The Brass Check: A Study of American JournalismSinclair, Upton
General
The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism
Sinclair, Upton
Associated Press; Journalism -- United States; Press -- United States
Mr. Sinclair’s speech, while not unexpected by the committee in charge
of the arrangements, was not in keeping with the spirit of the meeting
and threw a damp blanket on the more radical element that had gathered
to pass resolutions and cheer the social revolution and the economic
disintegration of the Russian Empire.
The Sinclair speech, which bristled with loyal and patriotic
utterances, was sandwiched between an address by Michael Bey,
secretary to Prof. Lomonosoff of the Russian Mission, and the address
of Paul Jordan Smith.
Such was my stand during the war, as set forth in the news columns of
the “Times.” But when the Kaiser was overthrown, and I saw America’s war
for democracy being turned into a war to put down the first proletarian
government in history, I went back into the radical camp—and what
happened then? What happened was that instantly the news channels became
a concrete wall! If you know anything about my going back into the
radical camp, and the reasons therefor, you know it from the radical
press, and not from the capitalist press. Since the day when I announced
the change, the Associated Press has sent out _not one word_ about my
point of view or my utterances; while the “Los Angeles Times” goes
farther yet—the “Times” deliberately blinks the fact that I once “tossed
a wrench into the red Russian machine,” and embarks on a campaign to
make the public believe that I was disloyal during the war! You may find
this beyond believing; but I shall prove it to you. And so far
successful has it been that recently a high school principal in Los
Angeles, addressing the pupils of her school, referred to me as a
“notorious disloyalist and traitor”!
There are, of course, libel laws in California, so the “Times” dares not
come out fairly and squarely with the statement that I was disloyal
during the war. What it does is to scan my every word and action, and
report them with subtly chosen phrases which expose me to suspicion,
without making definite charges. Surely you must admit that such
calculated and systematic treachery on the part of an enormously rich
and powerful newspaper is of public importance. You will expect me to
prove my charge. Very well, here are two cases. Case one:
While I stood by the war, I didn’t stand by the Espionage act, and when
some of my friends were arrested as pacifists, and stood in danger of
ten or twenty years in jail, I went to the authorities and interceded,
and succeeded in having the cases settled on the basis of a plea of
guilty and the payment of fines. The “Times” knew what I was doing, and
was foaming at the mouth about it, so I was told by several of its
staff; but it dared not say anything, because I had won both the Federal
judge and the prosecuting authorities to my way of thinking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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