Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1913-04-28

functions OF the Associated Press.
The individual correspondent or re-
porter for given newspaper or a
small group of newspapers having Il
common bias may be permitted to
indulge in partisanship or in propa
ganda
This is absolutely not to be per
mitted in the Associated Press. No
bias Of any sort can be allowed
our junction is To supply our MEM
bers with news, not views: with
news as it happens-not as we may
want it to happen. Intensely as its
management may sympathize with
any movement. no propaganda in its
behalf can be tolerated. Very jeal-
Ously indeed does the membership
guard against their agency going
outside its allotted duties and argus
eyed is the censorship of every
handler Of our copy
1t is not. naturally. to be claimed
that no mistakes are made. They
are made and will be made But in
the very nature of the business, with
the heart so worn upon the sleeve.
detection very swiftly follows, and
the mistakes are few and far be-
tween
The desire to enlist the Associated
Press in propaganda or advocacy Is
| usually to be found at the bottom Of
criticisms Of its service. Added 10
this often is transformation as to
the real facts and sometime, though
happily rarely. actual malice
ample, has been harshly criticized
| by some who thought that the prov
| ince of the Associated Press was to
undertake a crusade against the
Russian government because of its
anti Semitic attitude our theory Of
| our obligations is that we should re-
| port the facts as they occur, without
| fear or favor. but that il is no part
| of our duty to draw indictments
| save as the facts alone are damning.
| The case of the Koreans charged
| with plot to assassinte Governor
| General Terauchi has recently been
| much discussed.
These Koreans We're almost all
| converted Christians and the Amer
| lean missionaries in Korea We're nat
orally intensely interested in the
| matter
1t was freely alleged that the As
ISOLATED Press. unduly influenced by
! the japanese government, had sup
pressed the fact that these Koreans
had made confessions. duplicating
| American missionaries as accessories
10 the plot, and had subsequently
| retracted these confessions, asserting
that they had been extorted by afro
cious torture inflicted by the Japa-
nese police. the intimation being also
that the missionaries We're in peril
| by reason of the repudiated confess
| sions
Based on this some Of the mission
airy authorities here became much
pcrturbed. and indeed one OF the
great New York papers printed news
and editorial articles criticiZing the
Associated Press for the suppression
of the matter.
As a matter Of fact an inspection
of the news service received by the
Associated Press and distributed to
its members showed that it carried
the fun facts; the confessions, the
implications Of the missionaries. the
allegations of torture. the fact that
the allegation of torture was believed
by the missionaries, and also the fact
that the Japanese denied the torture
| stories and attached no credence
whatever to the prisoners statements
duplicating the missionaries.
on learning the real situation the
New York newspaper in question
promptly printed an ample amende
honorable. but | do not doubt that
| many still ignorant of the retraction
feel that the Associated Press was
guilty of some dereliction.
Another cause of frequent misap-
prehension is in the general tendency
of newspaper readers to attribute
anything seen in print to the Asso-
ciated Press. and it is constantly ne
cessary to explain that some violent
~ partisan or inaccurate article was
the work Of a special and not Il
/ part of our service.
Away back in the middle of the
last century an alliance offensive
and defensive. existed between the
old New York Associated Press, a
news selling organization owned by
seven New York papers, and the
| Western Union Telegraph company
under the terms of which the New
! York Associated Press dealt solely
with the Western Union and the
| Western Union in turn gave discrim :
| mating rates and advantages to the
| New York Associated Press.
Although this arrangement Tin the
light of today very improper onet
. was abolished more than thirty years
ago. many people think that it still
exists and occasionally some one
arises fiercely to denounce this I'M
| holy alliance.
! The simple truth is that the Asso-
| ciated Press has during all these thlr-
| ty years and more paid exactly what
| other news associations pay, and that
| the rate charged by the telegraph
! companies for facilities furnished us
are greatly in excess of those charged
individual newspapers and still more
| than those charged stockholders haV-
! ing leased wires.
| The Associated Press leases wires,
many thousands of miles of them,
| from the Western Union. the Postal
! md tho american TalaDhopp and Tel