Page:Herr Glessner Creel - Tricks of the Press (1911).djvu/12



There's some more of the story that I won't take time to read. This much will do. Please notice that this is straight to the point. There are no interrogation points after any of these sentences. All are clear. Now let's see: In the sub-head-line, which gives the impression that a strike army of four thousand is gathering to attack Pennsylvania officers, occur the words "may be." In the first paragraph we find that this is an "alleged plot;" and further, "it is reported" that striking miners were mobilizing an army. In the next paragraph we learn that a building was burned—"it is charged"—to draw officers of the law to their death. In a headline and two paragraphs we find: "may be," "it was reported," "alleged," and "it is charged." This is the foundation of the story. It is built on these phrases. But I say to you that the reading public is not familiar with this phase of newspaper trickery. Therefore these stories are accepted at their face value. And their face value is false—counterfeit. The incident here related need not have happened—I doubt if it did happen. There's nothing in this story to prove or even intimate that it happened. It could have been made and probably was made out of whole cloth. That, too, was sent out to discredit a strike situation—to "mold" public opinion.