The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-06-20
(Official City, State and County
Newspaper
Foreign Representatives
SMALL. SPENCER, BREWER
Uncorporated
CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON
Cause for Honest Shame

Enough has been disclosed in the
senate investigation into the stock
market to prove conclusively that one
Of the causes for the wild boom of
1927 to 1929 was the unprincipled &C
ton of many newspaper writer's in
promoting the sale of certain stocks.
Unknown to their superiors and
publishers, newspaper reporters and
financial commentators doomed this
or that stock at time when every
security was going upward. The re-
suit was to create public demand
for the shares in question and the
manipulators unloaded at handsome
profit
Usually the newsmen got a few
thousand dollars for their betrayal of
a sacred trust. Only a few of these
men were "cut in on the real profits
and participated in the big money. 1t
would not have made their offense
less reprehensible if they had, but the
relatively low pay proves how easy it
was to corrupt them.
OF course, speaking in technical
sense, it was not actionable corruption
for them to boost the sale of this or
that security and many of them may
have done so in the earnest belief that
the tips they dished out to the public
were really worthwhile. If so, it would
not be the first time that newspaper
men were so deceived for they are
just as susceptible to unbridled en-
thusiasm as men in other lines of
work
Newspaper work is the only great
profession without a pretty strictly
defined code Of ethics. 1t has few
hard and fast rules and these merely
emphasize principles. This is neces-
sarily SO because Of the rapidity with
which news flows into and out of the
newspaper office and the fact that
each individual case or story has
angles peculiarly its own.
But the newspaperman learns,
about the time he can recognize print
er's ink by its smell, that no one who
is true to his craft lets the public
down. Public interest and public adj
vantage represent the cornerstones of
his creed. No newspaper which does
not merit public interest has any real
claim to its field. 1t must tell the
news to the best Of it's ability, i'm
partially and fairly.
In the smaller centers, such as we
have in North Dakota, the doctrine
of individual rights often is rec
ognized. Newspapers in this state, for
instance, rarely go prodding into the
private lives of individuals, and when
they do, it always is with good reason.
News, which might otherwise appear
in print, sometimes is withheld be-
cause Of the fact that it would work
an injury to the individual involved
or to some innocent party. This is
done on the theory that, in such
cases, the public is best served by
granting consideration to the individ-
ual. If the appearance of a news
story, for instance, would inevitably
be followed by the discharge of a man
from his job, it is not matter to be
taken lightly. Honest editors pray in
such circumstances that their deci-
sions. whatever they may be, are JUS
titled by the facts and by the tenets
of common sense and ordinary de-
cency.
But the acceptance Of money or
other material favor, either to print
a story or to withhold a story from
publication, has long been regarded as
a cardinal sin in the newspaper pro-
fession. The very fact that such CIR
cunstances exist indicate that the
whole business Is tainted and the pre-
sumption is that 1t Is dishonest and
not in support Of the public welfare.
Because of this view, not one Of the
men against whom suspicion has been
directed In the stock market investi-
cation remains on the payroll Of the
newspaper whose confidence he vio-
lated. Practically none Of them have
been able to obtain similar employ
ment elsewhere.
The medical, legal and some other
professions have boards which may
place the names of offenders on a
black list. The newspaper black list,
while not official, is just as effective.
No publisher can afford to fool with
the confidence Of his readers. Every
newspaperman knows that the sheet"
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