Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1914 — TELLING THE TRUTH IN THE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

TELLING THE TRUTH IN THE NEWS.

It is interesting to note that the democratic machinists at Indianapolis, French Lick and Terre Haute, after wrecking the democratic party in Indiana, have now decided to be good and the watchword for the coming session of the legislature will be honesty and economy. It is also interesting to note that this slogan follows very closely after the report of the 1 Marion county grand jury that ret "rned 34 indictments against thirteen members an<f employes of the last legislature, including the lieutenant-governpr and Homer L. ook, speaker of- the House and now secretary of state. This grand jury

was called upon by Governor Ralston to investigate alleged crodkedness 1 in the 1913 legislature, and the judge, prosecutor and a majority of the jurors were democrats, but evidently they were not owned by the Taggart-Falrbanks-Robexts et al machine. The present attitude calls to. mind the old saying about “when the devil v.as sick the devil a saint would'be,” etc. The real democrats, the anti-machine democrats, if you please, should see to it that the devil in this case never gels well. They are largely in the majority—in fact the machinists ate but few in number although pastmasters in the art of machine manipulation—and they should see to it that henceforth no machine man is put in any position of trust or control of the party, even though it be in a humble capacity. Kick ’em out for good, for only in so doing can our party survive and merit the confidence of the people.

Readers of even the best newspapers know that misstatements frequently creep into their columns and they wonder why. Perhaps they see in their favorite paper reports of events with which they themselves are thoroughly familiar that are sometimes grossly inaccurate. Hqw can the reporters make such mistakes, they ask, and why do the editors allow them to be printed? To them it seems the easiest thing in the world to always tell the truth, says “The Editor and Publisher." To those of us who have been engaged in newspaper work all our lives, and who are, therefore, thoroughly familiar with the practices of the profession the wonder is that so few errors are made. We know how strict most editors are in enforcing the rule of accuracy of statement that obtains in nearly every newspaper office. Reporters are instructed to write the facts about an event as they find them; to use every endeavor to verify statements made by interested persons; and to be unjust or unfair to no one. And yet in spite of every precaution and in spite of all rules that have been adopted to secure accuracy, misstatements are printed that often lead to libel suits, loss of readers and loss of business. In the hurry and bustle attendant upon newspaper publishing It is not always possible to verify all items of new 4> that drop upon the editor’s

desk. Those sent in by correspondents whose reliability has been established by long service are accepted without question. The same thing may be said of the articles contributed by members of the staff. This does not mean, however, that due caution is not used to prevent palpable mistakes or exaggerated statements in their copy appearing in the paper.

All matter sent in by outsiders, no matter what its source may be, is usually verified. If this rule were not adopted the editors would be in hot water all the time. Not a tenth of such articles ever get into print. They often contain attacks upon respectable men and women that have no foundation whatever except in the imagination of those who wrote them. Some are inspired by jealousy, hate, envy, a desire for revenge because of some real or fancied grievance. -

If the editors were always able to distinguish between what is false and what is true it would be possible to publish a perfect newspaper. Unfortunately that gifts of the gods was not bestowed upon them. They are, perhaps, keener in detecting errors in the news than other people but they possess no power of divination, no second sight, no infallible test that they can apply to detect error.

If the reading public would only remember that newspaper men are human, like other people, and therefore liable to make mistakes, perhaps they might be less severely critical than they are when they discuss a misstatement of fact in their favorite paper.