Our general policy has been that we must treat the Negro with the same consideration and tolerance as we give any other nationality. When he had those troubles here before [the riot of July, 1919] we had some editorials to that effect.
Since the date of the meeting mentioned, the American has consistently maintained this policy. Its editorials prior to that time had shown a spirit of tolerance and fairness. During the riot especially it published editorials designed to aid in the restoration of order.[89] It published perhaps the strongest of local newspaper editorials condemning the bombing of Negro homes.
Chicago Daily News.—The Chicago Daily News in its reference to Negroes used the expression "colored." Although it had sometimes published articles which were not representative, it had often given space and prominence to news concerning Negroes which presented them in a more favorable light. This was clearly manifested during the world-war. Its interest in a serious treatment of Negro affairs was shown in two special series of articles, the first by Junius B. Wood, the second by Carl Sandburg, both published later as booklets. These articles were well received and gave a necessary balance to the more usual publication of stories involving Negroes only in crimes. In a special column of the Daily News, "The Human Side of Things," many articles have been published relating to efforts for social welfare among Negroes.
Concerning the use of the racial designation in reporting crimes, Mr. Lawson explained that he considered it appropriate to mention race, as, for example, in giving an account of a lynching or the bombing of a Negro home. The racial designation, he believed, gave significance to the article. This consideration, he believed, balanced references in other cases. He said:
The newspaper point of view is to use the national, or professional, or racial distinction, the word giving the distinction, wherever it interprets the news that is being printed. There are some places where the character of the thing that is being told naturally suggests the name Negro, or the word Presbyterian, or Jew or Gentile or German or English, or Irish, and the newspaper never stops to suppress that. On the contrary it puts it in as interpreting fully the character of the news that is being told.
Concerning news items unnecessarily provoking race antagonism, as, for example, reports of speeches by a candidate for governor of Illinois on "White Supremacy," he thought that most of the papers as well as his own "played it down."
The statements of Mr. Lawson on other questions of policy are quoted:
Mr. Lawson: We regard items describing constructive work by Negroes or items indicating their advancement as better news than articles indicating degradation or criminality on their part. The Daily News endeavors to appeal to all readers alike. Instructions in news handling comprehend the employment of fairness, conservatism, and candor; special instructions based on these principles are issued to cover special cases. The terms "darky," "nigger," "coon," "shine," "wench," and "negress" are not employed by members of the staff in writing news articles and are rarely admitted to any class of matter. The style of the Daily News for many years has been to speak of the Negro as a colored man and the Negroes as colored people. When "Negro" is used it is rarely capitalized.
Commissioner: Is it objectionable?
Mr. Lawson: No, simply the style of the paper; typographic styles of paper vary. Some papers capitalize more than others. Some papers always spell the word "Bible" with a capital B. We don't. It simply follows the style of the paper. Dialects are very seldom employed in the news stories. They are not used to ridicule any race or nationality. The Daily News recognizes the importance and delicacy of the race problems in Chicago in its news columns as elsewhere in the paper. It aims to assist constructive movements, eliminate sensationalism, and quiet prejudice, while at the same time presenting truthfully such facts as may be of interest and proper to the reading public as a whole. I think, perhaps, I ought to emphasize that last thought to this extent: the newspaper impulse is to print the news, that is the controlling, dominating purpose of the newspaper mind, to print the news. But circumstances will at times suggest some particular expression of that impulse. Many times, as Mr. Curley told you, we don't print the news, we suppress it in the public interest.