The Otago Guardian'

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 805, 23 May 1876, Page 7

The Otago Guardian'

The writer of "Notes" in the ' Timaru Herald' says :— " The 'Otago Guardian' used to be a talented and decorous paper ; indeed it would not be too much to say that at one time it was without exception, the best paper in New Zealand. It is, therefore, with great regret that we find 'it sinking rapidly into tbe position of the lowest amongst our leading morning papers. We have observed two leading articles in our contemporary's columns lately which are a disgrace to journalism ; one commenting on the political opinion expressed by tbe ' Southland Times/ and the other on the present management of the ' New Zealand Times.' In each of these the ' Guardian ' adopts the base and utterly unjustifiable course of striking at the editor of tbe paper personally. We need hardly tell our reader, who are ipso facto persumed to be decent folks, that it is prohibited by even the most lax rules of journalistic etiquette to identify any single person with the sentiments expressed in the editorial columns of any newspaper. The reason for this is obvious. Somebody must edit a paper, and be legally responsible for everything that appears in it ; but it does not follow at all that that person writes all that he publishes, or even that he concurs with the opinions ventilated through his paper. In any case he is supposed, by a general understanding, to be only the exponent of public feeling, whether he professes to represent the whole public or only a section of it. It is therefore manifestly unfair and cowardly in the extreme to drag up a man's private affairs in connection with his proceedings as editor of a newspaper. But this is exactly what the * Guardian ' has been doing. The remarks that appeared about the editor of the ' New Zealand Times ' were the worst ; for the c Guardian' there attacked some unfortunate man with whom we have literally no acquaintance, in a style which could not possibly be warranted by any circumstance ■whatever. The article was thoroughly low, jnean, and blackguardly. We do not know in the least who the editor of the ' New Zealand Times ' is ; but we may safely say that the assault which the ' Guardian ' made on him was a disgraceful and libellous outrage. The ' Guardian ' attacked the Southland editor more in his business than his literary character ; but the bad taste displayed was no less flagrant than in the former case. The 'Guardian' sneered at the 'Southland Times' because it had 'hungry' columns '. of advertisements of * Hollowav's Pills ' and • Weston's Magic Cures.' ; Oh dear, oh dear, if journalism is coming to this sort of thing, the sooner all respectable men retire from it the better. The latest instance of the total degradation -.& the ' <3uwUain ' w &c report which apr

pears in Tuesday's issue of Mdlle* lima de Murska's marriage. The horrid, snobbish paper is not content wit^ dragging the dear, charming singer before the public in respect to .a delicate matter, but it must needs Bend some blackguard to copy the registry of her marriage which it publishes in full, with very; free comments of its own. We cannot state very well in print what we think of such conduct ; but we are able so far to restrain our feelings as to say that, if Mdlle. de Murska's husband were to thrash the writer of that paragraph until he could not speak, no Bench of Magistrates would fine him a shilling."