Show THE ELEVATION OF THE PRESS During the meetings of the press association as-sociation of Utah recently in this city the desire was strongly expressed that a more fraternal feeling should be promoted among the journalists of this territory This sentiment is right and it encouraged will tend to elevate the tone of journalism both metropolitan metropoli-tan and provincial Although a fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind and personal acquaintance ac-quaintance tends to take the sharp edge off the asperities which are common com-mon In newspaperdom a better feeling among the members of the press need not in the least Qegree lessen the vigor of their utterances in support of the ideas and principles which they may severally entertain On the contrary the force of their advocacjt will be increased in-creased by the directness of argument foe or against any proposition by an avoidance of personal allusions and individual i in-dividual acrimony I What is called personal Journalism that is the prostitution of the press to I the abuse of writers on the opposition when the proper use of the press is to fexpose error promulgate truth and give the news is not to be defended on any tenable ground Papers of opposite op-posite political or other principles maybe may-be justified In the use of sharp te ms and in the exercise of great freedom when handling each other as public prints But when the Faberpusher directs the point of his attadks and the virus of his venom against the persons per-sons with whose writings he may widely differ that is a departure from the true liberty of the press and ought to be resented by the journalistic s1 fraternity f The paperis not the man The mans man-s not the paper Rarely do the editors and othev attaches of a public journal l own the business or the plant and if they tie the publication Itself ought to be regarded as Impersonal It Is open to as fierce assaults as the style qf Its Adversaries may choose to assume But when the individuals supposed to be the writers of articles for which the paper and not they are responsible i are nttacked by name ni misrepresented b il1 r i as to their motives and their acts held up to public aversion and called in print names which their assailants dare not apply to them face to face an outrage is committed for which there Is no excuse and which must bf resented in the heart of the aggrievea no matter how much forbearance he may exercIse That sort of guttergroveling and garbagehurling ought to be stopped The press association can do much to suppress it Journalists may claim the right to call others vile names because they think their foes deserve it But the exercise of that right whether properly pro-perly or improperly claimed is blackguardism black-guardism and every journalist ought to be a gentleman It may be argued that when a writer is personally attacked by another he has the right to respond in kind That may be so and there is a great temptation temp-tation with such provocation to get down to the same level as the other fellow But who Is bettered by such a uourse And Is It not much wiser to let the scurrilous scribe expose his own proclivities and gain the scorn of respectable re-spectable people than to follow his vile example in order to get even If the high minded men of the press would refuse to engage in such vulgar and lowlived warfare it would soon be regarded re-garded by all as contemptible The Herald desires to be on personally person-ally friendly terms with every decent member of the press fraternity to accord ac-cord to all equal rights and liberties to aid in preserving the freedom of speech and of the press which is one of the glories of our republican institutions insti-tutions and to encourage and help other papers in the territory which are struggling for influence and prosperity But it must draw the line at that indecency in-decency which has no right place in journalism and which there is evidently evi-dently a disposition among the gentlemen gentle-men who have been in council recently recent-ly in this city to banish from the ranks of the fraternity To eleyate the profession pro-fession will be to elevate the newspaper news-paper and in this good work The Herald Her-ald wishes the press association of Utah abundant and increasing success |