Good and Evil from the Press
| Author | William Albig |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625228000115 |
| Published date | 01 March 1952 |
| Date | 01 March 1952 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
105
Good
and
Evil
from
the
Press
By
WILLIAM
ALBIG
Responsibility-The
right
of
a
newspaper
to
attract
and
hold
readers
is
restricted
by
nothing
but
considerations
of
public
welfare.
The
use
a
newspaper
makes
of
the
share
of
public
attention
it
gains
serves
to
determine
its
sense
of
responsibility,
which
it
shares
with
every
member
of
its
staff.
A
journalist
who
uses
his
power
for
any
selfish
or
otherwise
unworthy
purpose
is
faithless
to
a
high
trust.
Independence-Freedom
from
all
obliga-
tions
except
that
of
fidelity
to
the
public
interest
is
vital.
Promotion
of
any
private
interest
con-
trary
to
the
general
welfare,
for
whatever
reason,
is
not
compatible
with
honest
jour-
nalism.1
THIS
quotation
from
the
editors’
code
of
ethics
well
states
the
prin-
ciple
of
the
responsibility
of
the
com-
mercial
press
for
the
public
welfare,
which
I
presume
implies
also
the
ad-
vocacy
of
generally
diffused
economic
well-being
as
a
basis
for
the
mainte-
nance
of
a
public
capable
of
judicious,
democratic
decision
making.
It
would
seem
that
the
editors
also
assume
re-
sponsibility
for
supplying
the
readers’
minds
with
such
fare
as
will
admit
of
a
rational,
balanced
mind
life,
to
the
extent
that the
readers’
abilities
and
potential
abilities
permit.
The
editors’
statement
appears
to
consider
as
un-
ethical
the
exploitation,
agitation,
or
degeneration
of
the
readers’
mind
life
in
the
pursuit
of
any
journalist’s
ob-
jective,
including
circulations
and
in-
come.
This
is,
indeed,
a
statement
of
high
principles,
but
somehow
much
cur-
rent
practice
appears
to
deviate
from
the
editors’
ideal.
In
the
topic
assigned
to
me,
good
and
evil
from
the
press,
the
term
&dquo;evil&dquo;
has
a
connotation
which
I
would
not
choose
to
emphasize
in
this
discussion.
Evil
has
an
implication
of
purposely
unethical
behavior
which
does
not
properly
characterize
the
fundamental
attitudes
of
the
newspaper
publishers
and
editors
of
the
United
States.
Yet
much
that
is
evil
in
terms
of
the
gen-
eral
welfare,
in
terms
of
the
progress
of
cultural
values,
and
in
terms
of
the
general
mental
well-being
of
the
read-
ers,
does
emanate
from
the
daily
news-
paper.
There
have
been
myriad
discussions
of
the
specific
evils
and
shortcomings
of
the
contemporary
newspaper.
And
because
of
the
resentment
of
publish-
ers
and
the
frequent
emotional
animus
of
the
critic,
the
discussions
are
usu-
ally
acrimonious.
A
fresher
view
may
be
possible
if
we
are
not
engaged
in
the
subservience
of
contradiction,
the
re-
strictions
of
controversy.
PERSONAL
AND
IMPERSONAL
FORCES
Analysis
of
the
evolving
anatomy
of
the press
has
frequently
overemphasized
the
power
of
the
dominant
figures
in
the
history
of
journalism
to
innovate
and
has
overstated
their
responsibility
for
change.
Again,
impersonal
influ-
ences
have
been
stressed.
The
press
today
is
largely
the
product
of
imper-
sonal
forces-the
economics
of
publish-
ing,
the
over-all
competition,
and
the
markets
for
diverse
kinds
of
news
and
information.
But
the
imprint
of
the
decisions
of
the
great
journalists,
past
and
present,
is
also
found
in
today’s
newspaper.
And
although
the
imper-
sonal
pressures
are
stronger
today
than
1
From
the
Canons
of
Journalism
of
the
American
Society
of
Newspaper
Editors.
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