THE CORRUPTED PRESS by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 12, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 28.

THE CORRUPTED PRESS.

By Editor

THE great daily papers of the country pose as representatives of the people, but they are not. They are, like every other element in this world, instrumentalities for getting money and influence. In their haste for money they give volumes of matter that is neither news nor profitable instruction in any line. The news is garbled and perverted and exaggerated every day. Often it is sheer sensationalism.

The plea is that the people want it so; and, judging from the financial success of these institutions from popular patronage, the plea has some foundation. But the appetite had to be created first, and once created, it is hard to satiate. It is this perverted appetite that makes people tolerate—we dislike to say appreciate—the lowering of the one-time dignified editorial page to the level of the comic almanac. But the deliberate falsifying of facts in the interest of great corporations, that is so conspicuous in some of the boasted moulders of public opinion, is surely a sign and a cause of moral degeneracy in the world.

A case in point is that of Mr. Dalrymple, of Glasgow, Scotland, who was brought to Chicago by Mayor Dunn to give expert counsel in the matter of municipal operation of street cars. The corporation-owned journals in various cities have persistently represented Mr. Dalrymple as saying that while municipal ownership is a great success in Scotland,

it is impracticable in American cities. Notwithstanding his disclaimers of such utterances, and repetitions of his true sentiments, he deplores the fact that prominent influential journals continue to misconstrue his statements.