Arizona republican., 1918-04-16
The "kiddinq" Headline

At the "Open Forum" on Sunday night Judge Kibbey administered deserved rebube to folly of American journalism in the treatment of l. is in the matter of headlines that many of the newspapers of America have gone silly. They have abolished the elementary rule that the headline should set forth as accurately and fully possible the sub stance of the subjoned matter. Comparatively few exen of the sensible newspapers are doing that And many of the few partially violate the rule by giving touch of optimism to the headlines which is not warranted by the
 In some quarters it seems to be regarded as evidence of loyalty present flamboyan joyous head lines news of the most pessimistic char acter. The headline writers know that this is wrong. that is violation of ethics tradition and good sense and that is really insult intelligent readers and to uninteiligent readers to state in the head lines for instance that the allies firmly holding the line when the describes the retirement of the allies. (This Judge Kibbeys lustraton) Anoth- fault of tho headline writers is the selection of brief of unimportant operation in which the allies have gained an advantage and over this flare headline, totally ignoring disaster sustained by the allies at a more or less vital point
 The headline writers appear to have accepted the Barnuman theory that the American people like to be humbugged." The English papers do these things diff ferenty. The London Times, for instance prints all the that reaches it. from every It gives equal prominence to favorable and unfavorable It's headlines do not foolishy lie about the stories they made to adorn. The Times rightly conjectures that the readers would quickly discover the lie. Such optimism and hopefulness the Times deals out to it's readers it gives out in comments and editorials and in this it does go the extent of violently interpreting the news or stultifying itself.
 The papers make a mistake in trying to kid themselves and their readers. It would be a sorry thing if considerable proportion of American readers could be "kidded" in this silly It would mean that not a very efficient people, for fooishness and efficiency cannot go together in such time this or for that matter in any other time.
 There has been too much of this Kidding and it has not helped the The Committee on Public Information the first and the fragrant of fender. We all remember the story sent out some weeks about the sinking of more sub marines by the American naval guard of a merchant vessel. The story told with great circumstantial-
 y and wealth of detail It transpired that it had no other basis than brief official dispatch the navy department in which it stated that it believed that a submarine had been sunk. Mr. Cree afterward admitted that that all the material that had been given him to work with and that he had derived the embeshng details for this plain structure from his fecund imagination. He thought the statement would be too brief and dry for the American reader and he had reconstructed it and made newspaper story out of it. Nearly all newspaper reporters one time or another have done something like this and have called it 'faking."
 As a result of this and other incidents that have attracted the censure of congress the official Bule- tin" the organ of the Committee on Public Informa- ton is now read with the same intense avid burn ing, consuming interest with which the people at large devour the annual reports of bureau of sta tistcs and cry for more.
 The headlines of the newspapers not going to affect the Of the they will not by an ioa, help or hinder the German offensive Nor, will they fool American readers who have sense enough to understand what they read. They will hurt the news papers and affect nothing else.