Evening journal., 1914-04-22

honestly report on that world, from
the radical point Of view Then shall
we have free discussion, and the
truth between conservative and radi-
cal will come out in the end
But there remains morning jour
nalism; and to the higher purposes of
democracy, morning journalism Is ex-
tremely important.
There is in the first place, the mat
ter Of technique. Most big" news
happens before 6 o'clock in the
evening, when the world closes up its
day and begins to play. The events
which happen after that time are
generally unimportant in their bear
ing on public opinion Now between
6 o'clock, when the great events are
finished, and 10 or 1 o'clock, when
the morning paper goes to press,
there IS time for reporters and edi-
tors to put a little finish into their
work. The reporter writing Of those
events for a ! a. m. edition has either
seen them, or got mis- description Of
them, at first hand. In the interval
before his newspaper goes to press,
ne has time to write about them with
an approach to the larger and calmer
spirit in which one does the best lit
erary work of any kind On the 9TH
er hand, so-called reporting for the
evening newspaper has become more
and more matter of rubber-stamp
writing and of snap-iudgments The
average metropolitan evening paper
sends out four or five editions in the
course Of an afternoon to say moth
ing of extras. The news is gathered
by cub reporters-"leg. men," They
telephone It to the office, where a set
OF re-wrlte men take it from the re-
ceiver, write at top speed and rush
1t to press. This is secondhand re-
porting. 1t cannot have the effective
ness, the sense of truth. or the con-
yincing quality which a man puts into
his work when he has seen the event
himself. Such first-class reporters
as we have in this unliterary period
of our modern journalism work for
the morning papers. And since the
power OF the press now depends not
upon editorial opinion, but upon
news, the morning paper should, in
theory, have more influence over the
individual subscriber than the even
ing paper, and experience has proved
the theory. Publishers Of those news
papers which issue both an evening
and morning edition generally tes-
tify that while they make their mon
ey from their evening editions, they
WELD their power through their
morning editions.
And the Associated Press is now
practically the only news bureau
available for morning journalism.
Hearst's news service as distin-
guished from his feature" service
is mostly Of use to Hearst alone. The
opinion of news held by the Hearst
trained men is peculiar; their pro-
duct does not suit the purposes of
many editors. The Sun press bureau
sends out a kind Of supplementary
service useful mainly to enrich the
reports Of newspapers which already
have the Associated Press. You can
not start a morning journal, in this
day and age, without the Associated
Press; and since the fright OF pro-
test" prevents any newcomers In our
large cities from getting an Associat-
ed Press franchise. this is equivalent
to saying that you cannot start any
more morning journals at all. The
morning field. which is the field most
important to sound public opinion is
held in fee simple by the older
bureau.
The men IN control of the Associa-
ted Press themselves admit that
morning circulations are declining.
They attribute this to a variety of
causes, mostly commercial. They
have, perhaps, never glimpsed the
real cause. When newspapers get far
from the people, the people cease TO
patronize them. You may dress up
your pages with all the high-class
writer's, the expensive cartoonists.
and the brilliant special people" in
the world; but you cannot keep cir
culation unless you are in sCme
measure talking the language of the
people. The members OF the Associ-
ated Press, mainly old newspapers
whose publishers have grown rich
and Tory speaks in other tongues.
Hence, that area Of journalism which
ii occupies exclusively is shrinking.
All of which should be very gratify-
ing to the United Press. II is less
gratifying TO the liberal observer.
who wishes to see our journalism
both technically sound and represen-
tative.