Evening star., 1952-03-30

Crosby s. Noyes.
f1825-l9O8).
right Of free access to 1t at all times.
The function Of the journalist is
to collect this news and distribute It.
that is the service for which the
public pays. But the news itself Is
public property. Since this is SO, it
clearly is beyond the just powers Of
any NATURALIZATION or publisher,
reporter or rewrite man-to tamper
with the news by coloring it with
bias, diluting it with fancy, or dimin-
ishing it with suppression. The
newSpaperman is dealing, in the
public interest, with something
which passes briefly through his
hands on the way to its rightful own
ers, to whom he owes his primary al
legiance.
This is the concept which made
Frank Noyes speak of journalism as
a public trust. and of The Star as
one of its trustees. This also is the
concept which justif1es the principle
Of freedom Of the press.
EoR THE STAR. serving its thou
L sands of individual readers-just
as for the Associated Press, serving
its hundreds Of individual member
papers--the practical application of
this idea had one obvious effect in
the early decades Of the Goth century.
1t meant that every effort must be
bent toward presenting the news in
its purest, factual form. without at
tempting to interpret the raw mate
rial Of events. Who, it was asked,
had the wisdom to give the public
the meaning of what was happen
ing?-except perhaps on the edi-
torial page, where the Interpretation
was plainly labeled as one mans
opinion.
The answer was obvious. The
Stars reSponSibility-the RESPONSE
bility Of any reputable newspaper or
news agency-was to give it's readers
the facts. The readers were pre-
Sumed to have the intelligence to
make sense out Of them.
To large extent, in its day by
day coverage of the news, The Star
still operates in accordance with this
presumption. In recent years, how
ever, we have been feeling our way
cautiously, as other newspapers have,
toward a somewhat broader concept
Of our duty as stewards of the public
property, news.
The life Of each individual, these
days, is affected by such a mass Of
tangled and distant complexities that
1t is almost impossible for him to
digest their meaning if they are fed
to him raw. Let me drop this culi-
nary metaphor before it gets too in
volved-in plain words, much of the
news does now require interpreta-
ton along with fact.
The enormous popularity of the
weekly news magazine proves that
people are hungry, not just for in
formation, but for guidance which
will permit them to relate the in
formation they are getting to their
own fields OF understanding. The
rise OF radio--and now television-
as fact-dispensing media means that
the newspaper must take on this adj
ditional task Of presenting in the
news itself enough explanation to
make it all Ineligible to the average
man.
The dangers which the previous
generation saw in such an attempt
are still there. But this does not mean
they cannot be coped with. Bias and
distortion can creep more easily
into an interpretive story than into
one which simply sets down the facts,
one by one. But again, this does not
mean that the interpretive story
must necessarily be biased and dis
torted.
The new approach calls for more
intelligent reporting than the old
approach did. It calls for more
Scrupulous editing, to make sure the
issues are impartially presented.
Above all, it calls for plenty Of that
plain, old-fashioned attitude Of fair
ness which, we believe, has charac-
terized The Stars handling Of the
news from the beginning.
Nov for a few words on the
1 newspaper business as busi-
ness. Just as The Star grew, over
the years, into an attitude toward
the news quite different from the
one it held in the early days, so, too.
it grew into a new sense of its busi-
ness responsibility. Neither deyel-
opment would have had meaning
without the other.
The idea that newspaper should
not allow its business interest to af-
feet its news policy or editorial
judgment is now pretty generally
accepted. But it is fair to say that
The Star has carried this idea fur
ther than many other newspapers.
We have found 1t wise to make q
complete separation between our
editorial and business functions,
leaving them wholly independent Of
each other.
The president Of The Star. for In
stance. would no more think Of di-
recting its editor what position to
take in the coming presidential CAM
paign. than the editor would think
Of telling the president Of The Star
what advertising policies are to be
pursued. The editors job. and that
Of the news department. Is to pass