Image 6 of Okolona messenger (Okolona, Miss.), March 18, 1903
THE DUTY OP A NEWSPAPER Unfavorable criticisms of news papers are frequently made on the ground that they misrepresent things That is true They Ire qnently do But the newspaper which is trying faithfully to give the reading public the news makes remarkably few mistakes when it is considered how many state ments it is called upon to make in eachissue Those who are in the habit of charging inaccuracy in newspapers should remember two things First the average news paper makes certainly not less than ten thousand statements a year If none of these were er roneous or slightly misleading it would be astounding And sec ondly it is customary for one mis take in a newspaper to provoke more criticism than the nine thousand ninehundred and nine tynine correct statements And this very fact is much in the newspapers favor If the mis takes were so common they would not excite so much comment The record for accuracy and truth as held by a standard newspaper of good repute and enjoying a wide circulation among aa intelligent clientalle would put to blush any stump speaker platform lecturer or magazine lecturer in the land We once knew of a