The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-04-18
Sunday, April l8, 1920.
RIGHTS OF THE PRESS

HHflS OF HE PRESS
HE action of the state corporation com
mission in dismissing complaint file
before it, by member of that body agains
the Oklahoma Publishing Company, was
wise one and a recognition of the rights o
the newspaper publisher to eliminate unde
sirabe matter from his advertising columns
Just the same as he eliminates undesirabl
matter from his news columns.
The act was instituted by Campbell Rus
sell, member of the corporation commission
and charged discrimination upon the part o
the Okahoman company in refusing to ac
cept advertising matter from him
Chairman Echols in writing the opinion
dismissing the complaint, held that the Ok
lahoma Publishing Company did not hold
monopoly upon its line Of business and that
for that reason, the commission did not hav
Jurisdiction.
'If the commission can punish this
defendant for the alleged discrmina-
ton, then it certainly has the further
jurisdiction to regulate all its prac-
tices, prices. rates and charges and it
would follow that it could do the same
thing with reference TO every other
publication in the state. If it can reg
ulate and fix prices and charges for
newspapers, unuef Inc same COHuIJlOHS
it could regulate and fix prices and
charges for every other kind and char
acter of business"
One of the fundamentals Of the conStitu-
ton of the United States gives to each and
every citizen freedom of thought and free
dom of speech so long as disoyaty and
treason do not become embodied in the latter
Freedom of the expression of editorial
,;,,;o D,,,;o =, !
the government, is but another form of free
dom of speech, a form recorded and perpet-
uated and handed down to posterity.
SO long as the editor or the owner of any
newspaper. be that paper metropolitan
daily or the smallest and most insignificant
country weekly, conforms with the require
ments of the constitution of the United States,
SO long as he is loyal TO country in his eX-
pressions of thought, so long as his publicly
uttered opinions are not libelouS, Just that
long has he the protection of the courts Of
the land and lust that long none, state
officer or federal, can step IN and dictate to
him what the policies Of his paper shall be.
And the same rule applies to the matter
which he admits to either his news or his
advertising columns 1t is the prerogative of
the editor to dictate the policies Of his paper,
to say what shall and what shall not be
printed as news, and the advertising man
ager may exercise the same rights over his
department.
Just so long as a newspaper has not the
monopoly in its field it has the same right to
refuse and reject advertising that it has to
refuse and reject news stories, or editorial
comment which is against the policies of the
paper. And Just as long as the man at the
helm of a newspaper is honest and upright
nd nd rd in 1nol in no
with the reading public. Just that long will
he close his columns to both fraudulent and
abusive advertising.
AS Chairman Echols, of the corporation
commission very tritely remarks in his writ
ten opinion, ''If it (he commisson). can reg
ulate and fix prices and charges for news
papers under the same conditions it could
regulate and fix prices and charges for every
other kind and character of business
And the commissioner might have added,
with truth and reason, that if the commission
could step in and say what the advertising
manager of newspaper should accept, it
could also step in and dictate the editorial
policies of every paper published in the state
of Oklahoma; it could step in and tell the
owners of a paper what its political faith
should be; it could step in and tell the editor
what kind of editorial thought he should ex-
press; it could step in and tell the news
editor the kind of news he should publish;
it could step in and tell the press agencies
what should be wired out.
In other words, if the commission had
the right to force The Oklahoman to accept
Campbell Russel's advertising, and fix the
price, it would have the absolute right to
press censorship to be exercised over every
paper, big, little and mediur-s;ze; good,