R.E. Hays, C.C. Starcher, J.T. Waldo, A.G. Miller and others
left Monday to go to a camp on Bear Fork where they will spend three weeks
squirrel hunting.
None but the initiated knows the accuracy required in a printed
publication. The average reader who detects a misspelled word or a letter upside
down feels that his mission on earth is not accomplished until he has called the
attention of the overworked editor to this glaring defect. He does not notice
the thousands and tens of thousands of letters that are in place, or the
multitude of words that are correctly spelled, but his eagle eye is glued on the
one that is out of place. So it is with our deeds. Man does a thousand good
deeds and no attention is paid to him, but if he makes one mistake, it is
telegraphed all over the world. A lifetime may be spent building up a reputation
that may be wrecked in a moment. The world is a harsh critic, exacting to a
fault.
The editor of the Chronicle has been with the Bear Fork Hunting
Club for the past week or so and the office devil has been in charge during his
absence. So, if any of our utterances have offended anyone, we hope they will
wait until the editor comes home and lick him, not the devil.
The television networks have put up large sums of money to
finance an organization that is supposed to combat the growing attacks on
television. The attacks center around the theme that TV is bogged in mediocrity.
The networks claim that this is not so, and that television must
contain a variety of programming--to meet the wishes of all segments of the
population. They hope to counter some of the criticism with the new
organization, although it is specifically stated that criticism often serves a
purpose, and that the object of the new organization is not to discourage
constructive criticism.
Of course, there is some merit on both sides in the controversy.
Anyone who likes sports, for example, will readily concede that television has
filled a wonderful spot in bringing to the far away fan the tennis
championships, golf tournaments, bowl games, World Series, boxing matches, etc.
On the other side of the question is the charge of mediocrity in
the many dramas which fill the airwaves at night. There are those who believe
that the current fare is what Mr. and Mrs. John Doe desire. Others think that an
approach pitched to a higher intellectual average would not only be appreciated,
but enthusiastically welcomed and supported by the vast majority of the viewing
public.
We have never been convinced that presentations could not be
both educational and entertaining or inspiring and entertaining at the same
time. The usual crime portrayal, or the over-emphasis on moral rot and sleazy
plots, while possibly entertaining, are not necessarily the best entertainment.