Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/391

 THE PRESS AND PUBLIC OPINION 377

partisan papers report the speeches of political opponents, and what ideas readers are permitted to obtain regarding movements and affairs which the editor antagonizes for one reason or another. It is well to recognize, then, that the editorial page is a fixture, and the problem is how to convert it into a salutary and socially beneficial factor.

There has been some talk of the need or desirability of a "Christian daily" newspaper. That is futile. The real need is a moral, high-minded, clean, and honest newspaper press — a press that will not prostitute truth to selfish interest. There are news- papers which approximate this ideal, but they are few and far between. How is their number to be increased ?

The objection to party organs or representatives of particular schools is superficial. Parties and schools of thought are inevi- table, and there is no valid reason why the}' should not have their organs. Honest partisanship is one thing; unprincipled and bigoted and narrow-minded partisanship is quite a different thing. The independence that means absence of conviction is neither morally nor intellectually respectable. The independ- ence which society has a right to ask is that independence which places truth above partisanship and does not hesitate to censure friends or to recognize merit in adversaries. "My party right or wrong," "My school right or wrong," are vicious watch- words. Parties are means to certain practical ends ; schools are means to theoretical ends. Each of us is entitled to present the faith that is in him, and if he establishes an organ for the pur- pose of promulgating and defending his beliefs, he not only acts rightly, but really renders a service to humanity. Out of conflict and controversy, provided fair play is observed, the truth emerges. In free and earnest discussion theories are tested, and the foundations of accepted beliefs subjected to a rigorous exami- nation. The fittest survive, and the result benefits all.

Were all newspapers merely organs of various parties and organizations, nothing more would be required of them than the avoidance of dishonorable methods of warfare. Bi^t news- papers are also enterprises of a commercial character. The pri- mary object of the proprietor (and therefore of the editor) is to