Evening star., 1925-02-05
DECLARES truth
MADE PRESS GREAT
Associated Press Official
Says Ban on Bias Brought
Present Success.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, February 5.-A
service of truth, coupled with an
idealism which made the magnitude
possible, is responsible for the pros
perity of newspapers of the world,
Kent Cooper of New York, assistant
general manager of the Associated
Press, told newspaper publishers and
editors at the meeting of the ASso-
ciated Ohio Dailies here last night.
Describing the material side of
newspapers, he said that truth strip
ped of bias had made the newspaper
the tremendous practical success that
1t is today.
Far more important than these
visible evidences of the magnitude of
the business is the idealism which
made that magnitude possible" he
said.
The newspaper had its inception In
human pasSions-the desire for gain.
the desire to lampoon and brand an
enemy, the yearnIng for power, as
we'll as the wish to curb it-but final
~ 1t strove to aid in the incorpora-
tion of right and justice into the ap-
praisal Of human endeavor. he said.
Demand Growth Enormous.
From that stage of inception 1t
passed into an era where inventive
genius created machinery and great
ly magnitied its opportunity. At the
same time compulsory primary school
education created almost a universal
ability to read. a literate public
brought about the enormous demand
for newspapers, and inventive gem
ius provided the machinery to supply
the demand at an inflniteSimal cost to
the individual reader"
He reviewed briefly the customs of
some of the old-time editors and said
they dreamed an idealiSm and were
able to clothe that idealism with a
practically that made it a substan-
Jtal force in the business of collecting
domestic and foreign news.
with fortitude they embarked
upon a cooperative endeavor to OBJ
rain this news and opposed them
selves to a privately owned organiZa-
zion which sold the news that comes
from afar. These men have brought
down to us of today the importance
of accurate reporting. Their ideal
ism made this business great, and 1t
IS our opportunity to follow them
and keep 1T great.
Began Brilliantly.
"They began in the day of vituper-
Rttye, pyrotechnic, brilliant, partisan
journalism. 1t was the day when the
fiery editor lit up the landscape with
his brilliant arraignment of his enc
mics faults. No part of the newspa-
per was free from invasion of the ed
itor's private or partisan venom to-
ward those he disliked. Editors saw
that this was picturesque, but that it
was not service. 1t was upon this
state Of affairs that practical ideal
lists set in Judgment and thought of
the morrow.
WAS biased, editorial, imaginative
or inaccurate news writing to be the
matter which the telegraph would be
called upon to disseminate to the four
corners of the country, or would the
matter that through the telegraph
was to be simultaneously published
throughout the land be facts, truth
fully presented and free from bias
They held that instrument that weld
ed the press of the country into a
common method of presenting iden-
tically written dispatches simulta-
Teously throughout the land never
should be in the control of whims of
8 single man, who could artfully and