Iditarod pioneer., 1916-12-02
ACCURACY IN NEWSPAPER WORK

The following extracts from lecture delivered before the Uni yesv of Washington department of journalism by Herbert Hunt editor of the Tacoma News will be of interest to laymen we'll as to the embryo journalists It will also give some idea the insure the part o reputable news papers: |. ., ,. ...,
 naccuracy has potential cousinshp with malicious unuth crossing the line from fact to fiction dul that ne Even tuav obeated and forgotten Adventures into tancliu writing newspapers dangerous adventures to only when the hand of value news ao
 hurtf to no one remarked that mixture of lie doth ever add reasre But pleasure which the writer forego The to the pubc the duty o ere public opinion Any other course vena and not to be considered workers Ii regrettabe to that an incorrect pubic opmon too often created even oy u
 presentation of facts
 To say that newspapers honest and truthful and ec than before is not oversaemen But If the ten earlier day color reports for the bet o the money aistocacy the tendency Is to appeal by cu nngy paragraphs the mobocracy In the last twenty many editors have been boxing the compass like drunken sailors effort catch the of class which they have demagogicay called the people, Within the past year
 change has noticed extent having superseded daogy Contact with vital realities corecs our per cenons and for time we proceed along fair restrained lines sv ing to radical reaonay and labor and capital the dues that theirs Agitation gives to cogltatlons and reVapng of spirit With the passing however, ot the present hnanca de peson shall witness rising of demagogy and renewal of the wekno"n methods by which the masses are caught VII" the honeypos of iale promise This criticism whatever Of those newspapers which firmly believe that which they print and advocate to be in concord with truth and community bettemen
 directed solely that element which to sober newspaper makers transparent surrender of honesty to class popularity
 One of the strongest arguments tor the establishment o1 the first American newspaper that the printed word would silence the split tongues gossip and In the days before paer people depended upon letters personal ecas their news and mole hills became in less than half day journey Absurd congregations abonded and these Will not putc opinion In this day we have even greater menace the gopS those newspapers which with making little effort to get at the truth deliberately publish allegations designed produce in public opinion While the subject of early papers let not forget of the first suppressed when its initial issue found contain innica criticism of time honoed religious creed Flying the face of convention not always safe Convention be right The neoogs IS as often rcued ard condemned followed and who about to newspaper activities well may remember whenever feel
 vital impetus the religious beliefs of your subscribers through the medium of an editorial probably will be wise keep the great between yourself and the office Thus the interests of often well be conserved Men and do like to have their passionate munitions unused up with printers ink.
 Albert Johnson congressman from the Second district of this state was while reporting Washington city newspaper, train robbery He procured most of the facts from the postal clerks the robbed The following morning Johnson sent out to the town where the robbery had been gather additional details When he reached there crowd gathered about the village pooc listening to the reading in his newspaper of the robbery story Sentence after sentence met with the nodng approval the crowd though Johnson confese until the reader read: It bright, moonlight night The storm broke Half the men in the crowd cried That's lie Don't fool paDer know this is the dark of the moon John wedoe story fell fragments and he scarcely dared let his identity become known Johnsons suffered from ns probably conveyed to him by exclte posta clerk Witnesses often disagree Exact coincidence in recital whether the nteogaor be attorney reporter of ignorance other vicious human attribute and even the sharpest precautions will always yield the truth Mssate-
 through reporoa careessness scarcely fogvab and than that the of reportoria vanity Deliver
 from the reporter who delights rng himself front of his story Charmed he Is condition of perception by his rounded he ubmerge and often destroys facts
 with beautiful rhetoric But history made substantial circulation and influence by rhapodca carousas Perfect racy newspaper making of quite impossible feet frankne architect, working with large force of for months often finds that in spite his product erOrless It should that newspaper created day should beray weak How few there after all And yet who behind the do realize the number of them We reminded of and then while occasionally libel suit be the troublesome nudge that spurs precaution
 An unpleasant phase of newspaper work the fact that false charges of nacracy often made and sometimes sustained Perhaps the frequent episodes of this nature from po tcans It has been long had noted public official who nfrequenty changed his mind night and the which he D. might be denounced the short and ugly word that period before the ink dry the following morning nfrequeny happens that po- tan will make sharp with view of testing public opinion Ii he finds public opinion against his he may demn unruh the and that printed what he actually said There another scay individual who does think when he gives interview how it will look in type of cold feet ovewhelms him when he his printed word and he seeks by denouncng the It nfrequen