The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-30

| SnDDlX our members Will news, HOl
views; with news as it happens-not as
we may want it to happen Intensely as
it's management may sympathize with
any movement no propaganda in its be
| half can be tolerated. Very jealousy
| indeed does the membership guard
! against their agency going outside its al
| otted duties and argus eyed is the CEN
sorship 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 ma
ture of the business. with the heart SO
worn upon the sleeve, detection very
| swiftly follows, and the mistakes are
! few and far between
| The desire to enlist the Associated
| Press in propaganda or advocacy is usu-
| ally to be found at the bottom of crit-
cisms of its service Added to this often
is misinformation as to the real facts
and sometimes, though happily rarely,
| actual malice
| The service from Russia, for example
has been harshly criticized by some who
thought that the province of the Asso-
ciated Press was to undertake a crusade
against the Russian government because
of its anti i-Semitic attitude. Our theory
of our obligations is that we should re-
port the facts as they occur, without
fear or favor but that it is no part of
facts alone are darnning.
The case of the Coreans charged with
a plot to assassinate Governor General
Terauchi has recently been much dis
cussed.
These Coreans were almost all convert
ed Christians and the American mission
aries in Corea were naturally intensely
interested in the matter.
1t was freely alleged that the Asso-
,d11Jx fr1ff h1y q
Japanese government, had suppressed
the fact that these Coreans had made
confessions, duplicating American mis-
sionaries as accessories to the plot, and
had subsequently retracted these con-
fessions, asserting that they had been
extorted by atrocious torture inflicted
lby the Japanese police, the irtimatfon
being also that the missionaries were
! in peril by reason of the repudiated
confessions. Based on this some Of the
missionary authorities here became
much perturbed, and indeed one of the
great New York papers printed news
and editorial articles criticising the
A Associated Press for the suppression OF
the matter. AZ q matter Of fact an
inspection Of tho news service received
by the Associated Press and distributed
TO It's members showed that 1t carried
the full facts; the confessions, the I'M
plioations OF thu missionaries, the alle-
cations Of torture. tho fact that the
allegation OF torture was believed by
the missionaries. and also the fact that
the Japanese denied the torture stories
ana attached no credencs whatever TO
the prisoners statements duplicating
the mjssionarios.
On learning the real situation ths
Now York newspaper In question
promptly printed an ample nmsnde
honorable. but do not doubt that
many still ignorant OF the rstracticn
feel that the Associated Press was
guilty Of Soma dsreiietion.
Anothsr cause OF freqIent misappro-
hsnhien II In the general tendaney of
newspaper readers 10 attribVts pHy-
thing seen in print to ths Asanslated
Press. and u IL constantly. neesssary
to explain that some violently partisan,
or innceuYete Rrtiels was the work Of
a special and not part Of our ssrv :
leo.
Awsy back In ths mIddIs Of tls last