London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
THE PRESS AS A PROFESSION.
Looking at the condition of writers for the Press in London at the end of the century, a Press man | |
13 | can feel only satisfaction. Forty or fifty years ago the saying went that A man was a barrister first and a journalist afterwards. Leader writing and reviewing paid the rent of chambers, while Briefless was waiting to prove his surname to be a misnomer. But you find the gentlemen of the long robe who have embraced journalism as a profession, keeping their names up in Lincoln's Inn and the Temple to avoid serving on juries, and not with any serious intention of obtaining clients amongst solicitors. And as for the tone of the Press, it is beyond reproach. A short while since certain accusations were made against newspaper writers that they preferred pecuniary profit to professional honour. The matter was taken up by a sub-committee of the London District of the Institute of Journalists, with the gratifying result that not a single member of the Institute could be found to have betrayed his trust. For it is a trust that the journalists hold. They are the guardians of the nation's honour. One is not expected to be very serious while compiling but yet I cannot refrain from expressing my delight that my father was a journalist, and that I have followed the same calling. There is nothing in the condition of London journalism at the close of the century which stultifies the time-honoured title of |
