into a favorable decision .16 The American press reported that equal suffrage for women in Sweden had been defeated, - a statement technically correct, but more unfavorable to the cause of suffrage for women than the facts themselves justified . It is possible that the report may have been colored by a prejudice against equal suffrage; it is also probable that it may be explained by ignorance of the character of the Swedish Parliament, by interference with cablegrams in time of war, by failure to realize
the interest in the question here, or by other less obvious ex planations. The press here, as in similar cases, seems entitled to the benefit of the doubt. Intimately connected with the suppression of the news, is the question of venality . The price of a newspaper , even with a large
subscription list, yields inadequate returns, and if the revenues derived from the advertising are small, other sources of income must be found. The newspaper that is inherently weak or dis
honest may yield to temptation ,as sometimes does the individual, and withhold news disadvantageous to its chief advertisers, print spurious news, or attempt a " sensation." Yet with the news paper, as with the individual, dishonest and even questionable practices work in the long run to its disadvantage, - not to put the question on higher grounds. It is impossible in the case of a
newspaper to conceal evidence of guilt for any length of time and ultimate disclosure is always sure. But while in normal times newspapers are not bought and sold
in the crude sense of the term , it is often said that editors, busi ness managers, and the upper class of journalists are well paid , that they meet at social clubs and associate with capitalists ,
bankers, and men of wealth , and that they therefore uncon sciously reflect the views of this class ; to this extentthey do not represent the masses of the people. But quite as unconsciously the newspaper is written for the masses and it appeals to them through cartoons, through choice of subject for interviews, re ports , special letters, and discussion of questions uppermost in the
public mind. The coal situation, conservation of food, school accommodations are subjects that respect neither social clubs nor tenements . 16 TheWoman Citizen , June 23 , 1917 .
