George Binney Dibblee

“ Whenever corruption or blackmail occasionally finds an unsafe footing in one of the side-walks of journalism it is looked upon as a crime, both morally and professionally, which every one must stamp out, wherever found. Any manager or journalist of experience will tell you that the suggestion of bribery either at headquarters or with one of the ordinary daily staff of a newspaper is an experiment of the utmost danger to any one attempting it. ”

“ When we come to war correspondence, we touch upon what many people regard as the culminating romance of journalism. To us, who are inside the circle, it does not always appear in the same light. There are greater triumphs than securing the first news of a battle but none whose results are so immediate. For the correspondent himself the situation is dangerous without romance, responsible often with little credit. His chief enemies are dirt, ill-humour and neglect. He has the rough edge of most tempers and must professionally regard with suspicion any advances that may appear too friendly. ”

“ The mirror of the London press reflects only the drab colours of any presentation of one aspect of society, reserving all the hues of sunset for any little feature of the other. The resulting picture is produced unconsciously and in good faith, but it is none the less subject to dangerous distortion of the truth. This prevailing misfortune is growing worse daily and already we have lost the chastening memory of days, when impartiality was more strictly maintained in our press as a whole by the adequate representation of both sides. ”

“ Kennedy Jones embraces the Evening News, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and other papers. This energetic, self-assertive and ever-increasing popular press excites in many old-fashioned readers something akin to a disgust, that is quite needless. These good folk should recognize that what is suited to a million readers can hardly cater also for the tastes of a restricted cultivated class. If the great American circulation-monger Hearst comes over to England, as rumours repeatedly assert, it will be apparent at once how much better the Daily Mail is, than it need be. ”

“ Almost everything in an American paper amounts to that in one way or another and very brilliant talents and quite astounding energy and resourcefulness are brought to bear to realize an ideal, which at first sight does not seem very impressive. It is, however, much more difficult to realize than appears on the surface and above all it is what their public wants.
The material for the ordinary newspaper “story” is more often than not taken from the unfortunate or shady side of life, because in that class of facts the masses of the public take an unfailing and untiring interest. ”

“ Thus it comes about that a young man, who would not earn a pound a week in any walk of pure literature, where he expects to be paid also by recognition, can earn a comfortable living by suppressing his natural desire for fame and doing the necessary work of the press. But there is a further advantage for the journalist in anonymity; it is a very effective shelter under which he can do his daily round of ordinary work without the natural slackening and the painful fits and starts which pursue inevitably the responsible writer, who has to put his own name to everything he produces. ”

“ This is true not only of periodicals and weeklies but also of the great morning dailies, which are by far the most influential part of that institution,16 which we casually refer to as “the press.” Here is where power is presumed to reside. Whether it be politics or art or finance, everyone, who wants anything important done to influence the general public, feels that it is here that the first and most valiant effort must be made. The press must be got at and persuaded or bullied into taking what is the only possible point of view, as each individual sees it for himself. ”

“ There is one field for journalism, which is now peculiarly the property of the enormously circulated evening press. The halfpenny evening paper is the daily paper of the working man and especially so in the provinces, where in the small towns none but evening newspapers exist. For their immense mass of readers every conceivable matter of national or personal interest is subordinated to the overwhelming predominance of games, sports and betting. It is no exaggeration to say that five-sixths of the circulation of all the halfpenny evening papers is built up on amusements and gambling. ”

“ Last of all comes the general reader and he asks nothing more of his newspaper than all the news of everywhere, collected at great cost, transcribed with finished skill and presented to him in just the way which pleases and flatters him most. All of them have on their lips the daily threat of giving up the paper, if they are not scrupulously satisfied. ”

“ The real dominant factors of the modern press and the press of the future are the machine, the telephone and the special train. Production by the million is an exacting master. Instead of three hours for a considered version of facts or opinion, the modern writer is often given fifteen minutes, in which to turn out a smart distortion. The more a man can resemble a Linotype machine the more useful will he be to the paper of to-morrow. He must of course be complicated in organization,111 his mechanism must be ingenious enough to conceal his mental subordination. ”

