Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-09-29

paper accepts what he reads as iao nt
Only the foolish say theg oo ~.
hai;eve what they read. They may
not accent every statement literally
hut they get their lasting I'M
pressions of life. hurriedly as
events pass quickly in review on the
nrinted page, OF these impressions
opinions are born. Wrong opinions,
perhaps; opinions warped by per-
sonal prejudices and passions; but
opinions which in a democracy must
be reekoned with. The Associated
Press lays down the hard, cold facts
pleasant or unpleasant, reassurlng
or disturbing, and invites the reader
to do his own thinking and form MS
! own opinion"
Superintendent McKernon de-
Tended modern journalism and SAD
there are just two classes or news
papermen who may say that the
press is decadent: the very young
and the very DID,"
He continued:
IF the Journalism of today is not
recognized for what it is, the fault
is largely our own. We have per-
mitted the term Journalism to be
used very loosely. In the popular
mind it has come to signify almost
anything in the way of publicity.
This is an age of self-expression.
Everyone is expressing something.
Occasionally it is an idea. For the
most part these messages to the
world are essentially selfish, Journal
ism from the nature of things can
not be selfish. We hear much of
yellow journalism If by yellow is
meant the sort of thing that is de-
signed to exploit the public, there is
no such thing as yellow journalism
Journalism does not exploit. Journal
ism serves. yellow publicity there
may be, but such is in no sense
Journalism.
1.-The trouble is that there is no
clearly defined demarcation in the
popular mind between the profess
sion of Journalism and the business
of publicity. Like the profession of
acting, the profession of Journalism
suffers from the company it keeps.
To practice his profession the lawyer
must have his certificate the ply
stefan, his license, and the teacher,
his diploma. Anyone can call him.
self an actor and in the name of
Journalism one can get away with
murder.
IF we are to fulfill our supreme
mission with the maximum bene-
fit to the public, we must recognize,
and the public must understand,
what is Journalism and what is
publicity masquerading in the trap
pings of Journalism. 1t is time that
Journalism was defined anew, and
propose to define it:
Journalism is the profession of
observing and rejecting the facts
and significance of current events.
That is our mission. To know
what is. To determine with in
dustry and with cold blooded exact
ness the facts of every happening
significant OF the society of today. To
tell bewildered world what is. To
indicate what must be the starting
point of intelligent thinking ii
sanity is to rule. Never before was
society so confused by it's problems.
Forces never contemplated confront
us. We have shattered the World OF
Make believe. We are on our own.
Life is no longer simple. Once
certain things were accepted as
essentially right and other things as
essentially wrong. One chose to be
right or wrong but rarely questioned
what was right or what was wrong
The child was, indeed, father of the
man. 1t is no longer so. The youth
no longer inherits his religion, his
politics and his philosophy. He be-
gins all over again.
ITO put it bluntly. society is
awakening to a realization that there
amt no Santa Claus To some the
awakening is as gentle as the touch
of a mothers hand. To others it is
like falling out of bed. Do not mis-
understand me. l do not refer to
religion. This would be a sorry
world without the spiritual. But we
have just naturally stopped throwing
salt over our shoulders. The
thoughtful are beginning to under
stand that this old world is pretty
much what we make it. That if
civilization is to endure We must
mentally readjust ourselves to rapid
ly changing conditions-as the mer-
chant would say, take account of
stock'-and, looking the facts
squarely in the face, work out a
philosophy of life that will stand up.
"Suppressing the unpleasant won t
help. This is no time to whistle in
the dark but to thrust forth a hand
and know what is there. If a grow
ing section of society is criminally-
minded, We want to know that. If q
new form of madness is importing
our lives, we want to know that.
We want to-we must know what is.
To-day, as never before. the
journalist stands between the read
ing public and exploitation in a
thousand subtle ways. The very
integrity of the news columns has
melted a mad scramble for selfish
publicity. Do you know that any
idea can be sold that can be palmed
Off on the newspapers as news?
The press agent knows it. The
propagandist knows it. The dema-
gogue knows it. l have no quarrel
with propaganda that is honest But
il propaganda were willing to stand
on its own legs, 95 percent of it
would be in the advertising columns.
where it belongs.
I'm the newspaper Offices of
America tonight there are men I'M
known, perhaps, outside their offices,
their homes and their clubs, who be-
cause of their ability and determine
ton to sift fact from fiction, to
separate important facts from vulgar
details of no significance, and to
present what is significant with a
proper sense of proportion, are
eXertlng far greater influence for
good than was ever permitted to the