instances he does not attain a high degree of competency—or reward, for that matter. What university instruction and guidance in this respect can accomplish, the next twenty years will tell.
Moderation; Conservatism; Proportion
Section IV, "Moderation; Conservatism; Proportion" (page 285), is expressed in general terms, but it is not so moderate or conservative as it looks. Its meaning is clear. It declares against a certain type of newspaper well known especially in the larger cities of the country. It is hard to see how a typical "tabloid illustrated," or a street sale thriller, issuing a new edition every fifteen minutes with the latest item shouting down the more important news of half an hour before, could live under this rule. One Oregon newspaper, with admirable honesty and straightforwardness, entered a "reservation "against those parts of the code which might be understood to militate against efforts at direct leadership and the emotional concentration of public attention upon even minor evils until they are corrected. The case for the more fanatical sorts of journalism is, in fact, arguable if the paper is sound at heart and incorruptible and is actuated by a sound principle; but the Oregon editors have definitely declared for a more philosophical and proportioned presentation of news and opinion. As a matter of fact, Oregon is a state characterized by an almost entire absence of sensational journalism; and it is not greatly the loser by this fact.
Partisanship and Propaganda
Section V is devoted to "Partisanship; Propaganda" (page 285). Small countries like England and France, with dozens or scores of papers printed in a centrally located metropolis and
equally accessible throughout the country on the day of publication or the next morning, can afford a partisan press or special papers adapted to various social groups or classes. Such an arrangement has certain advantages of its own. But in America geography decrees that two or three papers must serve the entire population of a given area, rich and poor, ignorant and educated, Democrat and Republican, coarse and refined, conservative and radical. The American journal therefore is too much like a public service corporation to make partisanship, in the news at least, permissible. It is the American newspaper that has developed the "non-editorial" method of telling news facts, and which is struggling toward an unpartisan way of selecting news and governing emphasis—a much more difficult matter. It is for this attempt that the Oregon papers have declared themselves. As for propaganda, it is a snake that must somehow or other be scotched, or it will choke out much of the best opportunity in the profession.
Public Service and Social Policy
Section VI, "Public Service and Social Policy" (page 285), does not deny that the determination of "what the public wants "is and ever will be one of the great and puzzling problems of the journalist, but it does deny that the gratification of the public's whims is the foundation or only principle of journalism or that the newspaper editor is a mere merchant of information and entertainment. The public must have the facts; it must not be fooled or enticed to what the editor regards as right action; it must receive no prettier picture of the world than the facts justify; it is entitled to receive from the newspaper the factual basis on which it may, if it will, form opinions different from those of the editor, but the rules
