- 259 .
been made not only for the church , for school and college, for philanthropy of every form and description , for research in
scientific and social fields, but even hotels and private individuals have been endowed . An endowed newspaper, many have be lieved , would be independent of subscription lists, of advertisers, of party politics , and of all the millstones that hang on the neck
of the newspaper. Relieved of the necessity of printing only
" what will sell,” of suppressing what would discredit its adver tisers , of currying favor with localmagnates and party managers, the endowed newspaper would seem to occupy the serene heights
from which it could authoritatively survey society .
But while the endowed newspaper has been long, widely , and persistently advocated , there has been no consensus of opinion as to the nature of the endowed newspaper and there has been
much confusion in regard to what such a paper really means. Newspapers have been classed , as regards ownership , under
the three heads of proprietary or self-supported , endowed or subsidized , and state-supported.71 Under endowed or subsidized
newspapers and journals are classed many scientific and scholarly periodicals published at the expense of learned societies. But while these give the reports of scientific and technical discoveries , they give no news in the usual acceptance of the term and can not in any sense be considered newspapers. Others are given
extra support by those interested in the special cause the paper
was founded to promote, but such papers are thus not news papers, but rather organs of a propaganda, of a trade, or of a single idea , and often are excellent illustrations of missionary zeal in the cause of Church or State.72
“ A very urgent necessity — the reform of the newspaper press," had appealed to Goldwin Smith and he wrote to Gladstone,May 2 ,
1855, proposing “ a new Joint Stock Newspaper.” “ It should 71 E. E . Slosson, “ The Possibility of a University Newspaper,” The Independent, February 15 , 1912, 72 : 351 - 359. 72 The Northern Chronicle was started in Inverness in January , 1881, by shareholders who “ looked upon the money they put into the concern as
money dedicated to the purpose of giving the Highlands one organ of
Conservative opinion in affairs of State and Church ," and they would have been satisfied if it simply paid its own working expenses . Incidentally , its editor states , it paid five per cent. on the investment. - D . Campbell,
Reminiscences and Reflections of on Octogenarian Highlander, pp . 529- 531.
