The Lyttelton Times. April 24, 1852. A NEW NEWSPAPER.
We have great pleasure in attracting the attention of the public to an advertisement in this paper, which promises the appearance of a second weekly journal in our settlement. Whether the " Guardian and Canterbury Advertiser" will pay as a pecuniary speculation,—whether this community is sufficiently wealthy to afford the luxury of two newspapers, or whether our own columns may become so distastefukio the public as to be supplanted by a more favoured rival, we forbear to speculate.* But we can assure the proprietors of the forthcoming journal, that by no one in this settlement, will its appearance be so heartily welcomed, as by ourselves. Apart from the pleasure which is afforded by so unmistakeable an evidence of the advancing prosperity of the settlement, the appearance of an additional voice for the expression of public opinion, will relieve us from the difficult position of endeavouring to do justice to the opinions of all parties in the community. In resigning the post we have hitherto occupied, we would, however, recal to the recollection of our readers the promises which we made at the commencement of our undertaking. In our first article we endeavoured to explain the difficulties which an Editor must encounter, in such a task. The great value of the public press, apart from . its utility as an organ of advertisement, consists in the evidence which it affords of the state of public feeling in a community; and we endeavoured to impress upon our readers, that this is a matter of the utmost importance in a country in which, as in this, the public press is absolutely the only mode of ascertaining o> expressing public opinion. An illustration of what we mean is afforded by an interesting extract from the London " Critic," which our readers -will find in our first page, containing a statistical account of the amount of circulation of each of the English Journals during the last few years, from which it may be inferred how accurately the state of parties, is measured by the amount of circulation enjoyed by their several organs. We did not conceal from ourselves, or from the public that the task we undertook, was an unsatisfactory one. One newspaper
cannot efficiently represent public opinion. If the Editor express one opinion, and the people hold another, it is true that the error ma.y be corrected by communications from individuals; but what is everybody's* businesg, is nobody's business ; and experience sbjiws that there is always a certain disin(Mluiation to discuss a question in the columns of a hostile journal. Still as far as we could, we have endeavoured to fulfil our promise ; nor has any communication been excluded from our pages, on the score of its opinions differing from our own. In the main, we believe, we have carried with us the assent of the mass of the community upon the few great questions which have occupied the public mmd — the questions of our relations with the Government and with the Association; and we are persuaded no public journal could have advocated any other policy with a shadow of support. Nevertheless we have always expressed, and we firmly believe, that anything which can tend to the elucidation of the intelligent opinion of the people, is a great public benefit, and inasmuch as the new journal may tend to that end, we welcome its appearance, and heartily wish it success. Its prospectus promises much; not more indeed, than a good newspaper ought to perform, though, perhaps, somewhat more than the great difficulties which attend journalism in a new country, will enable it 'to fulfil.
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Bibliographic details
Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 68, 24 April 1852, Page 4
Word Count
606The Lyttelton Times. April 24, 1852. A NEW NEWSPAPER. Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 68, 24 April 1852, Page 4
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