San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-13
Listen, World!
Why the Rot?
By Elsie Robinson


Last night she caught her 15-year-
old girl reading the details of that
love nest scandal and she thinks lit
is about time this sort of thing should
stop. Somebody ought to enter a pro.
test against the sort of filth newspa-
pers send into homes"
Mrs. Elkins writes as if she had a
chip on her shoulder. She thinks I'm
going TO disagree with her and fight
back. I'm not.
/ don't deny that newspaper sprint
rot" And l frankly deplore the fact
that 15-year-old girls should come in
contact with such scandal. Ncverthe-
less l think the lady has the wrong
slant. So I'm going to give friendly
answer not only to her letter, but TO
the scores of similar letters which
pour in to every editorial desk.
Do newspapers print rot?
They do.
But how can they help it?
A newspaper is a public carrier Of
news just as a train is.a public car
rier Of people.
A train doesn't carry only nice, re-
spectacle people-peOple whom the
railroad commission would admit into
their homes. A train carries all sorts
of people. Bad people, sick people,
lazy drifters. malicious schemers, thugs
and degenerates. A railroad could not
refuse to carry all sorts of people. Its
charter is based on the understanding
that it will carry all sorts of people.
Obviously the people who run railroads
know that such people do much Ia rm
in their jOurneying about. Nevertheless
they must assist them to journey Il
they pay the price.
The same rules that govern railroads
govern newspapers.
A newspaper carries all sorts of
news, just as a train carries all sorts
OF people. 1t doesn't merely carry
nice, clean, respectable news such az
the decent editor and respectable
writers on that paper would prefer to
write and read. 1t carries reports of
all things that happen in our busy
world. Many Of those things sicken
and anger the people who must write
about them. But they can't refuse to
write for that reason. They must d.
what the newspaper has promised tG
do-thcy must give the people news.
You may not consider divorce scan
dals or murder details fit news" to go
into YOUR home. But thousands of
other people do consider them fit news.
Thousands Of other people want to
read about that scandal or hear those
details. And. as a public carrier, the
newspaper must convey trash as well
as valuable information. 1t has no
choice.
But surely there's no law against
newspaper not printing such disgust
ing stories.' cries Mrs. Elkins. 1T
really ISN'T like a railroad for a
railroad has no choice in the matter
and n newspaper has. Now and then
There is a newspaper that refuses to
print such matter. Then why don't
ALL newspapers refuse?"
You're right-there is no actual
legal statute which makes a newspaper
print rot" But there's an unwritten
law which is just as powerful as any
legislative act. The people must be
served. The newspaper is a servant.
1t can only exist if it prints what the
majority of people want. AND THE
MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WANT
HORRORS AND SCANDALS.
If they don't get them, they buy
Another paper The occasional papers
which manage to exist without print
ing such trash, do so because they
cater TO large. specialized clientele
But large, specialized clientelles are
extremely rare in America. We have
n Cosmopolitan population, with crude,
colorful tastes. Three-quarters of q
newspapers subscribers come from
that poorly amalgamatcd mass. Their
wishes are exactly as important to a
newspaper-AND TO AMERICA-as
the wishes of the select, discriminat-
ing classes. That's one of the cOnse-
quences Of living in a new and demo-
cratic country.
That's why conscientious, clean
newspaper writer's handle trashy copy
which they would never read of their
own accord. And that's why 15-ycar-
old girls pick up scandal stories.
What's to be done about it? Well,
you CAN cancel your subscription to
the paper-but that will do you very
little good. Daughter can read, and
will read. the paper quite as easily
ON the High School steps as in your
living room. And even if she doesn't
read the paper. she's going to come in
contact with its horrid facts, since she
lives in a world where horrid facts
happen.
taByrlght, 1895. King Features syn. Inc