The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-05-14
THE INJUSTICE
OF newspapers
A Writer in 1.-THE Better Citizen" En|arges
on the Mirrors Views of Convictions
Brought About Through Malicious News
paper Exageration,
NOT FAIR TO READERS

NOT FAIR TO READERS
Ever since so many thousand
years ago when writing was tabu-
lated upon stone with a hammer
and chisel. the journalistic realm
has come to the present efficiency
or defciency-by great leaps and
bounds. Some good and some bad.
Some worthy and some worse than
unworthy. Our present day perod-
lcals, in majority, are polite.
Scrupulously discriminating in poll
tical policies; and the rest stand for
so much financial derivation in some
of the country's obscurities.
Owners of newspapers, especially
the big dailies, don't seem to real
ize the omnipotence of their publ
cations in setting forth before an
open minded public, in great scare
heads, the criminal court data OF the
day. A man may be arreated, cast
into one of our present day palatial
jails to await the convenience of the
prosecutor to be brought to trial.
Along comes an enterprising report
er, who secures few facts of the
case and proceeds to make an i'm
preston on his chief by writing
glibly and fowery worded story
built around the unfortunate man
in Jail, who, for all the reporter
knows, may be entirely innocent.
The story is usually hypobolical
and wholly unreasonable. 1t is
natural to suppose that the reporter
realizes this as his hands are flying
over the typewriter. Oh, yes. But
he thinks of nothing but the public
that must be pleased. The editor
must see that he, at last, is doing
his part in the terrific whirl of news
paperdom. and is earning his salary.
| But, what of the man at whose ex-
pense this scathing matter is fur
nished? What effect is this going
to have upon the weight of opinion
of the general reading public? Are
not two thirds of the public news
paper readers? Do not men who
are likely to be called upon to dis
charge the duties Of jurors, read
the papers? Does not the eye of
man and woman alike, search from
the front page to the last ADVERTISE
ment page, to see and devour just
such criminal sensations?
| What of the Man.
Certainly. Well, after reading
to the last word, how many analyze
the story for its virtue? Few. But
the man in Jail! What of him?
That. usually. is a question that is
answered long before he is brought
to trial. Has not the gentle reader
read with his own eyes the atroclous
story of the man who committed
such loathsoine crime? He was
aprrehended in the premises. He
must indeed be guilty, and war
rants all the vindictiveness of the
law. Indeed yes; if it were not so,
surely the papers would not unjust
ly condemn. Hardly. Day after day
the case is wilfully and maliciously
agltated before the public; recount
ing the case until the man in Jail
looms out in the public mind as
some yenOmous creature that, for
tunately the law has taken in its
vindictive clutch, to condemn and
crush.
To See the Horns
Consequently visitors to the var
ious penal institutions throughout
the country, come to visit with the
ostensible purpose of seeing the
horns" So drastic is the impress
sion that the papers have made upon
them. that they fully expect to find
men In the likeness of Satan. 1t
never occurs to them to look for
good qualities. The newspapers
said they possess demoniac qualities
only, naturally it must be so. They
do not find the kind of animal they
expected to see and actually 90
away, some of them, disappointed.
Daily the reporter sends to press
his poison concoction. Daily the
public mind is fed on this appetiz-
ing substance. Greedily it is pounc-
ed upon by the scandal mongers.
The mind grasps it readily, and
conseqently the prejudice against
penal inmates becomes stronger,
When jury is called to decide
whether this man. who has been
languishing in Jail awaiting the con-
venience of the court.,is guilty or
not guilty, it is reasonable to suppose
that they go into the jury box with an
open conscience? True, they are, sup
Continued on page Two)