Those items are the data of his
judgment, and news which men read without this personal criterion,
they judge by some other standard than their standard of accuracy.
They are dealing here with a subject matter which to them is
indistinguishable from fiction. The canon of truth cannot be applied.
They do not boggle over such news if it conforms to their stereotypes,
and they continue to read it if it interests them. [Footnote: Note, for
example, how absent is indignation in Mr. Upton Sinclair against
socialist papers, even those which are as malignantly unfair to
employers as certain of the papers cited by him are unfair to
radicals.]
2
There are newspapers, even in large cities, edited on the principle
that the readers wish to read about themselves. The theory is that if
enough people see their own names in the paper often enough, can read
about their weddings, funerals, sociables, foreign travels, lodge
meetings, school prizes, their fiftieth birthdays, their sixtieth
birthdays, their silver weddings, their outings and clambakes, they
will make a reliable circulation.
The classic formula for such a newspaper is contained in a letter
written by Horace Greeley on April 3, 1860, to "Friend Fletcher" who
was about to start a country newspaper: [Footnote: Cited, James Melvin
Lee, _The History of American Journalism,_ p. 405.]
"I. Begin with a clear conception that the subject of deepest interest
to an average human being is himself; next to that he is most
concerned about his neighbors.
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