Newspapers--A View From The Past

Finley Peter Dunne, a Chicago writer who wrote for the Chicago Times and Chicago Tribune in the late 19th century, gave the world some insightful musings on the purpose of newspapers in his nationally syndicated "Mr. Dooley in Peace and War." Here's a particularly good one, in the character and dialect of its Irish immigrant protagonist:

"Th newspaper does ivrything f'r us. It runs th' polis foorce an' th' banks, commands th' milishy, controls th' ligislachure, baptizes th' young, marries th' foolish, comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable, buries th' dead an' roasts thim aftherward"

Interesting words, especially in these days when the role of journalism is questioned so closely.