Hearst on Crime

Last week William Randolph Hearst, titular head of many a potent U. S. newspaper, discussed in Editor & Publisher the ethics of crime reporting. After estimating that "the New York Times, which is a very thorough paper, printed more words on the Snyder trial than any other newspaper in New York," Mr. Hearst entered upon a comparison between the newspaper and the author: "There are various elements of interest in the fiction stories which appear in books and on the stage, and in the fact stories which appear in newspapers--such as romance, adventure, melodrama, comedy and tragedy. . . . "In dealing with all of these elements of interest, all of these facts of life, the editor, however, must exercise good taste. . . . just as the playwright or the novelist must. "And as a matter of plain fact, the editor generally exercises, and should exercise, and in fact must exercise, more discrimination than the novelist or the playwright, because he has a larger and more varied audience; and because his product goes into the home, and to all members of the family. . . . "Such a great and all-pervading influence must be kept wholesome and beneficial; in fact, it must even be exercised in a way to compel literature and the drama also to be wholesome and beneficial--as far as may be reasonable, within the more restricted limits of their narrower spheres." Taking up the question of whether the publication of crime news prevents or incites crime, Mr. Hearst concluded that it had very little effect either way. Crime news is printed, said Mr. Hearst, because "whatever reflects life truthfully must deal with the harsh and cruel things in life as well as with the sweet and lovely things." All in all, Mr. Hearst felt that the newspaper reader blessed with "the reasoning mind" would be led to believe, having read the crime news of the day, "that 'honesty is the best policy' and "that 'the wages of sin is death' . . . .

"I do not know," admitted Mr. Hearst, "what proportion of the circulation of a newspaper may be attributed to the publication of crime news. . . ." Mr. Hearst was recently elected honorary president of the American Crime Study Commission, an organization of which Bradford Merrill, general manager of the Hearst newspapers, is secretary. Addressing the Commission, Mr. Hearst said that the U. S. penal system is "built upon the sand, founded upon the basis of force and violence instead of on the basis of Christian care of our fellow men."