University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1911-05-07
Newspaper Making

The making of country newspaper
lis the easiest proposition in the world
All that is necessary is to get every
item of news that happens or is likely
TO happen; keep the good will of all
who buy, beg, borrow or steal your pa,
per; publish nothing that anybody is
opposed to seeing i'm print; leave Cut
nothing that anybody would like to
see in print; serve as a grindstone for
any who may have an AK to grind; /;
boost every sort of a public enter
Iprise; serve as a mouthpiece for all
the political. religious and commercial
l0rganiZati ions; laugh when others
laugh, cry when others Cry, sigh when
others die and lie when bad men die: 4:
be a public regulator without giving
| private olfense; have opinions that all
will indOrse; accomplish reforms with
out getting anybody riled: make money
enough TO pay the hands. save enough
for rainy day. and then retire To a
life OF leisure and affluencc, as rGb-
Usher of country papers are won TO
DO. ANY man who has never tackled
the job will tell you he could do it with
one hand tied behind his back.
But those OF us who have been
.wrestling with the proposition all these
I years are imbued with the notion that
it is about as complex an affair as
ever perpleXed the mind of moral
man. If il were a mere matter OF set
ting and giving the news most any
and reducing them 10 copy would make
Il paper that would fill every demand.
And a publisher who haS no person
ality. who is not Il diplomat. who is not
in leader, who is not business set
ter, who is not a contender for pTin-
ciples and policies of merit, and who
is not 4 recognized force in the pro
greSS of his community, will fall short
of the task OF making a country paper
in exactly the same proportion as h
lacks the traits. Private grud@es,
personal prejudice and selfish purposes
have 10 place in the makeup oi a
country paper. The editor who can
not give 4 straight forward, uncOloTeG
item OF news about his worst enemy
lis a yiOlator of the best ethics of his
profession. The editor seeks TO mould
sentiment by doctOring the news is
dishonest with his constituents anu
untrue to- himself. While the policy
should be to give the news, it should
not be to give all the news. There is a
sort of news that is not fit 10 print.
There are times when it is not advis-
able to print what really is legitimate
news. | would rather be criticised for
eliminating the details of nasty SEN
sation from my columns than to win
stow it because of such publication.
| would rather suppress the first Csca-
pade of a thOughtless or degenerate
youth than to break the heart of his
mother or bring shame upon a good
family by publishing it TO the world.
My experience has been that in the
making of country paper it is far
more important to know what TO keep |
out of a paper than to know what to |
put into it.
Those of us who used to think il |
our duty to vilify and msrepresent |
men We opposed politically have learn
ed that tolerance and fair play is the
better way. Those of us who used |
10 think it our duty to serve as aX-
grinders for selfish politicians have
and reformed. Those of
is who used to look with suspicion
Ipon any one who might differ with
is on community or state affairs have
earned to honor a clever opponent.
Those of lis who used to try to sweep
pack oceans of public sentiment with
In editorial broom have learned to
submit gracefully after the deluge.
But the man who puts nothing into
newspaper business except what he ext
,ects 10 come back TO him in the ;
hape of money has distorted con-
option of the ethics of his profession
md lacks those ideals which have
'een the glory of the craft since Gut- Il
enburg discovered the magic secret of L
movable types. The community that l.
, not a better community morally, a Il
tronger community intellectually, q /
nore prosperous community CONNER Is
tally and more progressive COM It
1unity along all the lines of human Il
ndeavor because of its newspapers II
; community whose publishers are l.
trangers to the best instincts of me "
rOfe- sion. From address on The L
iaking of a Country Newspaper. by Is