MARKET PAGE IN COUNTRY PAPERS
By HYMAN H. COHEN, Market Editor, Oregon Journal
FOR years I have tried to prevail upon many of the small city and country editors to establish a market page, but for some reason or other few have accepted my invitation.
Market pages as they have been conducted by some, are a mere space-waster; but a real market page, one that is always on the job, is almost indispensable to those that delve into the marts of trade.
This is a big contract, for almost everyone comes into contact with one of the marts of trade.
For the small city daily it would be impossible to conduct a market page on as elaborate a scale as the big city dailies, but to the readers of the small city publication the market page can be made just as valuable.
Market pages should be conducted to furnish information of vital importance to the agricultural and even manufacturing industries of a community. For instance, the newspaper in a mining community should have information of the metal markets and should be an authority upon all matters pertaining to that industry. The doings of the stock markets in relation to the mining and metal shares as well as industries which utilize these commodities, should be carefully chronicled.
In communities where the growing of hops is the big interest of producers, the hop market and its allied industries should be “played” to the limit.
The same is true of livestock sections, or in fact all sections which specialize in any one or more commodities. Publications in these districts should always have the first news of interest to the people. Accuracy is essential in all news, but more so in market reports than in the ordinary run of news. Market reports touch every one’s pocket in some way, therefore they should not only be interesting but accurate..
In wheat-growing sections I have noted a dearth of news regarding the crops in the very papers which cater to the producers of grain. I have looked in vain for news of the wheat crop even in papers that consider themselves very good small city publications.
Personally I have always tried to tell the truth in market reports. I have al ways felt that the subscriber who takes the Journal, makes the paper his agent to furnish news of certain commodities he is interested in. The paper would not be a good agent unless it furnished him the facts in each case, as it sees them.
"Why Not the Others?"
Oregon Exchanges has received from Leslie Harrison, manager of the Tillamook Headlight, a request for the experience of Oregon newspapermen on a matter of journalistic ethical policy:
“One proposition has come up here lately,” writes Mr. Harrison, “on which we would like some opinions expressed, to wit:
“The Headlight recently undertook to take some steps to partly clean the moral conditions of this city and in doing so published accounts of several prominent people here getting themselves into scrapes. We received much comment of all kinds. Some readers claim that no good can be accomplished by publishing such things, while others told us to go to it. The latter seem to be in the majority. One thing is sure; the stories certainly helped the 'box office,' for we sold all the papers we could turn out.
“What we would like to learn is, whether other papers have tried the same thing, and the results obtained. We like to think that we are doing the community some good by these stories. The underdog is always written up. Why not the others ?”
