Dr. Ab.,hflIlOIi is i"timately fl/miliar with 6 inside fvorki'llfl of the British 1)rr.:<~, h,wing SpOilt mOllY ywrs of his jourllalistic care r ill Ellylulld.
THE BRITISH PRESS
By K. H. AI3 'HAGE~
HE Brit,ish press, as we see it today, -there were in London two daily papers differs in lUany ways from the press with circulations of o"er 2 millions, four T of the countries of the European others with roughly I! millions ach, and {'ont.inent., t.he principal ditIerence being ono approaching the 1 million mark. that in (:rcat Britain t.he prcss as a whole has lost it character of an organ of "NATIONAL" NEWSPAPI':RS national politics. This does not mean Kotwithstanding its se"e/\ or eight that there are no political newspapers in million inhabitants, London can naturally the Briti h Isles or that the majority of nut absorb these enormOllil {'irculations. the pnpcrs do not represent political This leads us to an interesting phenome views of a kind. But the main source non, viz., that the big London dailies cater of the forces moving the British press is for the news demands not only of tbe to be found nowadays not iu the political metropolis but of the whole of the United int.cntions of the owners or controlling Kingdom. The London morning p:tpers interests of most of the newspapers, but are called "national newspapers," a. nAme in t.he openly admitted intention of earn which does not by any meallS imply a ing money by means of newspaper pub national or nationalist policy on the part lishing. The press in Great Britain has of these papers but only stresses their become primarily a busine s propo ition, nation-wido distribution. This distribu it is regarded as an "industry." tion requires a highly developed trans Way of making money by newspaper port system by rail, roau, and ship. publishing can in the final analysis be This system has been organized on a. reduced to two factors: circulation and collective basis by the Newspaper Pro advertisement.s. It is the latter which pl'ietors' Association, which runs special really bring in the money, as the low newspaper trains and motor trucks, en retail price of one penny cannot even gages distribution agents in big and small cover the cost of paper and printing, let localities, etc., the members of the As alone editorial and overhead expenses. sociation sharing in tho cost of the But the attraction of a jOlunal to poten organization according to the number of tial ad"ertisers depends on the quantity copies of their journals handled by the and quality of its readers, and in the services of the Association. case of mass-production goods it is chiefly In spite of the fact that all the mem the number of the readers that counts. bers compete with eat'b other, friction haA Circulation is therefore an essential prem occurred very rarely. Among th ex ise of gaining advert,isement.. The ever ceptions may be mentioned the case of lasting Oattie for circulation dominates the Sunday Referee a few years before the new paper life of Creat Britain. It t.he outbreak of the present war. The has led to the elimination of many once paper was at that time owned by the famous newspapers and to the riso of film magnate Isidore Ostrer, who trien to jourmdtl with Cil'cuIntioDs which would advertise his journal by mea.ns of an ha'~e b 'n regarded as fantastic less than extensive broadc~tillg program, on the a generat.ion a o. In 19:.19- ·i.nce the American model, in Engli h from Radio outbreak of \Vorld \Var l[ no exa t cir Lu_xembul'g, rented by him for t.his pur culation figw'es have oeen maue available puse. Th~ comoirmtion of radio and 406 THE XXth CENTURY newspaper was regarded by the majority thaJl one edition every da.y. Although of the newspaper proprietors as a threat a morning papcr and an evening paper to the interests of the pres. in general may very often be published by the and, as Ostrer refused to yield, the As same firm, both paper will have their sociation excluded the Sunday Referee sepu,rate identities, usuaUy not only in from its transport and distribution serv name but also in character and in editorial ices. The circulation of the paper staff (although it happens that some of neyer very important-dwindled rapidly, tho collaborators do work for several and in the end Ostrer sold the paper, papers published by the same firm). which was then amalgaml1,ted with the Generally speaking, the morning papers Sunday Chronicle belonging to the Allied carry the weightier stuff. Foreign and Newspapers group. imperial news as well as the morc im As another instance of the power portant items of internal politics will, as of th~ Newspaper Proprietors' As a rule, be dealt with in their columns. sociation it may be mentioned that, up The evening papers, although they, too, to the time of the Anglo-Soviet alliance contain "hot" political news, if and as in 1941, it consistently refused to admit far as such is available, specialize in re the only Communist daily, the Daily ports on sports events, local atfair!', and Worker, to its membership and services, social gossip. Many of them also cater thus making the distribution of the Com for the entertainment of various das es munist paper extremely difl'icult and of readers by publishing short stories, expensive. serialized novels, book reviews, etc. The evening papers published in London serve So the newspaper reader in all of the metropolis and its surrounding.' only, Great Britain from Land's End to John thus leaving the field in the province, in O'Groats, and in tbe bigger cities of the evening, to local journals. Compared Northern Ireland, finds his London paper with seven popuJal' morning papers with on his breakfast table; 111'ld the priee is an aggrega.te daily circulation (in 1939) the i'ame everywhere, one penny in the of about 11 millions, we find only three case of the popular daily papers, twopence evening paper::; in the metropoli;; witb a for the voluminous Sunday papers with ci.rcllh~tion of together SOllle It millions. 10 to 32 pages of text.
