and newspapers generally in the estimation of all who know that it is false. Stories recognized by the reader as untrue, either as a whole or in part, shake his confidence in the truth of all newspaper reports and lead him to discount all the news that he reads. Thus the value of the press as a source of reliable information is seriously impaired. From whatever point of view "faking" is regarded, therefore, it is indefensible. It hurts the guilty writer; it hurts the victim of "the fake"; it hurts the newspaper that publishes it; it hurts journalism generally.
The Dangers of Inaccuracy. Inaccuracy due to carelessness or failure to verify facts is less reprehensible because it is not deliberate, but it is nevertheless a form of misrepresentation that in its results may be as bad as "faking." An error made by a reporter in the initials or spelling of the name of a person charged with some crime has often injured an innocent man or woman whose name happened to be the same as the incorrect form of the real criminal's name. In one instance, a firm spent hundreds of dollars in sending out letters contradicting an erroneous newspaper report of its failure, the error having been due to the reporter's carelessness in confusing the solvent firm with an insolvent one engaged in the same business and having the same name except for different initials. In such cases the newspaper is put in an embarrassing position by its careless reporter, and is compelled to make a public retraction of his mistake. Even if he is not discharged, he is not likely thereafter to be entrusted with important assignments, and everything that he does will be carefully scrutinized until he has established a reputation for accuracy.
If reporters and correspondents remember that every story they write not only affects themselves, their news-
