a meeting in Tacoma, Saturday, October 16, with Robert Montgomery of The Puyallup Valley Tribune running things. Mr. Montgomery will have the assistance of a representative from the School of Journalism at the University.
Friday, October 15, district 9, composed of King and Kitsap, with fifty one papers, will have a meeting in Seattle over which H. M. Leslie of The Auburn Globe-Republican, will preside as chairman. Mr. Leslie is assured of sufficient assistance, as there is a probability that the entire staff of the School of Journalism will be present.
At the time this is written Secretary Hill says the response from all districts is highly satisfactory and all indications lead him to believe each of the sessions will come up to the scratch on promises made to their chairmen and reports to him in his official capacity.
Newspaper Ethics
By ROBERT W. JONES
Assistant Professor in Journalism, University of Washington
The newspaper is the rudder of the ship of state. History could be rewritten to show that wherever and whenever great events occur the influence of newspapers can be perceived. We of America have better newspapers than any other nation. We buy more papers per capita than any other nation.
The newspaper is the average man's reading matter. It is his school, his teacher, his leader. For all of us it is our point of contact with the rest of the world . The importance of the newspaper's service to humanity is self-evident. It is a service to the whole public, and a service rendered every day. Manifestly the ethics of such a profession are of great importance to us all.
Newspaper men themselves, some of the biggest and best of all time, have testified on the subject of newspaper ethics. When Alexander Hamilton founded The New York Evening Post, lie had some ideas on the subject. Hamilton was a man of reputation and renown, the friend of General Washington, and a journalist and lawyer of ability. The prospectus of the first issue of the Evening Post on November 16, 1801, said:
“The design of this paper is to diffuse among the people correct information on all interesting subjects, to inculcate just principles in religion, morals, and politics, and to cultivate a taste for sound literature.” This is the basis of good journalism now, as it was then.
An English View
Lord Northcliff, editor and owner of The London Times, was credited with overthrowing the Asquith cabinet. Northcliffe was charged with ulterior motives in his criticism of official incompetence in managing the war, among them a desire to be a member of the cabinet. Here is a statement from an interview with Lord Northcliffe in The New York Times:
"Newspapers can succeed only when they are newspapers and nothing else ; that is to say , when they print the news fully and fairly on the one hand,
