somewhat its standards, and it indicates the class of readers to which it appeals, and these factors must in turn affect its relia
bility . Its form , its size , the quality of the paper, the color of the ink , the width of the columns and the number of the columns to the page, the varieties of type used , the appearance of headlines,
the use or the lack of illustrations, the nature and the place of advertisements, the place of telegraphic news and of editorials, – all these and other external characteristics give a newspaper an
appearance that to a certain extent predicates its real character. The historian does not look for reliable information in a news
paper printed on paper of inferior quality , or on colored paper for special sheets, as pink paper for the sporting sheet; or in news
papers that use black ink that " smuts ;" red ink, or green ink conspicuously used about the seventeenth of March ; or in news
papers that have cheap pictures, inferior type, flaunting head lines, and sensationally displayed " features." These character istics are not simply an affront to good taste, - they are warnings that the columns of such newspapers presumably do not contain unimpeachable historical evidence. Slovenly or flaunting attire
usually indicates thatmental processes are untrustworthy.
The personality of a periodical is indicated not only by its ex ternal appearance but also by its beliefs and opinions. The news paper, like the individual, is radical or conservative in its tenden cies ; it is independent in the formation of its opinions and fearless in its expression of them , or it is evidently controlled by some out
side influence in the expression of its judgments ; if it is inde
pendent, it may be aggressively independent, or negatively inde pendent; in its spirit it is exclusive and aristocratic , or it is free
and democratic ; it has its political, religious, and economic con victions, or it may be a time-server, an opportunist , or a coward ;
it may be " up- to - the-minute" in its encouragement of a style of writing that borders on slang and its language may be not only infelicitous but even incorrect and ungrammatical, or its editorials may be couched in classic English and its reporters called sternly
to account if they sin againstci the literary canons of the office .
inted is inher abno in any tativen
are printed is in a state of siege are obviously not printed “ under normal conditions." Other abnormal features due to exceptional circumstances are manifestly excluded in any discussion of the external appearance of
a paper as conditioning its authoritativeness. ,
