Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-04

underwent a course of treatment at a
Washington hospital. He made rather
elaborate arrangements to insure that
nothing be said about it in the news
papers. But within four hours after
he had entered the hospital every one
| in the hospital knew about it. and a
newspaper man, visiting a friend who
greeted with the information that
there is a verv distinguished patient
in the next ROOM"
who is it?" asked the reporter, and
| the story was out.
1t is from all of these sources-from
officials speaking in their own right
and officials speaking by indirection
what they think the people are entitled
| to know, despite all other considerations
to the contrary; from formal written
announcements and the verbal state
ments of Presidents Secretaries, men,
bers of Congress and the host of others
in official life; from the normal pro-
penSity of news to disseminate itself
naturally in world where all of us
are interested in how his fellow men
! live-it is from these and many other
sources that the press association gath
ers in and transmits to the country
newspapers the story the day has told
| in Washington But whatever the
source. it must be an honorable source.
and the methods of the reporter must
! be honorable methods. In Washington
the relations between officials and
! newspaper men are such that no caves
| dropper and no rif1er of private CORE
spondence would expect to escape i'm
mediate ostracism and exposure.
"Cover the Whole Town"
The press association tries to make
the days record of events as complete
as the limited space of telegraph wires
terms of the trade, is to cover the
whole town. 1t occupies that field
alone: no special correspondent. en-
ployed by one newspaper or one chain
of newspapers, endeavors to write eX-
cept upon special subjects.
On their part. the special correspond
ents have occupied splendid field OF
their own in interpreting in editorial
vein that particular portion of the days
news which holds for the moment their
particular interest. Among these spe-
| cial correspondents are many patriotic
and capable men, keenly alive to what
| is going on in Washington and fearless
| in their analysis of it. One OF the
| most distinguished of these, Mr.. Robert
! Barry, will speak to you in moment
of that feature of newspaper work IN
Washington.
The enormous part which the dis
patches of press associations and spe-
cial correspondents have come to play
in the daily life of the Nation should
induce every one Of you to seek to
know more and more about the max
ing of newspapers. Whether you realize
it or not, it is the Washington dis
patches YOU read in your newspaper
that form the basis OF what you kno"
and what you think about your own
American Government.
Mr.. Barry's speech in full is as fol-
lows:
There is only one thing of real i'm
portance in the profession OF journal
ism. That is news. Everything else Is
secondary. That goes for the special
correspondent in washington as wen as
for the press association correspondent.
Any one who tells you otherwise is tell
ing YOU something which is not true.
The anonymous press association
reporter who gets the news, who
gets it first, who gets 1t accurately, Is
a person of far greater Importance to
American newspaper readers than the
special writer who deals leisurely with
the news, who esteems his personal
opinions Of the news above the news
itself.
Facts Are AN-Important.
A fact is of greater importance than
anybody's opinion of it. A statement
by a President Of the United States
means more to the American people
than what a Mark Sullivan, a Richard
Oulahan. a David Lawrence. Fred
Vile, Byron Price or Robert Barry
thinks about what Herbert Hoover
thinks.
Yet, back of it all there reposes. on
the special correspondent in Washing
ton a civic and ethical responsibility
which cannot be passed off lightly. On
him rests the obligation to interpret the
policies and the words and acts Of men
in Washington. He must interpret
events construe acts without impugning
motives. Nothing in derogation of the
present occupant of the White House
could be intended in. reminder that
there are newspaper men in Washing
ten who have been writing about news
events since the administration of Gen.
Harrison and Grover Cleveland. The
coming and going of Presidents Is
| rather a commonplace Of Washington
life After all, you know, a President
| IS just as much Of a politician as a
Congressman or a constable. Often he
! gestures. It is the function of the Spe-
cial correspondent to put them on the
scales of his experience, to weigh them
| for what they are worth.
President, Secretary of State or a
Senator will issue a typewriter state
ment setting forth his opinion about
some public question. Then he will call
in few of his personal friends among
| the newspaper men and tell them what
he really had in his mind when he
issued that statement. The real job of
the special correspondent is to decide
whether he owes a greater loyalty to
some friend enjoying temporary occu-
pancy of the White House, the State
Department or a Senate Office than to
the newspaper public which reads and
believes in him.
think the latter deserves the first
consideration.
Correspondent Must Analyze.
The obligation of the special cor
respondent is to give the reading public
something more than the bald state
ment Of fact to which the press asso.
ciatien reporter is restricted. The press
association reporter contributes to cur
rent history merely what happens or
the floor Of the Senate. The special
correspondent fails in his responsibility
| If he does not analyze, interpret ana,
need be, debunk the whole procedure
and disclose to his readers the fact that
| two Senators were engaged in polit-
| zeal set-to, and that that was all II
really amounted to.
Senators sometimes submit to subter-
| fuge. Cabinet officers conniye at cheap
receptions. Presidents play politics
whether these men be Democrats OF
Republicans. the American people have