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
Crothers became very nervous about it and suggested several times to
me that he didn’t want Herrin attacked. I felt then that he feared
Herrin would expose the Wells money paid the paper, but in spite of
that power which Herrin held over us, I continued to go on with the
campaign against him.
Frequently Crothers would go into the printing office and look over
the headlines himself, and if he discovered Herrin’s name, would
insist on its being lifted out of the paper, but even with this
interference I managed to keep up the fight.
Finally, he told me flatly that he wanted the attacks on Herrin
stopped, the criticism of Herrin to cease. I replied frankly that it
was impossible for me to do that, that the entire reportorial force
was under full headway in the fight, and they were writing, all of
them, from the angle of the paper’s policy as it appeared to them, and
I could not go to each man and tell him that he must not criticise
Herrin.
“I can’t do it, Mr. Crothers, because I am ashamed for you. If it’s to
be done, you’ll have to do it yourself. I can not.”
He did not have the courage to do it, and it was never done. However,
all the time our opponents were trying to reach into the office. They
succeeded in getting the business manager at that time to undertake to
break me down, but I resisted all his efforts. The fight became more
burdensome, because it extended into the very building in which I
worked.
The political campaign waxed warmer, and Crothers demanded that Older
should support Herrin’s candidate; but Older refused.
He replied that he owned the “Bulletin,” and that it would support
whomever he chose. I grew very angry and excited and replied, “Yes,
what you say is perfectly true. You do own the ‘Bulletin,’ but you
don’t own me, and I won’t stand for Crocker.”
I walked out of the room, very angry, determined never to return. I
went to my wife and told her that I was through with the “Bulletin.”
She wanted to know the reason and I told her that Crothers had gone
back to his old methods. He was determined to get behind the candidate
who represented the men we had been fighting, and I could not bring
myself to continue in my position.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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