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Show h 1 m m fl H fPffli THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER OF TO-DAY. B j jjSUlE As a curiosity the following is copied from the B " ljl SaltLake Telegram: Mm i'tsntiB Tne day of lone-winded editorials, or dry-as- H 'illlS dust toPIcs' or if tne topics be live ones, treated H sCVj' H in prosaic diatribes, columns in length, .has passed H o ''ill 8 away. jB " !0P B "What the public wants and will have is terse BB ' . iV B and timely comment on current discussions and IS B happenings, and on matter of local interest and i M importance. mm The latter-day editorial carries with it ideas, MM rather than opinions peculiar only to the persons hB who write them, and at the same time relates a iK news story while it is new. SI B The staid and stilted writers of column-and- U B over editorials have taken their position among H B the things that were. They no longer command B Bj interest and attention. The few of this class who fl H remain do not realize that "times change and a H men change with them." f B The modern newspaper of up-to-date tenden- I K cies takes its, materials for editorial expressions kWt from the news of the day. The interview or the I tBy incident which conveys an idea may form the I B basis of what is being told, with such comment bbh .1 iiullH as may rs ne Point home. H r'llBl And tIie Telegram has made an especial effort I 1 IiIhhI to glve lts readers a comprehensive editorial and K i I H8I news war service. The leading newspapers in HK m I anSl 'ne country are members of curtain news syndi- S M i'mal 'cates which send out not only war Illustrations BB n ifflu ut articles on Jpan and Russia which are pre- Hl '" 1 IB pared by war experts. These articles and illus- 1s ''il i 91 trations are printed by all the leading newspa- BBH ' 1 I Ma ,)0rs of this countl'y- They are intended for si- n 'H i mm multaneous publication in news or editorial col- mHI i ilSn umn. Headers of the Telegram have reason to ap- i&BBH'' ! liffiu predate this pictorial and news service. HHB mma, Th0 aclc number which points the palsied HHI (T HBe Anger of envy at success only brings itself into HBix j aHB! ridicule. So, the modern newspaper thrives and BlM' BUB! ne ont-of-date passes into decay. Br hHkI Tli foregoing was doubtless put out as a justi- HBfrf fflHsl fication for the wholesale stealing by the Tele- iHBi MBH gram which this journal exposed last week. It IhHL'1' HI ut naakes the more clear the deception and dis- 9Bl!i 1H honesty which seems to rule the editorial col- jJBHMwii f Wm umns of that sheet. The editorials in leading Uli HSl journals cover all the space needed.; whether BE imSi it be an editorial paragraph or an editorial one or two columns in length. In leading and respectable respec-table journals they are not confined to merely comments on local or telegraphic news. That class of editorial writing belongs, not to real "live" editors, ed-itors, but to those who have to lean upon news for ideas. Any one can judge what the editorials of modern up-to-date journals consist of by glancing glanc-ing at any of the great journals of the day, hence it will be easy to see that the editor of the Telegram, Tele-gram, if sincere, does not know the first essentials of his profession. But in the fifth paragraph of the foregoing extract the editor in a covert way tries to plead justification for the steal which we exposed last week. He tells how "leading newspapers news-papers are members of a certain news syndicates which send out not only war illustrations, but articles on Japan and Russia which are prepared by war experts. These articles and illustrations are printed by all the leading newspapers of this country. They are intended for simultaneous publication pub-lication in news or editorial column." That is half true and only half. The syndicate articles are understood; as a rule they are published as such, but never in the editorial columns, unless with due credit being given. By that paragraph the editor of the Telegram seeks to convey the impression im-pression that the steal this journal exposed was part of a syndicate article published by several newspapers in a legitimate way. The only trouble trou-ble about the statement of the Telegram is that it is not true. What was published in the Telegram Tele-gram which we exposed was not news. It did not come by syndicate letter. It was stolen bodily and almost word for word from an editorial of the New York Daily News. It was Inspired, of course, by the war news, but it was the work of an accomplished ac-complished writer in the New York News, and it was stolen bodily, almost, by the Telegram. It was altogether coarse and dishonest dishon-est and so far as the Telegram is concerned shows that whether "times change and men change with them," is true or not, the Telegram is a mighty change from honorable journalism. By the way, the statement made by this journal jour-nal last week, though only in a journalistic, not a personal sense, that the men employed on that paper (the Telegram) could get nothing to do on "reputable journals" was too sweeping. A newspaper news-paper like the Telegram must employ 11 large force. Of the characters of many of those employees em-ployees we know nothing. But the character of a newspaper is established by what it gives to the world, the staff of a newspaper is measured by that standard, and we know the Telegram steals editorials, we believe it fakes or doctors dispatches. dis-patches. While saying this we recognize that many writers on some newspapers are obliged to do things against which their very natures revolt, re-volt, and so the criticism is really aimed at the , spirit which controls and not at the agents whose necessities may compel them to subordinate their own sense of right. |