Page:The Washington Newspaper volume 6.djvu/7



When James Russell Lowell delivered his address on Democracy in London on October 6, 1884, he paid his respects to the newspaper in these words:

"In a world of daily—nay, almost hourly—journalism, where every clever man, every man who thinks himself clever, or whom anybody else thinks clever, is called upon to deliver his judgment point-blank and at word of command on every conceivable subject of human thought, or, on what sometimes seems to him very much the same thing, on every inconceivable display of human want of thought, there is such a spend-thrift waste of all those commonplaces which furnish the permitted staple of public discourses that there is little chance of beguiling a new tune out of the one stringed instrument on which we have been thrumming so long .... As matters stand, it is beginning to be doubtful whether parliament and congress sit at Westminster and Washington or in the editor's rooms of leading journals, so thoroughly is everything debated before the authorized and responsible debaters get on their legs."

The newspaper must be believed if it is to gain and hold readers; and it must have readers if its advertising columns are to be sold at good prices. Good business and good principles point the same way. A clean, straightforward newspaper attracts and holds readers. A corrupt newspaper that serves a political machine or some special interest destroys its stock in trade, the faith of its readers. Thomas Jefferson said: "I would rather live in a country with newspapers and without a government, than in a country with a government, but without newspapers." Democracy is not possible on a big scale without newspapers.

The newspaper cannot sit silent while questions of public moment are decided at the polls. To take a militant part in the problems of community life, to be a leader and not a follower, the newspaper must express its views on political questions.

It is in handling sensational facts that the newspaper man must solve directly the question of what the editorial policy of the newspaper dictates. The answer will govern the writer's style, his handling of the facts, and his view of the situation. Can he swing free and "go all the way," or will it be advisable to "put on the soft pedal" this time?

The successful newspaperman "knows his paper," and has developed a feeling as to what his paper will or will not do if it faces a situation where the road forks. To choose the right turn of the road involves a knowledge of just what the newspaper stands for.

The average newspaper makes no direct statement of its principles for the guidance of its staff. The paper is content to let its editorial department get the drift of the paper's policies by seeing them in action, day by day. However, a statement of policy for the guidance of the staff makes for teamwork.

Here is a statement of policy which was prepared by E. G. Pipp, former editor-in-chief of The Detroit News and The Detroit News-Tribune, for distribution among the ninety or more persons who composed the staff of those newspapers:

The paper should be vigorous but not vicious; interesting but not sen-