The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-31
WHAT is A NEWSPAPER?

/ "
J. ogden Armour. head of the pack
! ing company which bears his name,
has been setting forth his views on
what constitutes a newspaper in the
columns of Lcslie's. While makers of
newspapers may object to much that
4 Mr.. Armour says, they are certain to
find themselves in agreement with
hin, on many points. He affords us
an opportunity to see ourselves as 9TH
ers see US.
| In presenting his views on what
he considers the function of the press,
Mr.. Armour says:
! 1t is as a rule charged that the
newspapers do not present the news
that their main interests are political
and comm ercial. and that the news is
colored or suppressed for political or
commercial reasons The radical
press" for instance. insists that the
Capitalist press" is but a tissue Of
untruth, and that for the truth on
subjects touching the common people
only the radical press may be de-
pended upon.
This is wholly untrue. The so-called
radical press rarely contains state
ment of actual facts and, since it is a
|
uIar reason why it should print any
facts or give to the reader any I'M
partisan information from which he
can draw his own conclusions.
With the general newspaper the
situation is different 1 take it that
the function of the press is to edu-
cate. to lay the facts, as far as they
can be ascertained. before the people,
and to safeguard in every way that in
/ tegrity of sentiment which, in a COM
monwealth such as ours, eventually
crystallizes into law.
Recognizing the difficulties which
confront newspapers in their efforts to
obtain the facts. Mr. Armour con-
tinues;
Now recognize that in almost any
case what are the exact facts-the real
truthLare almost impossible to get at
1t would require reporters and editors
| of superhuman attachments to present
the facts. The truth, the ultimate con-
clusion, is not something that we can
ask for and expect to get in this world.
1t is we'll known that perfectly honest
and sincere eye-witnesseS of an event
will, in a court of law, give dia-
metrically opposed accounts of that
event. Therefore. if three different re-
porters view a single occurrence ana
all three are wholly honest, it is pos
sible there will be three accounts of
that event that will vary not only in
detail but also fundamentally.
| In the hurry of the news from day
| to day we cannot expect accounts of
/ absolute accuracy. And to determine
what is absolute accuracy the human
element again enters. We must have
the news from day to day. We want
well as the news of what has hap
pened. The proposals from time to
| time made that the newspapers should
not print anything as news until it has
/ been verified would destroy one of the
| functions of the paper-which is to
present the world, if not as it is, at
| least as it seems to be.
There is an opportunity to go wrong
on almost any piece of news. And 1
take no exception to legitimate, I'M
avoidable error.
In my opinion, known. or suspected
untruths. no matter by whom they are
voiced, deserve no place in newspaper
columns. There is no reason for print
ing the loose talk and crumbs of gos-
of industry and labor for the body
polite.
! And especially does a newspaper as
sumo very grave responsibility in
printing q wholly destructive state
ment which is, on its face, untrue or
| WHlCn deserves lIlVeSIlBdIlOn. L In1nk
this test might be applied to all news
of this suspicious character: Is it con-
structive?
1 admit that the most interesting
news is usually destructive. Burning
down a bridge is a better news item
than building q bridge. There can be
little question of this fact, altho 1 do
think the striving for sensation causes
the front page of a newspaper to pre-
sent very distorted view of the world
The fact that a woman has murdered a
man to whom she was not married is
not of very great Importance to people
in general. Yet, if the murder is out
of the ordinary run of killings, 1t will
take precedence over. say, the status
of the British coal strike, which is an
event of importance to every person in
the world.
In conclusion the big packer ex-
presses himself as follows:
The function of the newspaper. then,
as take it. is first, to give people tho
news-to pipe the news from it's source
to the reader. Its second function is
to advance civilizdtion-that is, the
well-being of the people. Certainly
there must be very considerable
divergence of opinion on how this
well-being is to be advanced. The
place for expressing that difference of
opinion is on the editorial page, or,
following the French custom, by signed
leaders that are frankly opinionated.
| -
Free moving picture shows and the
atrical productions on Sunday would
meet no objection from the Nationa!
Reform association accordino, 20 tba