Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/124

 America.

but it reaches far beyond this region. The newspaper was at first entirely unassociated with the name of any individual except that

of the printer. Nearly a hundred years after the appearance of the first English newspaper, Swift was horrified because in a bill concerning the press “ there was a clause inserted, (whether indus triously with design to overthrow it,) that the author's name and

place of abode should be set to every printed book, pamphlet, or paper; to which I believe no man, who has the least regard to

learning, would give his consent.” 52 It is a far cry from the anonymity of Swift's time to a condition

that Burges Johnson has aptly termed “ the 'star' development in the press as well as on the stage.” Columns and pages of articles

and contributions of every description are signed by the name of special correspondents, and special reporters. The name of the local country reporter heads the items he sends in to the press of the nearest small city. Even advertisements are not infrequently

signed by the name of the writer. Newspapers advertise their own claims to superiority over their rivals on the ground that certain well-known authors are under contract to write exclusively

for their columns, that a prominent sportsman will edit their sporting page, that eminent critics will furnish the dramatic and musical criticism, and a professional humorist will be in charge of

the “ colyum .” Practically the only parts of the paper that are not signed are the editorial, the despatches of the Associated Press, and the contributions of the local reporter. The result of the change is that “ the writer of signed articles

is really a pamphleteer, who uses the newspaper as a vehicle just as in other days he would use a publisher,” 63 while the personality

of the newspaper as a purveyor of news is dissipated through the increasing importance attached to the individual news gatherers. Signature emphasizes the importance of the journalist and ex plains why in France the query is always, “ What does a certain

writer say” ,while anonymity tends to increase the importance of the journaland in England for so many years led to the question , “ What does The Times say? "

Different and somewhat opposing influences have brought 62 “ History of the Four Last Years of the Queen ,” Works, V, 149– 150. 63 G. B. Dibblee, The Newspaper , p. 104.