the press a letter OF warning OF legal
consequences from the attorneys OF the New
! York Life Insurance Company the only note
OF protest that ever reached those in authority
in the office.
Not only Is the newspaper not Influenced
by its advertisers in the concrete, but in far
/ too many cases II is not decentiy paid for It's
great services. Now and then an advertising
| a1Cprfiaar hat ba
grease" the copy with liberal lot Of
free noticing. Some two hundred and eighty
OF the three hundred members OF the associa-
| ton have Joined to repress agencies that seek
| to impose upon them IN the interest of their
/ clients. The time is when an agency
that persists will lose it's recognition and its
commissions.
prints. and SO all the world becomes WISE The
humblest handpress In country town would
creak In protest If its levers were checked
/ have known more than mortgage laden
editor to defy the money power that held his
notes. 1t Is but few weeks since | met y
country publisher who had just been told by the
village magnate that he going to forecIose
TO stop criticisms on the local government
with which Mr.. Moneybags had satisfactory
relations
I You can print your rag in the street. said
the great man.
| Very WELL said the editor cooIly, with his
hands in his empty pockets; Il will print II
In the street This Is something somebody,
always VIII do. There is not cannot be- any
..control" over the press OF tina United. States
All this Is written. not to prove newspaper
self -sacritice, though there IL much OF this but
TO show that the newspaper Is truly public
institution. and as such Is used and abused by