“ There is little distinction now made between newspaper properties and any other, except that their political influence adds some considerable extra value to their market-price. In almost the majority of cases they are owned by limited companies. Their possession does not carry with it the feeling of a public trust; to own one means just so much money and so much power. It is safe to say that, while these pages are being written, not less than four of the London dailies are to be had for an offer, one of which at least is an exceedingly good property in the full course of prosperity. ”

“ The advantage of the temporary possession of a meteor is a doubtful one. He may mingle insubordination with brilliancy and even where meekness and all the journalistic virtues are combined in one pen, the ultimate loss of it will be the more severely felt. The solid qualities on which the continuous influence of a great newspaper rests are difficult under these circumstances to build up and it may therefore be taken as an axiom that the cultivation of brilliancy in journalism is to some extent converse to the acquisition of permanent power and wealth by the press. ”

“ True irony is an appeal in one form of words to two grades of intelligence, one of which accepts the literal and the other the concealed meaning. A much more indisputable instance of journalistic irony in our times was Henri Rochefort’s eulogy of Napoleon II., equally effective with Defoe’s as a practical weapon and as a literary masterpiece of concealed invective for ever to be unexcelled. ”

“ Of the new and frankly commercial press one may say with some confidence, that they have no influence in the old-fashioned sense at all. In all matters of opinion what they say is a matter of indifference. Their function is to supply to those, who already agree with them, a brief and effective setting for obvious facts and sometimes just so much misrepresentation as to make unpalatable facts a little more tolerable. In London it is conspicuous how insignificant their political efforts may be. ”

“ The expectation of attracting custom from elsewhere in classified advertising is very seldom fulfilled. The habits of the public are extraordinarily stable in this respect. When once a paper is recognized as the special organ for a particular purpose every one has to buy it in this connection and people save themselves the trouble of looking elsewhere. The most outrageous overcharging will very seldom drive this custom away, but it is very unwise for any manager to attempt it, as he may easily injure his general reputation for justice and thereby lose other business. ”

“ Should a newspaper be conducted with conspicuous success for a long period by its editor and staff and also enjoy the benefit of wise and far-seeing management, the work of each redoubles the value of the other to an astonishing extent. ”

“ With the increasing expenses of modern newspapers under the stress of competition the necessity of swelling the advertising revenue of a paper becomes of paramount importance. So the courting of prominent advertisers is every day more and more the preoccupation of a newspaper manager and he is apt to listen too favourably to any representations made by strong monied interests and himself to exercise a corresponding pressure on the editorial side of the enterprise. ”

“ What is incomparably the most difficult part of a newspaper’s task, the adjustment, arrangement and choice between various items of news, is relegated to an allotment of space on less imperative terms and is more governed by mere routine. The simple explanation of this material consolation to editors and sub-editors lies in the fact that competition about mere news is not, speaking relatively in respect of American practice, tuned up to the same pitch of keenness. ”

“ Of course there is the avowed political partisanship, officially acknowledged and attracting the support of most of its readers for this cause alone. In this respect, however, no paper can claim to influence its readers, because they have formed their own opinions for themselves on the main issues already. The real power of a paper depends chiefly on the skill with which it is kept in the background and the severe economy of its use. Any blatant partisanship on unnecessary occasions begets in the reader the habit of discounting its repetition and of steeling his will in resistance. ”

“ To a stranger, even if he be English, they are almost incomprehensible and indescribable and, as criticism on these points is quite a delicate matter, it would be safer to repeat an American description of them. “The average Sunday paper is like nothing else on earth. It might well be called a literary dime museum, for the editor presents not ‘stories’ that will simply amuse or entertain, but only those which will attract attention, because of their absurdity and the pictures, which sometimes cover whole pages, are, if anything, more unusual than the text.” ”

“ Under the newer newspaper régime, where commercial considerations rule far more than they did under the old family system, this question of a conflict between conscience and economic pressure frequently comes up in a most cruel fashion. When a newspaper passed into the hands of a new proprietor, whose only object in acquiring it was to have the opportunity of changing its politics, all the special writers, whose province covered politics, might be condemned by their sense of honour to go out into the street. ”

