The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-11-12
WEDNESDAY,. NovEMBrR IL. 1913.
The Ownership of
"A Newspaper.

The Jasper News has the following
concerning the ownership of the
Jacksonville Times Union:
Whenever a newspaper in this state
finds fault, or criticises, the Times
Union, in a large majority of cases
1t refers TO the Times Union as being
s-raflroad-owned.''
This is no argument at ali. People
as a. rule Go not care q copper who
owns the paper, it is the contents of
the paper which render it worthless,
or valuable.
A corporation is q legal person and
is entitled to, and possesses all the
rights of acquiring and holding prop
erty that any other person does.
Many times we differ from ideas adj
wanced by the Times Union, but it
never occurs to us to abandon the
question at Issue and prate about the
extraneous matter Of that paper 3
ownership.
Again, epfti1ets and abuse prove
nothing but the paucity of argument
of those who indulge in Them
Inasmuch as The Journal occasion
-eliy refers to the Jacksonville Times
Union as being owned by three rail-
roads, the foregoing applies to this
paper as well as to others that fire.
quently see fit TO criticise the Special
Interest policy of the Jacksonville pa
per.
OF course, as our Jasper contem-
porary says every argument ough, 20
stand on it's own logic regardless Of
the person or paper making it or OF
The motive behind IL
But a newspaper performs a Pc
cnliar function. 1t is the source Of
public information. It can publish
this information or suppress it. 1t
can give truthful information or it
can misrepresent the facts 1t can be
a real newspaper. serving the public
honestly and fearlessly, or it can be
a. Special Interest organ, n1isrepre-
senting men and measures, Suppress
ing some facts ana coIoring others.
ard deceiving its readers whenever
the interests of its owners so dictate.
It is therefore not only importanS,
hut strictly pertinent and proper, that
the public should know who the own
ers Of q. newspaper are and what, if
any. Special interests they represent.
The Times Union is owned by three
railroad systems. When the Times
Union opposes the work of the rail-
road commission or of the legislature
in regulating public service corpora
Hions. have We not the right to look
behind its logic and ascertain what
its motives are? And having learned
its motives. have we not the right to
assume that argument coming from
such a source. should be taken witch
a grain or two Of salt before being
accepted as either safe or finale
Two instances may be cited to illus
trate the case. ~ When the F1agler
divorce bin was introduced and passed,
the Times Union killed all reference
to it. Mr.. Fiagler was one of the
owners of the paper. (2) The other
day when a large meeting OF Jackson
VILE citizens organized q Stockton
club and heard speeches from the
mayor of the city and other pro1ni-
nent people, the Times-Union sup
pressed the fact Mr.. Stockton is OPP
posing the Times Unions candidate
for the senate.
Has the ownership Of a newspaper
nothing to do with things of this
character? Must the reading public
accept at face value the news reports
ard editorial opinions Of newspaper
whose OWNERSHIP dictates such
small and selfish policy? We think
not.
The fact that the Jacksonville
T1mes-Union is .railroad-owned" is
very pertinent fact to be considered
in every political policy which 1t adj
vocates. And the ownership of every
newspaper is something that all Of its
readers are entitled to know.