Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-19
By H. G00DlNG FIELD.
lead before Honolulu Ad CIub1

Using, OF municipal affairs is three
| fold in character: Az
| 1.-THE private periodical publica
! confronting cities;
2-Periodical publications ISSUED
by the cities themselves; and.
3-The news columns Of local pa
perG. ms ~ SO Ss- -
Under the first heading. this kind
OF, publicity can be divided into eight
| groups or. classes: .ts,& IL
THE first Of these groAps in
cludes periodicals which deal with
municipal affairs in general and which
are of much more than. local interest
and Importance; 5E -
| ITO the second class may be as
( SIGNED the organs of various state and
local municipal leagues;
N2--The official organs of local civic
bodies organized % promote good gov
ernment, pure politics and efficiency
and decency IN municipal affairs gen.
orally; ~ aFr 81: :
EPublications purely local in char
acter, though not nominally published
as the organ OF some civic or reform
Organization; t,4E - ae 4Eg4 e.
5--Publications not primarily con-
cerned with municipal problems;
qualifications which exist primar-
ilV 10 advance a cityis commercial in
terests and for che discussion of local
municipal. problems from the stand
point OF good goYerpment;;,ua -
"TRIP riodical .publications which
treat particularly s0f RrQblems of mu-
nicipA engineering and public utili-
publications. devoted more or less
exclusively to the pressing social
problems ~
Under the second heading, wherein
the city itself issues it's own municipal
sheet, the experiment tried in Los An
geles may be taken as fair example
of the aims which have prompted this
innovation in municipal advertising.
TIE attempt was made to establish q
paper which would possess three lead
Ing characteristics:
lit should give prominence to
municipal matters and not allow them
10 be side1traeked for the sensations OF
the day;
Pit should publish the municipal
news accurately, not coloring its news
columns with bias of any kind; and
3--It should make ample provision
for the publication OF the arguments
Oh each side of live public questions.
However true the statement, II was
claimed by the voters of Los Angeles
that the affairs of their city were al.
together too much in the hands of the
privately owned newspapers, whose
news columns often contained bias,
and whose editorials displayed one
sided advocacy.
Another instance of subsidized
municipal journal is the Review of
Municipal and Economic Interests,
published in Havana, Cuba, which
treats of all questions relating to the
municipal policy of that Island.
The present tendency, however,
among progressive cities is to abandon
the sole municipal effort and to rely
on the superior facilities and equip
ment Of the local press, together with
the publicity mediums Of the various
civic bodies fora comprehensive feat
uring OF municipal problems. As an
instance of this tendency, the city
newspaper proposition was defeated
at the recent election.
So far as the local press is concerned
II is now almost universally conceded
that to help the city is a fundamental
oil, the newspaper creed. 1t may thus
be, assumed, ct the beginning and all
the time, that the local-newsEapers will
lie interested In helping along any live
movement for civic betterment. Dff-
ferences of Judgment among editors as
to the ways and means Of accomplish.
ing results, however, must be allowed
for, since they, like ourselves, are only
human. The complaint which is so
often heard Of the paucity of news
en- vital topics of local interest In our
cannot always be placed
70 the doors of these publications, AZ
|. is a we'll known fact that the attitude
OF all those interested in tie welfare
OF our town is too frequently that
Of crowding special theories down the
throats Of editors, securing puffs OF
persons leading the movement or De
that papers shah virtually be-
come Official organs" of the move
ment. Erroneous reports and mis-
representations, furthermore, arise In
the great majority of cases from fall
IRE to state facts, on the assumption
that. the newspaper man ought to
know them by some kind or
instinct.
The very nature and complexity of
our present-day civic questions call for
the greatest publicity, and inasmuch
as the taxpayer Is without a remedy !!
when extravagance In public expendi-
lures is the rule rather than the ex-
ception, the fullest possible informa- ]
ton, on the merits or otherwise of .
local issues shonld be given. The
main object of municipal publicity
should be to create public sentiment
liz favor of better administration of
public affairs; to bring enlightened
prtlic sentiment into action; to secure |
the nomination and election Of honest 4
ard efficient public officers; to labor
for the moral and political cleanliness .
Of the city. We cannot accomplish i
these results unless we aim to conduct !.
n oorona;oo af education nv giving of. 4