The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1914-04-27

held by the University of Wisconsin
last year, the general manager of tn,
Associated Press rose to defend hi
organization. The Associated Press
he said, was colorless, unbiased.
was his constant endeavor, it was thu
constant endeavor of his associates, t.
keep it so. He believed that they hat
succeeded.
When he had finished, a small
bright-eyed young man, looking, as
some one has said, like the leading
Juvenile in stock company" rose to
reply. This was Roy W. Howard, pres
ident of the United Press. I'm sorry
he said In effect, "but we haven't sue
ceeded in keeping our bureau colorless
and unbiased. We're only human be-
ings, and most Of us have pretty-strong
Municipalities. We couldn't keep our
Municipalities out of the news, no mat
ter how hard we tried We don't try.
We tell about the news as we see it.
We make every allowance we can for
the other side, and we don't lie or sup
press, but there still remains the point
!, of view. Our method is the only way
to be honest with the public and with
ourselves" So the old and the new
in journalism met on the same plat
form, and held debate-the old genera
ton, clinging to the fallacy that news
can be written from a godlike height
1t not; the younger generation, per-
ceiving that humanity sees truth only
from a point of view, honestly BIASED
and knowing it we'll. The Associated
Press, which the elder man represent
ed, is at present our most powerful
force of journalistic reaction in the
United States, while the United Press.
which the younger man represented,
Is our most powerful liberal and radl-
cal force. Without it, l for one am
convinced that we should never have
seen the non-partisan political up
heayal of 1912 And yet the United
Press, in its present form, is only sew
en- years old.
Scripps Started Bureau.
The Scripps newspapers gave birth
to the United Press The quiet power
of these Scripps newspapers is little
understood in the United States. E.
w. Scripps, genius of the organization,
believes in publicity for others, efface-
ment for himself. To mention him at
all is, to anyone who knows him, al
most a breach of journalistic conf |
dence. His string Of twenty-five or |
thirty metropolitan and small city |
newspapers have one definite policy
the interests OF the working-class.
They are humble-looking sheets, pub
lished generally in dingy Easements
and by young men. On the young man |
Scripps lays particular stress. Youth.
in its period of struggle, is radical and
near to the people; maturity and age
are conservative and apart from the
people. The Scripps newspapers give
youth and the people their fling.
Encourage Young Men.
Scripps believes that the balance OF
cannot be maintained I'M
less young men be encouraged to start
of their own. Otherwise,
age and established position will
swing the whole body of journalism
the Tory side. That, as l have
explained In previous article, is the
real trouble with the Associated Press.
By it's power of protest" as well as
by the excessive weight in its councils
If our oldest and most conservative
newspapers, it operates to shut, out
he young man from directing jour :
anlism. Scripps understood this from
he very beginning. He refused when !.
that bureau was formed, and he re-
fused afterward, to enter the Asso- !,
,iated Press. 6
Operated In the West. In
His newspapers were all in the west d
md middle west; only recently has he
,ntered the Atlantic states. He got
long for several years on three shoe o
tring" bureaus which performed their 0
ervice imperfectly-the Scripps News G
N the Pacific coast, the Scripps-Mc- Fl
sae league in the middle west, and the n
publishers Press in the Atlantic states. p
he two bureaus first named were I'M Il
err Scripps' control. The Publishers p
'ress served, besides the Scripps l
tring, only few struggling neWspa- G.
ers which could not get an Associated 81
'ress franchise These bureaus ans II
cred their purpose rather badly, IL
ept in one way. Their managers, and II
, a certain extent their correspon- Pr
ents, we're graduate telegraph oper- tt
tors. They were lightning on the is
ire" Often, by understanding how to ee
ct news through. they beat the older p'
ureau on big stories. Never III
beless. the larger understanding &c
{ news was not in them. Further y
,ese three bureaus operated short CT
anded. They must needs resort 10 J"
,akeshifts. None looked upon them as o'
sal rivals to the powerful, dominant n
A. P.' q
Formed the United Press.