The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-14
Bv FRANK M. O'BRIEN.

BY FkANk NJ. " bNiEN.
When Henry Watterson was called
as an expert witness in proceedings to
appraise the estate OF Joseph Pulitzer
in 1914 the veteran editor OF the
Louisville Courier Journal made an in
teresting statement on this subject:
There is much confusion in the public
mind about what Is known as yellow
Journalism" There have been several
periods of it in New York. James Cor
don Bennett was the s rst yellow jour-
nalist and Charles A. Dana was the sec
ond Mr. Pulitzer was the third. Finally
when Mr.. Hearst came along. he was
the fourth. and think he quite filled
the field OF yellow journalism.
As Mr.. Bennett became more respecta-
bic and Mr.. Dana more fixed in his
efforts. they were raised in the public
estimation So was Mr.. Pulitzer. l
think the field of yellow journalism Is
so filled by the Hearst newspapers that
they no more compete with the World
than with the Herald or THE Sun.
Mr.. watterson did not define yellow
Journalism. Perhaps he considered 1t
broadly as sensational journalism.
The elder Bennett was sensational to
the extent that he printed things
which the sixpenny papers OF his time
did not print. He made the interview
popular and he was the first editor to
see the value OF paying attention to
financial news.
So far as printing human news is
concerned, Benjamin H. Day worked
that field before Bennett started the
Herald. If MIR. Watterson considered
Dana yellow journalist what else was
Day, with his stories about the sodden
things of the police courts. or his de-
scription OF Miss Susan Allen smoking
a cigar and dancing in Broadway?
Printing a diagram OF the scene of
murder, with big black Y to mark
the spot where the victim was found.
did not make the World a yellow
newspaper. for Amos Cummings be-
gan to print murder charts as soon as
he became managing editor OF THE
SUN. Putting black faced type over
story on the front page did not make
the World or the Journal yellow, Tor
Cummings, when he was on the Trib-
enc, was the first TO use big type in
head lines. and the Tribune was never
accused of rel!owness.
II pictures made paper yellow,
Dana was not yellow. for he used few
illustrations in the news pages OF the
paper. Again, II headlines indicate
yellowness. Dana must be acquitted of
being a yellow journalist: for the head
lines OF THE Sun, from the first year
of Dana's control until after his death
remained practically unchanged, and
were conservative to the last degree.
Headlines and pictures, so far as
their sensational attraction was con-
ccrned, meant nothing to Dana. He
was not yellow, but white and alive.
The distinction was clearly explained
by Mr.. Mitchell.
Remember the difference between
white and yellow. The essential differ
ence is not of method or quality of
product. but OF purpose and of moral
responsibility or moral debasement. yell
low will tell YOU that il means force,
originality and independence in the pres
entation of ideas. This is Consolatory
to yellow, but not accurate, Yellow will
print an interesting cxaggeratiOn or mis-
statement. knowing it To be such, II In
doubt about the truth OF alleged news
but in no doubt whatever as to It's i'm
mediate value as a sensation, yellow
will give the benefit Of the doubt to the
sensation every time. and print II with
headlines tall enough to reach to Saturn.
White won't: that Is the only real color
test. | hope YOU are all going to be
white. and not only white, but red. white
and blue.
No yellow journalist he, Dana! To
paraphrase Webster, he smote the
rock OF humanity. and abundant
streams of literature rushed forth. II
he startled, he startled the intellect,
not the eye. His appeals were to the
intelligence. the soul, the risibilities of
nan, and not to his primitive passions.
de believed that all the information.
the philosophy and the humor OF the
world could he conveyed through the
type OF a daily newspaper, as surely
and much more broadly, than they had
been conveyed through the various
mediums OF the old newspapers, the
encyclopedias. the novels, the pulpit
and the lecture platform.
When Dana attacked yellow journal
ism-the expressive phrase was fas-
tened in the language by Erwin Ward
man in the PresS--it was in the firm
belief that this new journalism, the
Journalism that did things was do
ing the wrong thing; that il was
breaking down the magnificent struc-
ture that had been reared by himself
and Greeley and Raymond and Ben
nett and Hurlburt.
This group had been possessed OF all
the newspaper faculties and facilities
II yellow Journalism had been right
they would have raised 1t to it's high
est peak. Dana, who knew better than
any editor Of his time what the public
wanted. could have produced perfect
yellow SIN. hut he chose to print q
golden one. lie wrought more genu'
inc journalistic advance than any
other man in history. AS Mr.. Mitchell
wrote OF him in MuClure's Magazine
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