"
Mr. Pulitzer paused and asked me if there was a glass of water on the
table--we were seated in his library--and after I had handed it to him
and he had drained it nearly to the bottom at one gulp, he resumed his
lecture. I give it in considerable detail, because it was the longest
speech he ever addressed to me, because he subsequently made me write it
out from memory and then read it to him, and because it was one of the
few occasions during my intercourse with him on which I was persuaded
beyond a doubt that he spoke with perfect frankness, without allowing
his words to be influenced by any outside considerations.
"As a matter of fact," he continued, "the criticisms you hear about the
American press are founded on a dislike for our headlines and for the
prominence we give to crime, to corruption in office, and to sensational
topics generally; the charge of inaccuracy is just thrown in to make it
look worse. I do not believe that one person in a thousand who attacks
the American press for being inaccurate has ever taken the trouble to
investigate the facts.
"Now about this matter of sensationalism: a newspaper should be
scrupulously accurate, it should be clean, it should avoid everything
salacious or suggestive, everything that could offend good taste or
lower the moral tone of its readers; but within these limits it is the
duty of a newspaper to print the news.
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