Note 49 — FOOTNOTES:

By the New York Penal Code § 143, an editor is only guilty of contempt of court (a misdemeanor) if he publishes "a false or grossly inaccurate report" of its proceedings. The most insidious, dangerous, offensive and prejudicial matter spread broadcast by the daily press does not relate to actual trials at all, but to matters entirely outside the record, such as what certain witnesses of either side could establish were they available, the "real" past and character of the defendant, etc. The New York Courts, under the present statute, are powerless to prevent this abuse. In Massachusetts half a dozen of our principal editors and "special writers" would have been locked up long ago to the betterment of the community and to the increase of respect for our courts of justice.