When by these tests an item is proved to be real news that demands
publication, it should be published regardless of a third consideration,
which is too often made a primary one: Will it please the persons
concerned? This consideration should have weight only in regard to the
manner of its statement. When the news is disagreeable to the parties
concerned, it should be told with all kindness and charity. Thus the
facts of a crime should be stated, who was arrested for it, etc.; but
there should be no positive statement of the guilt of the one arrested
until this has been legally proved. Many a publisher has had to pay
heavy damages because he has overlooked, or permitted to be published,
an unwarranted statement or opinion of a reporter or correspondent.
But even though there were no law against libel, the commandment against
bearing false witness holds in ethics.

The woman at home may also become a contributor to the newspaper. Her
first articles should be statements of fact on practical subjects, such
as the results of her own or some neighbor's experiments in a household
matter of general interest, or reminiscences of matters of local history
that happen to be of current interest. Thus when a new church is
erected, the history of the old one may be properly told. Here the
amateur journalist may practise herself in interviewing people.

After such a preparation as this, one may confidently enter the active
profession of journalism as a reporter, preferably upon the paper for
which she has been writing. Since in entering any profession opportunity
for improvement and advancement in it is the first consideration, the
young reporter should cheerfully accept the low salary that is paid
beginners. There is no discrimination on account of sex in the newspaper
world. Copy is paid for according to its amount and quality, regardless
of whether it was written by a woman or a man. Women labor here, as