For the young journalists who are not sure about the source of 'Comment is free, but facts are sacred,' the ultimate statement of values
for a free press. Here is the essay C P Scott wrote in 1921 to celebrate the centenary of the
Guardian and his 50th anniversary as editor.
--
A
hundred years is a long time; it is a long time even in the life of a
newspaper, and to look back on it is to take in not only a vast development in
the thing itself, but a great slice in the life of the nation, in the progress
and adjustment of the world. In the general development the newspaper, as an
institution, has played its part, and no small part, and the particular
newspaper with which I personally am concerned has also played its part, it is
to be hoped, not without some usefulness. I have had my share in it for a
little more than 50 years; I have been its responsible editor for only a few
months short of its last half-century; I remember vividly its 50th birthday; I
now have the happiness to share in the celebration of its 100th. I can
therefore speak of it with a certain intimacy of acquaintance. I have myself
been part of it and entered into its inner courts. That is perhaps a reason
why, on this occasion, I should write in my own name, as in some sort a
spectator, rather than in the name of the paper as a member of its working
staff.
In all living things there
must be a certain unity, a principle of vitality and growth. It is so with a
newspaper, and the more complete and clear this unity the more vigorous and
fruitful the growth. I ask myself what the paper stood for when first I knew
it, what it has stood for since and stands for now. A newspaper has two sides
to it. It is a business, like any other, and has to pay in the material sense
in order to live. But it is much more than a business; it is an institution; it
reflects and it influences the life of a whole community; it may affect even
wider destinies. It is, in its way, an instrument of government. It plays on
the minds and consciences of men. It may educate, stimulate, assist, or it may
do the opposite. It has, therefore, a moral as well as a material existence,
and its character and influence are in the main determined by the balance of
these two forces. It may make profit or power its first object, or it may
conceive itself as fulfilling a higher and more exacting function.
I think I may honestly say
that, from the day of its foundation, there has not been much doubt as to which
way the balance tipped as far as regards the conduct of the paper whose fine
tradition I inherited and which I have had the honour to serve through all my
working life. Had it not been so, personally, I could not have served it.
Character is a subtle affair, and has many shades and sides to it. It is not a
thing to be much talked about, but rather to be felt. It is the slow deposit of
past actions and ideals. It is for each man his most precious possession, and
so it is for that latest growth of time, the newspaper. Fundamentally it
implies honesty, cleanness, courage, fairness, a sense of duty to the reader
and the community. A newspaper is of necessity something of a monopoly, and its
first duty is to shun the temptations of monopoly. Its primary office is the
gathering of news. At the peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not
tainted. Neither in what it gives, nor in what it does not give, nor in the
mode of presentation must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is
free, but facts are sacred. "Propaganda", so called, by this
means is hateful. The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a
right to be heard. Comment also is justly subject to a self-imposed restraint.
It is well to be frank; it is even better to be fair. This is an ideal.
Achievement in such matters is hardly given to man. We can but try, ask pardon
for shortcomings, and there leave the matter.
But, granted a sufficiency of
grace, to what further conquests may we look, what purpose serve, what task
envisage? It is a large question, and cannot be fully answered. We are faced
with a new and enormous power and a growing one. Whither is the young giant
tending? What gifts does he bring? How will he exercise his privilege and
powers? What influence will he exercise on the minds of men and on our public life?
It cannot be pretended that an assured and entirely satisfactory answer can be
given to such questions. Experience is in some respects disquieting. The
development has not been all in the direction which we should most desire. One
of the virtues, perhaps almost the chief virtue, of a newspaper is its
independence. Whatever its position or character, at least it should have a
soul of its own. But the tendency of newspapers, as of other businesses, in
these days is towards amalgamation. In proportion, as the function of a
newspaper has developed and its organisation expanded, so have its costs
increased. The smaller newspapers have had a hard struggle; many of them have
disappeared. In their place we have great organisations controlling a whole
series of publications of various kinds and even of differing or opposing
politics. The process may be inevitable, but clearly there are drawbacks. As
organisation grows personality may tend to disappear. It is much to control one
newspaper well; it is perhaps beyond the reach of any man, or any body of men,
to control half a dozen with equal success. It is possible to exaggerate the
danger, for the public is not undiscerning. It recognises the authentic voices
of conscience and conviction when it finds them, and it has a shrewd intuition
of what to accept and what to discount.
This is a matter which in the
end must settle itself, and those who cherish the older ideal of a newspaper
need not be dismayed. They have only to make their papers good enough in order
to win, as well as to merit, success, and the resources of a newspaper are not
wholly measured in pounds, shillings, and pence. Of course the thing can only
be done by competence all round, and by that spirit of co-operation right
through the working staff which only a common ideal can inspire.
There are people who think you
can run a newspaper about as easily as you can poke a fire, and that knowledge,
training, and aptitude are superfluous endowments. There have even been
experiments on this assumption, and they have not met with success. There must
be competence, to start with, on the business side, just as there must be in
any large undertaking, but it is a mistake to suppose that the business side of
a paper should dominate, as sometimes happens, not without distressing
consequences. A newspaper, to be of value, should be a unity, and every part of
it should equally understand and respond to the purposes and ideals which
animate it. Between its two sides there should be a happy marriage, and editor
and business manager should march hand in hand, the first, be it well
understood, just an inch or two in advance. Of the staff, much the same thing
may be said. They should be a friendly company. They need not, of course, agree
on every point, but they should share in the general purpose and inheritance. A
paper is built up upon their common and successive labours, and their work
should never be task work, never merely dictated. They should be like a racing
boat's crew, pulling well together, each man doing his best because he likes
it, and with a common and glorious goal.
That is the path of
self-respect and pleasure; it is also the path of success. And what a work it
is! How multiform, how responsive to every need and every incident of life!
What illimitable possibilities of achievement and of excellence! People talk of
"journalese" as though a journalist were of necessity a pretentious
and sloppy writer; he may be, on the contrary, and very often is, one of the
best in the world. At least he should not be content to be much less. And then
the developments. Every year, almost every day, may see growth and fresh
accomplishments, and with a paper that is really alive, it not only may, but
does. Let anyone take a file of this paper, or for that matter any one of half
a dozen other papers, and compare its whole make-up and leading features today
with what they were five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and he will
realise how large has been the growth, how considerable the achievement. And
this is what makes the work of a newspaper worthy and interesting. It has so
many sides, it touches life at so many points, at every one there is such
possibility on improvement and excellence. To the man, whatever his place on
the paper, whether on the editorial or business, or even what may be regarded
as the mechanical side - this also vitally important in its place - nothing
should satisfy short of the best, and the best must always seem a little ahead
of the actual. It is here that ability counts and that character counts, and it
is on these that a newspaper, like every great undertaking, if it is to be
worthy of its power and duty, must rely.
