Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 7.djvu/141



Vol. 7

“WHY are editorials not read?” asks an interested observer of the American press. Though tempted to parallel this question with “Why is the weather not good?” the writer admits he understands the drift of the question. It is not hoped to offer here a satisfactory and comprehensive answer. If the editors who read this publication are moved to consideration of the question, the purpose of this article will have been served. Before proceeding with this discussion, another question needs to be asked: “What is an editorial 1” Having decided that the only definition that will cover the case with sufficient breadth is “the personal expression of an editor,” we are brought face to face with another question: “Who is expected to read the editorials?” That, it may easily be seen. depends on the subject and the treatment. Few editorials can hope to claim the at tention of all the readers of the paper. Frequently the editorial least worth read ing attracts the greatest amount of at tention. This is generally due to a fluency of writing style, a certain “glibness” which often makes a better surface im pression on the hasty reader than does a thoughtful piece of work by one less apt in the tricks of the writing trade. And so, a frothy bit of work, if de signed for the hasty reader, with no in tent that it shall influence either his actions or his opinions, comes clearly under the head of entertainment, like “Bringing Up Father,” in which no one sees any special depth of purpose. Under this head come breezy little editorials on the weather, on wireless communication with Mars, or on the social status of Australian bushmen. These may contain some mite of information; the observant reader may think he detects a paraphras ing of some news article, but he won’t care much—he is in a “tired business man” state of mind, not over-eager to think. So, the reader probably got what he wanted, and the writer accomplished all he had a right to expect. There's another class of editorials, de signed for information, for the inter pretation of some new discovery in sci ence or some new achievement in the arts. Interpretative articles on the nature of insulin, its observed results, and what it may mean to ailing humanity are not designed for the fractional element of the population who prefer to do their reading in original sources, in scientific publications; they are designed for the public, to whom, practically, these works are as closed as if they were still Pn uritten. The descriptive article on the great Betelgeuze, designed to develop lay interest in the phenomena of the heavens, is not intended for the astron omer, who, it is presumed, has deeper