* It is no fiction to say that in
many cases the actual trial is conducted in the columns of
yellow journals and the defendant acquitted or convicted
purely in accordance with an "editorial policy." Judges,
jurors, and attorneys are caricatured and flouted. There is
no evidence, how ever incompetent, improper, or prejudicial to
either side, excluded by the judge in a court of criminal
justice, that is not deliberately thrust under the noses of
the jury in flaring letters of red or purple the moment they
leave the court-room. The judge may charge one way in
accordance with the law of the land, while the editor charges
the same jury in double-leaded paragraphs with what
"unwritten" law may best suit the owner of his conscience and
his pen. "Contempt of court" in its original significance is
something known today only to the reader of text books.**
*Cf. "Sensational Journalism and the Law," in "Moral
Overstrain," by G.W. Alger.
**By the New York Penal Code section 143, an editor is only
guilty of contempt of court (a misdemeanor) if he publishes "a
false or grossly inaccurate report" of its proceedings.
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