Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1915. SCHOOL FOR JOURNALISTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8204, 29 July 1915, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1915. SCHOOL FOR JOURNALISTS.

The very informative article, we publish to-day, from our travelling correspondent, on • thef-'sub-ject of University-trained journalists, holds special;interest for thoughtful readers of the -daily 'Press.. It is not strange that'the genesis of a practical school''of journalism should have been evolved, in America; The primary function" of a'newspaper is to record news, and to that essential object. -• the ■■'•'newspapers of' the United States; to; a greater extent; than■'. the.. Press: of 'any btheriGbun^try, dedicate ■■their news- columns.. Bizarre head-lines, ■ highly-colour-ed description, and an almost shrieking personal note are at once the weakness and the strength of daily journalism in America. These features natur- \ ally appeal more to the feverish, neurotic temperament of Americans than they do to the phlegmatc, easy-going- British. For instance, in the issue of the San Francisco " Call "»of July 2, there appears the following head-line in type three-quarters of an inch long: "Quiz Shows U.S. Demand Obeyed by Undersea; which, being interpreted, means that the German submarine that sank the

Leyland liner Armenian endeavoured to make an examination of the vessel before torpedoing her, in accordance with the terms of an American demand previously made; "quiz" is the vernacular for an inspection. Again, in the same issue is an account of a dinner given by American pressmen |to exrPresident Huerta, in whicjh' it is recorded that the Mexican leader drank six glasses of cognac. The fertile brain of the sub-editor created the folio-w----ing expressive, if to the uninitiated ambiguous, head-lines: "Huerta Dined by U.S. Scribes, Falls oft' Cart: Glad of it, he Says.-' One is perplexed to understand why a man should be glad of having fallen off a cart, but the text supplies the solution. It appears that Huerta had not taken" a drink of cognac for six months, and his resumption of the old habit of imbibing alcohol was regarded as a." fall off the waterwaggon".—i.e., the renunciation of water as a beverage in favour of cognac. . If it is the mission of the Missouri Schookof Journalism to endeavour to eradicate this style of journalism its success will no doubt largely depend upon the extent of the craze for sensationalism that exists amongst the great mass of the American public. The establishment of such a school in Few Zealand would be freighted with no difficulties of that nature to overcome.. We have as yet neither traditions nor. history; our shibboleths are of an age no longer than yesterday, and our beliefs rarely extend beyond to-morrow. The modern cravingis for a paper that can be read in the minimum of time by a public eternally in a hurry. This facthas materially conduced to the creation of a form of journalism that is a melange of the- divergent mental tastes of the community. Success in journalism cannot be obtained except by satisfying the public taste, and as this ranges' over a wide field the Press must provide reading that is alternately instructive, . .intellectual, entertaining,,and ephemeral. Thus it is.v actually the public iwho decide what they shall read, and the measure of a newspaper's success is the measure of the accuracy with which the editor gauges the public's predilections. It is possible, of course, on ''occasion to shape public. opinion. This is especially , the case on .political questions, but even on these" issues the public will, very often believe what tlioy-prefer to consider is the best view. The development of the influence of the Press has coinc^ed with > the development of £enjpcracy, and there has sprung up in these new outposts of the Empire a tendency on the part of journalism to exploit democracy for purposes not altogether in keeping with the high traditions of the- British Press. An admirable antidote for this tendency would be, the creation of a Chair of Journalism in our State University, It is just as essential in the interests of the State that the guardians of the liberties and rights of the people shall have an opportunity of qualifying in the highest branches of the profession, as that doctors and lawyers and school teachers shall be persons of! erudition and ability. We believe the Press of the Dominion would welcome the proposal, for the proprietors are, as a whole, rightly jealous of the average high standard of journalism in this country.