New York City papers one day contained an elaborate de tailed account of the marriage of a wealthy young man in a
neighboring city . The local papers copied the account, - to
description had been written by the young man himself, " as a joke,” he explained . Jesting in its turn is next ofkin to deliberate hoaxing, an ex cellent illustration of this being the mass of reports in connection
with Dr. F . A . Cook's reputed discovery of the North Pole. Other errors are to be charged to the plain carelessness of re porters. One recently stated that at a public dinner “ papers were read by Mr. A . and Miss B . ” In fact, after-dinner speeches were made by Mrs. A . and Miss B . Another reports the connection of
Professor Maria Mitchell with Vassar College as being that of a
“ model student,” calls the chairman of a college faculty elected by themselves “ the acting president,” reports a newly -appointed
professor as " returning after a year 's leave of absence, ” and states that a college president who had been in office six months
and in that time had delivered many public addresses “ delivered yesterday a speech in public for the first time since becoming president. ” There is much in this type of reporter that seemsto
justify the caustic description given by G . B . Shaw of one of his characters: " A cheerful, affable young man who is disabled for ordinary business pursuits by a congenital erroneousness which renders
him incapable of describing accurately anything he sees, or under standing or reporting accurately anything he hears. As the only
employment in which these defects do not matter is journalism (for a newspaper , nothaving to act on its description and reports , but only to sell them to idly curious people , has nothing but
honor to lose by inaccuracy and unveracity ) he has perforce become a journalist.” 6 The love of sensation explains many misstatements. A New
York paper of June 16 , 1910 , announced " the members of the graduating class of X . College to the numbers of 118 occupied seats in the orchestra of the Academy of Music last night and enjoyed the production given . This was one of the features of G . B . Shaw , The Doctor's Dilemm
