Capturing the Press

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 7, 1908

Capturing the Press

In a recent number of the Freeman's Journal, one of the leading Roman Catholic papers of this country, there appeared a signed article relating to the use which might be made of the daily press in behalf of Roman Catholic interests. The following paragraph is taken from this article:—

Instead of devoting all our energies to building up a Catholic press, often against heavy odds and a serious handicap, why not devote a very little of our surplus energy to capturing or converting the secular press, at least to the extent of infusing into it more of Catholic truth? There never was a time when conditions were more favorable for this great work than to-day. In the first place the ever-increasing prestige and influence of the Catholic Church in this country, together with the many great problems looming up on the horizon, that can be solved only by the application of Christian principles; and in the second place, the fact that the great dailies are not only already thoroughly organized and magnificently equipped, but constitute for millions of readers the chief if not the only source of information, — surely make the prize well worth the effort.

It is an open secret that the influence of the Roman Catholic Church over the press of the country is already very great; and if the plan outlined by this writer is carried into execution, we may expect to see the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church made a still more prominent feature of the daily record of public events.