Page:History of the newspapers of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.djvu/217

SOME LAST WORDS. 175 a happening that will enrich the columns of the paper. The information is used, and next day a patron advises the reporter that it was an error. Further investigation shows that Mr. Jenkins had misunderstood the facts, and the reporter and his paper are blamed for being in- accurate. The lack of time prevents the verification from original sources of every item of news, and when it is given by such a man as Jenkins, no attempt is made usually to investigate further. As a rule, no reporter in a county like this one, deliberately distorts facts or attempts to do injustice to any one. The contrary is the rule. He often smoothes the rough comers off many an item, or suppresses something that has happened, that if published would cause a mother's heart to ache, or array neighbor against neighbor, or cause confusion in society. For work of this kind, and for the hundreds of helpful and good things that are published, credit is seldom given. For the articles that appear for the benefit of the people in church work, in societies, in business, and furthering the interests of the community, but little commendation is ever heard. The truth would be subserved, the columns of the papers made more reliable and valuable, and less complaint caused, if people would be frank with the reporters and give the precise facts. Everyfiiing that happens gets to some one's ears, and soon the gossips have it magnified beyond all recognition, while if the facts were given to the papers, the people would know the truth, and gossip would lose its power for evil. When a newspaper publishes an article that does injustice to any one, it is almost an invariable rule, to correct the error as soon as acquainted with the facts. In the hurry of preparing perhaps hundreds of items in a day, the chances are that some errors will be made, and then it is the part of wisdom for the aggrieved person not to make the air blue with condemning the paper, but go to the editor or reporter, and it will be set right.