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of news competition, that the newspapers have almost abandoned the practice of publishing "extra" editions. No matter how fast they work, their news is old when it reaches the street.
There is also a less tangible factor which has contributed to the rapid public acceptance of radio news. That is the factor of trust and "believability." Radio stations and networks have rejected the idea of an editorial policy. They do not support the candidates of one political party as opposed to the other. On the other hand, almost every informed person knows that the Chicago Tribune is "agin" Roosevelt and the Chicago Sun is "for" him. Where is the person who can say station ABC is for one political candidate and station XYZ is "agin" him? Winchell as an individual spokesman may be for Roosevelt, Upton Close as an individual may be "agin" him; but they do not speak for the networks that provide their facilities, nor the individual stations through which they are heard.
This middle-of-the-road, dead-center approach of the radio industry to controversial issue seems to have established in the minds of the listeners the conviction that they can trust radio to be objective in its handling of the news. This has particular application to the straight newscast as opposed to the commentator. Since the stations have no editorial policy, the public harbors little suspicion that the news, as such, will be colored or flavored to emphasize one story and play down another.
in^ January, 1945
Few newspapers permit their editorial position to influence their coverage of news. As a matter of policy they will give full and accurate accounts of news developments to which they are directly opposed. But in the same issue they may turn the drumfire of editorial comment against a page one story, with the result that the reader begins to ask himself disturbing questions about the objectivity of the news coverage of that paper. Was the story on page one complete and honest? Was it deliberately selected to serve as a target for the editorial sharpshooters? The reader wonders, turns on his radio, hears the Orson Welles dramatization of the "War of the Worlds" and hustles his family into the storm cellar. Why? Because he believes it. He heard it on the radio and that's enough for him.
The late Wendell Willkie stressed the great reservoir of good will and confidence which the people of the world have in the United States. Yet he emphasized that unless our statesmen and our people assume the responsibility of helping to shape the destiny of the post-war world, unless the United States is willing to be a leader, that reservoir of good will will soon disappear.
There is a lesson for radio in the Willkie "One World" philosophy. Radio news has a tremendous reservoir of public good will and confidence. But unless radio newsmen bear with honesty and humility, the burden of stewardship which the public has placed upon them, that reservoir of good will can soon be empty.