Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 142 Can’t Let Go
Subtitle of this chapter: The Twilight of Conscientious Media
Captain Aiden rushed back to the New York Metropolitan Police Department in a dusty state. He came back to attend an emergency meeting. The theme of this meeting was naturally our Master Yuan, and the participants were playing the same bridge table as last time.
The federal prosecutor asked, "Captain, we are waiting for you. How is the Chinese man?"
General ZOD sighed and shook his head, "Not very good. Attorney Williams, the doctor said the suspect is likely suffering from sepsis."
"septicemia?!"
The three people present cried out in surprise at the same time, their faces also turned very ugly. This cooked duck is about to fly away... and go to heaven, who can feel good about it?
Among them, Mr. Harold Williams had the most unnatural expression because he was actually trying to hold back his laughter.
The federal attorney general glanced at the New York police commissioner and the district attorney and laughed in his heart, "I asked you to fight, and you ended up with a death!"
Hahaha……
But on the surface, he sighed deeply, and said with a sense of "helplessness": "It seems that I have to give up trying to break through this Chinese..."
"Forget it?! Why forget it? How can we forget it? If we really have to forget it, what should we do..." The handsome prosecutor Ramsey almost spoke out his true feelings in a hurry.
However, he was a seasoned professional politician, so he immediately changed his tone and said, "How are we going to explain this to the citizens of New York? This is definitely not an option!"
Attorney General Williams pointed to a pile of newspapers on the table and said earnestly, "Donald, I understand your feelings. But public opinion is not favorable to us now, so why not just forget it..."
"Public opinion?!" The district attorney's handsome face was full of anger. He turned his head and shouted, "What does public opinion mean..."
Well, he came to his senses immediately and changed his words again: "How can public opinion be unfavorable? Apart from Le Monde, a newspaper that is about to become obsolete, there are only a few tabloids complaining about it. The New York Times and the Washington Post didn't say anything."
This is indeed the case. In 1920, there was no Internet or self-media, not even radio or television. It really took some time for public opinion to ferment.
However, Prosecutor Ramsey was in a state of confusion and had no idea what to do, so he had to look at Director Leo.
The old man coughed and said, "Gentlemen, this matter really cannot be let go like this."
He said in a deep voice: "Even if that Chinese man is really dead, we can't let him go!"
The other three were not stupid, and they understood immediately after hearing this. Just like what the old fox said, letting the Chinese go meant that they were wrong, and there was no such thing as officials admitting their mistakes on their own initiative.
The district attorney had a ferocious expression on his handsome face, and said viciously, "You're right, we can't let him go!"
"I object, you can't post it!"
While federal and New York judicial officials were meeting, a less intense debate was taking place in the conference room of Le Monde.
The person who shouted loudly was a senior political reporter of the newspaper, and what he opposed to publishing was naturally Yuan Yanshu's article "Several Questions Concerning William II".
A senior reporter who was about the same age as the editor-in-chief said loudly: "I admit that what the Chinese said does make some sense. But attacking our allies and defending America's enemies at the same time is really too much!"
After he finished speaking, all the reporters present looked at their editor-in-chief, Mr. Pulitzer. But the old man said nothing, instead he was looking out the window, holding his pipe, as if he had not heard anything at all.
Emma Pulitzer looked at her absent-minded father, then turned around and mustered up the courage to retort: "We are just publishing his article, which does not mean we agree with his point of view."
The old reporter would naturally not be so rude to this "young lady".
He explained amiably, "Ms. Pulitzer, if you only publish this one article, I wouldn't object. But we just published his article, 'The Origin and Development of the Differences between the Democratic Party's Top Leaders and the American People', yesterday. If we continue to publish this Chinese article today, this..."
"The tendency is so obvious!"
In 1783, the first daily newspaper in the United States, the Philadelphia Journal, began to be published. At that time, various newspapers were basically political publications affiliated with parties.
Of course, political parties alone could not support so many newspapers. American newspapers gradually developed in the direction of entertainment and daily life. So in the mid-eighteenth century, there appeared profitable newspapers such as the four major tabloids and various city dailies that published gossip.
The market-oriented management mode gave newspapers an independent economic status and freed them from the constraints of political groups to a certain extent. The progressivism that emerged in the late 19th century also influenced more and more American intellectuals.
So at the beginning of the 20th century, a group of journalists and writers emerged in the newspaper industry who took it as their mission to expose social evils. They launched the famous "Muckraking Movement."
This movement not only exposed the bribery, corruption and fraud of politicians, but also pointed out the crimes of the federal government and local self-government institutions, and the corruption of the legislative bodies. In addition to the government, they did not let go of the capitalists, not only reporting on the appalling working conditions of large industrial enterprises, but also not hiding the phenomenon that newspapers and magazines sold themselves to monopoly capital.
The most famous of these are Lincoln Stephens's The Shame of the City and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle》.
By 1920, all major newspapers were neutral. It was rare to see a newspaper that took sides as blatantly as Le Monde. But this good time was not going to last. Because like all free competition, it eventually became a monopoly, and the independent American news media was approaching its twilight years.
Of course, the sun was still shining brightly at dusk, so it's no wonder that this veteran political reporter expressed his dissatisfaction.
But no matter how dissatisfied he was, it was useless. Like other mainstream newspapers at the time, Le Monde adopted the editor-in-chief responsibility system. Whether to publish the article or not was still up to Herbert Pulitzer.
“Send it…”
The old man exhaled a puff of smoke and spoke softly.
His daughter, who was sitting next to him, didn't hear clearly, so she asked, "Dad...um, Mr. Editor-in-Chief, what did you say?"
"I say..." Mr. Pulitzer raised his voice a little, "Send it!"
However, some reporters objected: "But..."
The editor-in-chief of Le Monde looked serious, and his eyes shone brightly as he swept over the reporters present. His subordinates were also shocked by this look.
Well, Mr. Pulitzer is the heir of the "newspaper tyrant" after all. He does have a good temper and is not ambitious, but that doesn't mean he is a sick cat that won't show off its power.
“Dang! Dang!”
He tapped his pipe vigorously on the marble ashtray and said in a calm, unhurried, yet indisputable tone: "I say publish, so publish!"
