Journals, Not Newspapers

Le Senateur de Jouvenal (editor of Le Matin) in the French Senate called the attention of his compatriots to the parlous state of France's source of foreign news. According to Edwin L. James, Paris correspondent, Premier Poincare has determined to ask the French Parliament for further subsidies for the news agencies.

The state of journalism in France is quite different from that in the United States. French journals and continental papers in general are not and do not call themselves newspapers. They deal not in news but in highly flavored comment. They represent some man, some group of men, some cause. Certain of them are openly subsidized by the Government. But the Government isn't the only keeper of the French press. It is said that any nation which wants to float a loan in France must first send checks to the French dailies. It is known that the Tzar's Government had on its payroll the most respectable Paris papers. And during the Versailles Conference it is asserted that the Italian Government subsidized several French journals to support its claim to Fiume.

To make matters worse the French papers make no real distinction between news matter and editorial matter. News despatches are seasoned to suit the taste of the editor or news agency, without the least compunction.

But it was not the fact of seasoning to which M. de Jouvenal and the French Premier objected. They objected not to flavoring matter but to the particular flavor which they are reduced to sipping.

On account of the high cost of cabling, the French Havas agency has decreased its news services from this side of the Atlantic. In addition, much of the German news reaching Paris has come from the Wolff Agency--German, in fact semi-officially the agency of the German Government. Moreover, the United Telegraph, a German agency with an English name, has, according to the French Senator, virtual monopoly in Central Europe where it spreads only Teutonized news. This is a very serious situation for the French, and they are prepared to spend considerable sums in disseminating their own brand of news. The idea of a non-partisan agency, such as the Associated Press, devoted purely to the gathering of news, does not enter into their conception.