Reading the Newspapers

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 28, 1911

Reading the Newspapers

It is to be deplored that so many people spend much precious time in poring over the columns of the daily newspapers. The daily paper has become a necessity in these days in which we live. It is a necessary medium of thought, of news, and of information. By it the world is brought into closer touch. But there is very much in the average newspaper which could be passed by without loss to the reader. Of this the Northwestern Christian Advocate of Nov. 15, 1911, says:—

Moreover, it is quite possible to waste a great deal of time even over a good newspaper. Not all that appears is of equal value. In general, the miscellany, which is given simply to “pad” the paper for advertising purposes, may be safely “read by title.” A glance at the head-lines of despatches, at the local news, at the editorial topics, gives the judicious reader in a very few moments the points of importance. Out of that he selects the parts to be read in detail, and his review is complete. A man should begrudge every moment over fifteen minutes spent upon the average daily paper.

The temper in which a man reads his newspaper is even more important than the time he gives to it. Nowhere is a habit of caution more imperative than here. The amount of misinformation one can acquire from the newspaper is appalling.

This is good counsel, and can be profitably heeded by all. If the time spent in poring over the papers, magazines, and story-books, which is worse than wasted in that it dulls the moral perception and creates a distaste for solid reading, were spent in storing the mind with useful information, how much might be gained by the youth of the present time. In the day of final accounts it will be found that the light, trashy literature of the present age has been responsible for its full share of criminality and moral degeneracy.