EDITING A NEWSPAPER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1211, 15 May 1885, Page 4

EDITING A NEWSPAPER.

Editing a paper is a very nice business, and those who know nothing : about it consider it a very easy on*-. 11 we publish jokes people say we are rattle-headed, and it we omit jokes we ; are told we are an old fossil. If we publish original matter they blame us . for not giving selections, and if we publish selections folks say that we . are lazy for not writing something ■ they had not read in some other paper. Ignorant of what good editing is, people imagine the getting up of selected i matter to be the easiest thing in the ' world to do, whereas it is really the ’nicest work on a paper. If they find the editor with a scissors in hand, • they’re sure to say “ Eh! that’s the wa\ you get up original matter, eh ?” : accompanying their new and witty i questions with an idiotic wink or ; smile.

The facts arc that the interest, the morality, the variety and usefulness of a paper depend in no small degree upon its selected matter, and few men are capable ot the position who would not be able themselves to write many of the articles they select. A sensible editor desires considerable selected matter, because he knows that one mind cannot make as good a paper as five or six. If we give a man a com pllineni ary notice we are censured for being partial, and if we fail to give complimentary notices weaveiniormed that we are a hog. If we insert articles that please the ladies, the men are jealous, and if we do not cater to the wishes of the ladies, the paper in the dear ones’ opinion is not fit to make a bustle ol If we remain in our office and ats tend to our business, folks say we are too proud to mingle with our fellows ; but if we go out, they say we never at tend to our business. If we wear old clothes, it is insinuated that business is bad, and if we wear good ones they say we are extravagant. A newspaper and a newspaper ediloi that people don't talk about ai.d sometlrne.i abuse are rather poor concern'!. The men and business that an editor some'imes feels it a duty to defend at the risk of making enemies of another class, are often the first to show ingra titude The editor who exp cts to res ceive much charity or gratitude will soon find out his mistake; but he should go ahead and say and do what he conscientiously thinks right without regai d to the frowns or smiles.