“ Whereas otherwise, through being the medium of the distribution of mere news, a newspaper will wield unconsciously a very considerable influence over its readers and may continue indefinitely to do so, so long as it does not exploit this subtle power in any way, which is detected to be conspicuously unfair.
The last aspect of a newspaper is much less impressive to outsiders than anything, which appears in print in its columns. Every newspaper is a commercial organism subject to the same laws of life and death, which govern businesses in general. ”

“ So far as the American press is concerned the only sphere, where editorial influence is either secretly or forcibly exerted, is in national or municipal politics. Here the line is so sharply drawn between opponents that little or no attempt at impartiality is pretended and news and comment are both frankly presented by party newspapers with highly-coloured bias and vehement advocacy. Persuasion is not a weapon adopted by the American press, because during a political campaign no reader has time or inclination to read the other side. ”

“ From henceforward we begin to deal not with journalists, even if they were editors, but with influential papers established as impregnable properties, independent of government, of their own brilliant literary staff and sometimes, though rarely, of public opinion. This change was brought about by a succession of three able and tenacious men in one family and raised by the long service and controlling genius of a fourth to a degree, which has made it for ever the model of English journalism and to some extent of the press of the world. ”

“ Successful editorial conduct of a newspaper will often prolong its career in spite of mistakes of management, while good business ability will keep alive for some time a journal, whose readers are dropping off day by day. It seems to be a law of newspaper life that mistakes in this business have far-reaching and not easily discoverable consequences; the fatal decision and critical mistake will not receive its inevitable recompense until after a period of delay, which makes the original cause of the disaster only a matter of conjecture. ”

“ Analogous to the enforced expenditure on communication is the provision that has to be made for cabling foreign or special correspondence. In this matter the pressure to follow the example of a richer competitor is not overwhelming, as readers have different tastes and many are almost indifferent to foreign news. Yet every paper feels very severely the indignity of being obliged to admit inferiority in enterprise and of publicly taking a seat in the second row in any respect. ”

“ Just as we chose the American daily paper for the model of a newsgathering and news-presenting organization, so here we must admit that, as an organ for expressing instructed opinion not only on politics but on general topics, the distinctively English type of paper is a far more potent and more highly-developed instrument. In this respect the American press suffers severely from the general democratic contempt prevailing on that continent for expert opinion of all kinds. ”

“ JOURNALISM AND JOURNALISTS In the narrow sense it might be said that journalism could hardly exist before journals, but that would be essentially inaccurate. Journalism is the art of writing for immediate practical effect, just as rhetoric was the art of speaking for the same purpose. In ancient times public speaking had an immeasurably greater influence than now owing to the existence of small city states, where the governing assembly could remain within the reach of one voice. ”

“ You seem to imagine that England can desire nothing better than to sacrifice all its greatest interests and its most cherished objects to support barbarism against civilization, the Moslem against the Christian, slavery against liberty, to exchange peace for war—all to oblige the Turk. ”

“ John Walter, the son, found himself in comparatively quiet times. He devoted himself to the problems of business management and succeeded in 1814 in being the first printer to make use of steam. It is not often that a paper is so well served by one man, as to be kept more than abreast of all rivals as well in mechanical as in editorial excellence. It took many years to place it well ahead. Circulations in those days were not what they are now, and the Times was not then the only expensive paper in London. ”

“ James’s Gazette (1880) , it more or less repeats the function of a morning paper, as being chiefly devoted to news, with comment, as a subordinate feature. The Pall Mall Gazette is the spoilt child of journalism. Founded in 1865 under the editorship of Frederick Greenwood, it sprang at once to the position of being the darling favourite of intellectual London, which it has never entirely lost in spite of alternate periods of hideous sensationalism and considered dulness, in spite of a complete reversal of politics and of every imaginable transformation of “make-up” and journalistic devices. ”

“ Yet while it is true that this duplicate and to some extent self-overlapping system fulfils the fundamental duty of every paper, which can be called in any sense a newspaper, it is not that side of newspaper life, which arouses the greatest amount of attention from outside, at any rate in this country, nor does it absorb the greatest amount of energy and talent within. The sensational part of journalism is the control of opinion. ”