Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/521



fore there are fewer errors in these accounts. But specialization has as yet been but imperfectly developed in other fields and in these ,many errors almost unavoidably arise. In reporting crime, reporters who have been trained in psychol ogy would avoid many of the errors now found, — the under standing mind is quite as necessary as the facile pen. Reporters

with a knowledge of the elementary facts of medical science would presumably write of medical questions more understand

ingly than is now possible. In the discussion of every subject, an introduction to the study of it would qualify reporters to discuss it more intelligently and thus reduce the probable area of errancy.

A troublesome source of errancy lies in the censorship of the press in time of war. The reporter presumably knows nothing of

war and the censor presumably knows nothing of reporting,— the present arrangement for censorship exasperates the press, the public, and the war department. But skilled newspaper men

instructed in the art of war and military strategy and then given the responsibility of censoring the news would reduce to a mini mum the chances of error.53 The authoritativeness of the press is limited by its own desire for news, but the press itself is coming to appreciate that it there 53 The city editor of a New York daily has kindly given this outline of a plan already discussed : A prominent newspaper man in New York has served as an army ma

noeuvre expert. Every time he covered a mobilization he realized that the average reporter on the ground was unable to comprehend the finer points of the manoeuvres because ofmore or less dense ignorance ofmilitary tactics.

This led him to talk over with a number of staff officers a plan for improving the situation. Themain points, as he outlined it, were that the Government

should choose every year a certain number of skilled reporters with a military trend, who were to be officially accredited to staff headquarters during manoeuvres. Every man was to be properly certificated, so that in case of a sudden war the Government could , automatically , draw on ex perienced reporters who would be unlikely to make any blunders, either

through ignorance or semi-misinterpretation.

The same general scheme

could be followed in the case of the navy. This plan would, of course , provide a constantly renewable brigade of correspondents who would be practically fit to censor their own material, but would, of course, work

under an official censor. Under such a working agreement with the Govern ment, blunders necessitating censorship would be reduced to a minimum.

The plan would stimulate competition in excellence among the various

staffs of great dailies, and the commission attached to manoeuvre head quarters would be regarded as a signal honor. The plan has been talked

over with many army and naval officers, and in each case the general plan of procedure has been heartily approved.