New-York tribune., 1911-02-20
MORALITY AND THE PRESS'
Influence for Good in Publicity
Weighed by Analysts.
ARRAIGN YELLoW' PAPERS
Oswald Garrison Willard and Will
Irwin the Speakers at Union
Church Meeting.

Tho .1foral Responsibility of the Press"
vas tho subject discussed at the union
,,aa,i,e held in the Hudson Theatre last
night under the auspices Of the Church Of
the Divine Paternity. the Free Synagogue
and the Church Of the Messiah Oswald
Garrison Willard. Of "The Evening Post"
tl.a first speaker. attacked the present day
"verow journals" and their explotations Of
crime in all its narrowing details.
"It is most reprehensible. he said, when
n nevspaner sets about 70 print matter
which IT knows Is not true simply for the
nurnose Of startling headlines and a tenn
porarily enlarged circulation. Because the
neysraper publishers have greater innu-
ence in shaping public opinion than some
other enterprises it does not follow that
there is a different code Of ethics for them.
4 newspaper publisher should not cheat
anv more than a man in any other business.
II the publisher lives up to his moral re-
sponsibilty he cannot publish harmful pat
ent medicine advertisements or exploit in
the same way fraudulent promotions of
wildcat schemes in speculation. Sincerity
and truth should be the keynote OF the pub
fishers code of morals.
"a newspaper may not make large sums
OF money in this way but it has an ever
lasting influence. not only in our day but
In all future time. The people and the ad-
vertse-s are the ones who can remedy the
abuses in the press and have whatever kind
Of papers they want by failing TO patronize
the newspapers they don't want
Mr. Willard said that a reaction against
sensational journalism was setting IN and
that the yellowest newspapers were becom-
ing more conservative.
VIII Irwin. who is writing a series OF
articles on the American newspaper, advo-
Gated better code OF ethics In the counting
room before we would have. in my opin-
ion," he said, IAN absolutely free and
honest press in this country.
The moral responsibility Of the press Is
greater in this age than ever before" said
Mr.. Irwin. 1T is greater in one sense be-
cause the laws OF this country grant the
newspapers certain privileges and immuni-
ties which the laws of no other country
afford Under the English libel law John
d. Rockefeller would have grounds for ar
action Of libel against nearly every news
paper in the United States. Ida Tarbel
could be sentenced 70 an accumulative tern
In prison for the rest Of her natural life
for the things she has said about Mr.
Rockefeller But we don't want gag rule
for the press in our country. The remedy
lies in the public's view OF the news tha
Is ft 10 print. together with a better codt
Of ethics. invulnerable to wrongful politica
influence and selfish money greed. on tht
part OF the editors"
h. Of a
press had undergone a change in recen
years and shifted from the editorial col
umns to the news columns. Public opinion
grew more out Of the news stories thar
through the editorials to-day. and conse
quently in determining the responsibility
Of the editors the readers have TO lool
more TO the kind Of news the papers pub
lsh. he declared. The question had 70 b'
decided, he said, whether journalism was Z
be a profession or merely a business.
The Rev. Frank Oliver Hall, pastor o
the Church of the Divine Paternity, saiC
that il was more a question OF the people
responsibility for the press than Of thu
moral responsibility of the press itself.
In the hustle and hustle and hurry anC
haste Of getting cut three or four editions
a day" he said. "and getting them out ho
and spiced for the taste. there is not mucf
room for holding up high moral responsi
bility. But It is not for US TO stand VI
end condemn the newspapers OF to-day. fo
they are infinitely better than they wer'
twenty wears ago. There are lots Of per
sons more afraid Of the copy than Of th
cop. ana the fear Of getting in the news
Papers has kept many a man out of jai
and many a woman away from the police
courts Publicity is the best remedy for i'm
morality II is UP 10 the people 10 boycott
the papers that do not print the facts anC
are insincere. The moral responsibility f.
theirs 10 do that