Evening star., 1939-01-27
An Advertiser Writes
On Freedom ofPress
Newspapers Cannot Permit
. 'Counting-Room
Control

s>SWSHSPS'S SNSA SsuiA
'Counting-Room
Control
(The following letter tDas written
for the St. Louis Post-Dtsp1tch by
one of its advertisers and Is reprinted
1Uith the permission OF that paper.)
The inference Of President Roosevelt
In his recent letter to the Post-Dispatch
upon the freedom of the press, that
newspapers throughout the country are
in constant danger Of having their edi-
torial and news policies dominated from
the counting room, Is perfectly plaus-
ible one In capitalistic society such
as we live in, the profit motive is, of
course, dominating one, even for those
newspapers whose publishers have
consuming passion for the journalistic
aspect of their enterprise.
It is equally automatic that should the
publishing of newspapers become sub
servient to the counting room or, in fact,
to government, or to the influence of any
pressure group whatsoever, and should
it no longer be fully loyal to the objec-
tive of serving the public welfare and to
the fulfillment of newspapers prime
responsibility, namely, the printing
truthfully of all the important news, q
great danger to our liberties will have
arisen; for freedom Of the press and
democracy are synonymous. Neither can
exist without the other.
In Europe today this fact is tragically
evident. The peoples Of the totalitarian
states were first denied the freedom of
the press, then the freedom of speech
and finally the freedom of worship; and
soon thereafter these peoples became
virtual slaves, the spoils of autocratic
power.
Undue influence by newspaper owners
upon the news of their papers, the
result of personal prejudices and view
points, can be serious in its effect, con-
sidering that in the last analysis the
owners of newspapers themselves control
the press. This power of publishers
must therefore be welded with utmost
sagacity, lest it become a Frankenstein
monster to them and a menace to the
public welfare. The fact that news Is
distributed through press widely
owned, and not controlled by any one
individual or group, tempers greatly
such a danger.
AS I have been requested to approach
this subject primarily from the view
point of an advertiser, I wish to express
the very definite conviction that no
advertiser with reasonable vision can
possibly have any desire, by reason Of
whatever influence he may have in the
counting room, to become involved in
the editorial or news policy of the paper
in which he advertises, without respect
to whether he agrees or disagrees with
the policy of the paper. There are
several very pertinent reasons for this.
In the first place, enlightened mer-
chants, bankers and industrialists, which
groups represent in the great majority
newspaper advertisers, recognize that
they cannot dissociate their own mate
rial prosperity from the prosperity of
the country as whole. They recognize
that a lasting and sound prosperity in
any nation is dependent upon a wide
spread contentment, and that such
contentment cannot be existent where
freedom is lost. They recognize that it
would be folly for them to compromise
with freedom, whether it be freedom of
the press, or whether it be any of the
other rights of free men. They recog-
nize that they cannot thwart, but on
the contrary, must cooperate to the
fullest extent in the reforms of freedom
in order to cope with changing condi-
tions, and that this objective may best
be effected through evolution.
They are fully cognizant of the fact
that if business proves incapable of self
discipline in the interest of the people,
the Federal Government will absorb ad
ditional authority, for under such condi-
tions the people will demand it, and after
all, their will is supreme in true democ-
racy. They understand that an unham-
pered press is the greatest safeguard
stimulant to self-disciplina
Whether these sounder and more lib
eral viewpoints are the result of greater
altruism due to progressive civilization,
or merely the result of sounder busi-
ness judgment, I prefer not to venture
an opinion. The fact remains, never
theless, that such liberalism is becoming
daily more and more widespread in busi-
ness in industry and in finance.
Two hundred years ago, such liberalism
was recognized by leading students of
political economy and is well illustrated
in the words of the writer Junius (gen-
orally supposed to have been Sir Philip
Francis), who said, Private credit is
wealth. Public honor is security. The
feather that adorns the royal bird sup
ports his flight; strip him of his plumage
and you fix him to earth."
Advertisers spend their money in news
papers which are the most productive Of
results to their individual enterprises,
without respect to the editorial or news
policies of the papers. There is no ques-
ton in my mind about that. The best
results are invariably closely allied with
and dependent upon volume of circula-
ton. Circulation, of course, is developed
through reader confidence, and the esti-
nation in which the newspaper is held
by the public-the degree of public ac-
ceptance. If newspaper sacrifices truth