The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-04-23
TYPES OF MEN
DOMINATE PRESS
One Wants Everything In
"Black and White" the
Other Trusts Instinct
SOME SHY AT ETHICS
But Like Psychology for Ad-
yertisers, Ethics May Yet
Become Editors Hobby
nv 7. N. FLINT.

BY L. N. FLINT.
DIrectOr of the department OF
,ourns sm In the University of Kan
as and one of the foremost advo-
cates Of a set code of ethics for the
newspaper.
Reprinted from the current issue
OF Editor and Publisher.
One type of man will hardly ven-
,ure TO drive outside the township
without road map In his pocket,
and he consults 1t at every corner.
His next door neighbor, on the other
hand, will pick his way across a
Continent practically by instinct and
enjoy every mile.
One type OF man wants everything
down In black and white. He may.
without offence, be described as the
rtualist. or the nationalist, or the
journalist. The other has no use
for explicit statement--the one-two-
three way OF reducing matters to a
regular order. He says he Is satis-
fed with the spirit of the thing"
And now, from the standpoint OF
these two divisions of humanity,
consider the editor-for in spite of
what folks think and say about him,
he is still allowed to remain in the
human race and exempliiy its moods
and differences,
Obviously, it does not matter how
he asserts his temperamcntal pre-
elections in what may be described
as his personal affairs or in his
manner OF doing his days work, ex-
cept as he comes into relation with
other people. He may be systematic
8 erratlc. He may be buoyant or
Megmatic. He may be a two
cylinder gas engine or turbine.
But as he enters into relations with
the community and the larger public
he sheds the insignificance that be-
longs TO him as one unit among a
multitude. He takes on a social i'm
portance. He stands, without ex-
aggeration, as the keeper of many
destinies. lie no longer lives unto
himself. His rules OF conduct be-
come matters of some moment.
Whether or not he would plead
guilty to the charge, every editor
carries with him a philosophy of
hfe-a bundle of principles of action
which determine and explain his
orbit-and this philosophy is from
the nature of his function in the
world. public matter. 1t consti-
.utes his code. and from It are de-
rived his habits of conduct. Orderly
relations between people are main
. tained only by such codes. Relations
beget questions Of ethics; complex
relations such as a journalist accepts
for his part in life involve cores
pondingly complex questions OF
ethics.
With this general statement there
Is not likely to be any violent dis
agreement. The journalist - or
newspaper man, if you prefer-who
says. as some do, that he Is no,
aware OF having to face any ethical
problems Is not even fooling him
self. He knows better, but likes the
pose. The editor who says---as one
editor recently said with staggering
brayado-that his ethical code con.
sists OF the one maximum, "Get the
money" is merely momentarily be.
iuddied by his own smartness.
Like 1t or not, the editor Is still
human pack animal and his pack
puises with ethical paraphernalia
some OF 1t badly battered perhaps
some or 1t tawdry, some OF 1t dam,
aged by exposure to all kinds O.
weather, none OF 1t insurable at any
tning ike its first cost. but ethica
eontraptions nevertheless.
NOW, however, comes the partinl
o. the ways. Now comes Ok
mother Nature and separates tn,
sheep from the other sheep--th,
soa's In the flock are really too fev
to count.
On the one hand she put tn
intultionists, who boil their eggs b.
suess-and get them done abou
rsht' too. on the other hand sh
puts the rationalists who have n,
SSOnIMence In a boiled egg tina
Aash been timed by the clock.
me one manages his paper--an,
sometimes says other editors ough
" manage their papers-through al
ast resort. "go TO the country 70
enlightened expediency guided by
s"shse or Justice. AS one editor put
~ handle each case as 1t come
~ Following a certain 'woman's in
s.nct as to what Is the right thin
o. 10. Or, as another says, II us
only the Davy Crockett precept: B
you're right, then go ahead"
ihe other type of editor has hi
,,snlcal notions somewhat CAREFUL
.tmuIated to meet the exigencies O
Me publishers day. Perhaps h
@'n,s a sort of code under the fla
N .he editorial page, or he placard
in,nn the news room. or he puts
.o a,o style book. In any case h
sks and votes for the adoption @
.iorInal code OF ethics by the edi
,oriai association to which he be
ana white,
,,he The institutionist rarely contend
mat mat there is any harm in pre-
nnsating codes OF ethics, thoug
ae editor did say recently that
nswspaper which "flaunts a code
uaiiy trying to put something owe
ththe the public" II there is now an
,asa ,h hypocrite who cloaks unprc
s,ssiohal practices under a code {
,hacs' surely there Is also, now an
sr'at sn an institutionist who does tn
rsnt thing in the easiest way
ss al departments of life, explic
nuards invite hypocrisy, but the
not create hypocrjtes nor for yer
AFFORD them sheler. And th
naI.kSand-whiter naI.S feels that there al
/ por,y reasons-much more In
sraht that his own personal pre-
nees - why journalism shoul
,ssert specifically its convictions 1
Conduct. e' " eo'ef"
!, one OF these reasons is, as he Sc,
mat the public is, to a consider
hso uegree, unfair to the newspap,
tnrsause or indifference as to the ed
eans. conceptions of his job; and b,
hs OF an easy facility in shirkir
snare of resnonsihiiitv for ~