Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/122

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

varying personality of the German newspapers has been signifi

cantly described by Gowans;47 Massingham has pointed out the differing characteristics of the representatives of the London

press;48 Goldwin Smith has felicitously described the Saturday Review in saying that “ Its tone during its palmy days was epi curean and this was the source of its popularity in the circles by

which it was chiefly supported. It was said by us that whereas with the generation of the Reform Bill, everything had been new ,

everything had been true, and everything had been of the highest importance, with us nothing was new , nothing was true, and nothing was of any importance .” 49

Something of the personality of the editor himself or of his immediate ancestors may enter into the personality of the news paper and unconsciously color its general attitude towards ques tions of the day, - high courage and fearlessness must be the expected characteristic of one paper , conventionality and respect for established authority is looked for in another.

But the personality of the paper as a whole is not to be con fused with that of its editor, - it has a personality of its own

quite apart from that of any individual connected with it. It is the personality of the paper as a whole that undoubtedly appeals to that of its readers, or alienates them from it, even when the editor becomes the scapegoat; - Earl Gower wrote to C . K .

Sharpe under date of January 28 , 1809, " I hear that two hundred copies of the 'Edinburgh Review ' (have ) been countermanded in consequence of the democratical principles of Mr. Brougham in 47 A . L . Gowans, A Month's German Newspapers: Being representative extracts from those of the memorable month of December, 1914 . 48 H . W . Massingham , The London Daily Press, 1892.

The New York Nation in 1880 published an interesting series of nine articles on the characteristics of English journals at that time. — July 22 ,

1880— October 28 , 1880, vol. 31. A difference of opinion in regard to the characterization of the London Times was expressed by “ An Ex -Member of the ' Times' Staff ” in The Nation , September 9 , 1880, 31 : 185.

Somewhat later J. Reinach drew up " a guide to the French press ” in which he characterized for the English its leading representatives . — “ Pari sian Newspapers,” Nineteenth Century, September, 1882, 12: 347–360. A clever parody on the English press of the day is found in All the Papers. A Journalistic Revue (1914 ). 49 Reminiscences, p . 166 . W . L . Cook treats a cognate phrase of the subject in “ Character in Newspapers, ” University of Iowa Extension Bulletin , No. 62. 1920.