The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-11-13
ON THE
CAPITALS CUFF
Federated Press)
BY HENRY ION


AS was the case four years ago, tn
question of great daily newspaper
and their responsibility to their reat
ers has been sharply raised by tn
presidential election.
In 1882. President Roosevelt wa
supported by 400 of the great BIZ
business press. In 1886 he was sur
ported by $500 of such papers Will
in the present election he was sup
ported by 1870 of the commercial
newspapers.
Yet in 1882 the President got 59q
of the popular vote. In 1886 he go
629o of the popular vote and this yea
he got $50 of the popular vote.
This disparity between what the
people want and what the newspapers
tell them to do was commented upor
acidly by Secretary of Interior Harold
l.. Ickes.
"This," he said, reveals an unpre
cedented and progressively perilous
situation. Although we are fortunate
in having free communication over the
air, am convinced that our democracy
needs, more than ever before, truly
| free press that represents no class or
economic group and that will rewin
the confidence of our citizens because
| it is worthy of rewinning that con-
| fidence."
Considerable discussion ensued at
Ickes' press conference at which the
statement was made. Several re-
porters, loyal to their publishers,
asked what Ickes suggested doing
about it. That, he replied, is up to
the publishers.
1t might be noted that labor papers
bearing a direct and financial rela-
tionship to their constituency made no
such errors in judging the temper of
their readers.
It was suggested that if people did
MT like their newspapers they could
stop buying them. But in many cities
there is only one newspaper in the
morning or in the afternoon or both
and in most cities only one newspaper
has access to certain news services
and features.
If members of labor union don't
like their paper they can fire the
editor They own the paper and the
paper is concerned with their inter-
ests.
The big commercial papers are
owned by the publishers or are in
1. III
primarily with their interests. To put
it crudely, how many people in the
u. S. ever owned a newspaper, in
dividually or collectively?
The responsibility of the newspa-
pers to their readers, of course, varies.
There are papers like the Chicago
Tribune which succeeded finally in
C. Wayland Brooks to the U.
S. senate.
Brooks came to attention when,
back in the Al Capone days he was
appointed special prosecutor to han
die the Jake Lingle case.
Lingle was a stool pigeon and fixer
for the Chicago Tribune who was
murdered. The current story was that
Lingle was murdered because he dou-
some of the less prominent
but more powerful Chicago citizenry.
The Tribune was extremely anxious
to see that the Lingle case was han
died properly" inasmuch as they
were involved in it up to the ears.
AS a result of Brooks handling of
the case, man with bad record
but connected with the Lingle murder
in only an indirect fashion was con-
victed and sentenced to the peniten-
tiary.
Shortly thereafter Brooks became
the Chicago Tribune's perennial candi
late. Virtually every time there was
an election Brooks ran for something
with the Tribune's heartiest blessing.
This November 5 Brooks was fin
ally elected to six years in the u. S.
senate. He had been running for
Kings so long the people of Illinois
apparently thought he was somebody |
Not all papers are as bad as the |
Chicago Tribune, of course. Some pa
oers just don't print stories that don't |
ell their side of the case.
Now that the election is over, how
ever. the newspapers are willing to
orgiye and forget. In the interests of |
rational unity they ask that their sins
De overlooked.
The general tenor of the editorials
las been that if the President does
1t behave well hit him again"