PROVIKClAL AND EVE~L.'W JOURNALS Newspllper publishing of such scope and size requires enormous capital. In Only comparat,ively few provincial ~n article published in the Daily 1'elegraph morning papers of any importance have in May 1939, Lord Camrose, the control succeeded in survh7"ing the competition ling shareholder of the paper, estimated of the "national" morning papers centered the value of the land, buildings, and in London. This is understandable, as plant belonging to the Daily Telegraph the enormou circulations allow the latter Company-all of which he describes as to engage the services of first-cia" s edi necessary for the actual production of torird stafJs and news services against the paper-at, £1,300,000, adding that which pro\'ineial papers of moderate cir the capital assets of the four so-called culation and means cannot hope to "popular" ne\\'spapers (those with cir ('Olllpete succcssfuLly. Those morning culations of It to over 2 millions) are papers in the provinces which did sUl"vive proba.bly very much more. The majority 0\0\'0 their further ex istence \\itll few of the big London papers are publisrlCd exceptions to the fact that they were by public companies whose preference takell over by big llewspa.pol.' combines sba.res are widely distributed in the wwcb arc able to supply them with public, while a controlling interest in the articlE:'~ lWei report.s comptuable ill quality ordinary stock is usually in the hands of to t hose of t.he London press. one or a few persons who direct the The British pre'S8 docs not have the editorial policy of t,he paper or pap~rs institution of papers published in more cOLlcerned. THE BRITISH l'HE,'S ·107
NEW,PAPER AXD POLlTIC ti_er~' circle enforcpc! an emhar 0 on all reports about thr ncti\'itic,.. ot" the Britif;h The bu in eham tel' of most, of t hc l'nion of Fa.cists led by :-iiI' 0 'wRld Rritish n w, pap 'rs find p<.Lrticularly of )lo,'leY and secured a cOlllpll'te \'ietor)' th 'popular" t1aili '. makes it cxtr mely O\'cr Lord ,otherrll re whell ill 1934 the difficult if not ill1pu~"iIJIl' for tile mcn at J the helm to follow a con;
who write fm the Conservative papers, l11ent,~ to split the atom and to Sir Oliver even many of those who write the pro Lodge's opinions on ~piritualism or a Conservative editoriaLs and leading arti new theory of numerology, everything cles, arc in prinLte life Radic::als or Social hal' been written up by one ne,\'spaper ist. ~lost of them will admit this quite or another in a more or less scnsat,ion frankly and without any qualms. To alizing way al' a "stunt." Usually some them their journalistic prufession is com men of science with great names can be parable to a uarristl.:r·s brief. "Ry "up found who, for feel' running easily into porting t.he policy of Mr. BaLdwin in the thousands of pounds, will set the ball leadillg artirle of t,lle Dail!J So-ulid-So, I ro~ling by an article or two. In a nation identi(v Illyself just as little with Bald where everybody is constantly wonyi.lg win a, for instance Sir William .J, ,,., about his or her digestion (the troubles [a famous barrister] identifies himself being mainly clue to antiquated cooking per::;onally with the Illurderer he has methods) questions of bcUer and health been defending at the Old Bailey last ier nonrishment can be successfully week," said one leading British journalist u<'ed as "stunts." Not·, many years ago, some years ago when asked about this one of the leading London papers was puzzling state of atlau·s. able to sustain its editorial policy for about two months by a campaign in If politics hold second or third rank favor of ..vholemcal bread of a particular among the subjects dealt with by the kind, with t.ho additional benefit of f'e popular press of Great Britain, what curing thereby very considcrable advt'r then arc the determining factors of its tisu1g cont,racts from the milling and polic~r? eclitorial In the first place, the haking combines producing the whole modern British newspapers, following meal and the bread thus boosted. United States models, offer their readers quid~ a very and ", nappy" new;; service, Politics, as we have said above, occupy ,'ociety gossip, too, pla,ys an important a back seat among the subjeets detpr part, becauso the Engli,"lllnan of all mining the edit'orial policy of t.he popular ('Ia.ses takes an interest, difficult for preRs in Grcnt Britain. The fact that, outsiders to understand, in the activitie_", cluru1g the ye,Ll':; leading 1;p to the pres an.1lI:'ement~ the ways of life, and of his ent war, foreign politics were featund , social bet.t-crs." Thinlly, scandal more and more in British newspapers particularly scandal with a "s/'xy" under f'ccms to give t,he lie to this stat,ement. tone-and crime take up a very hu'ge But we can safely say that such is not space U1 ' the popular newspapers. The t,he Case. Whoever takes the troubl~ proceedings of the criminal and divorce to look up the old files of such papers as comts are reported extensively. the Daily M w:l and the Daily E~'pre88 of 1935 1939, STUNTS tho years t.o will tind there very few attempts at a serious discussion Finally, in order to captivate the of t.he problems of foreign policy. The readers iUHI t.hereby secure the circulation anti-Fascist iLnd later the anti-Hitler for sOll1e longer period than j llst t.lle campaigns wore run as stunts, one mllY cmrent week, the editor of a popular say us "'Hlper-stunts," initia.ted by the paper must again and again wrack his papers aft.cr politicn1 parties and organi brain to find some Hew "stunt" which :tations all over t,he country had created his jom'nal can run for some time- until the conditions under which these st.unts t,he subject is completely exhaust,ed and could be run 6uccesl'fully for much longer ~L new "stunt" must he thought up. periods than any st.unt. in the past, the P 'eudoscientiflc subjects which can be more so bec;.mse t.he hoctic developments presented so as to capture the imagination and ch:lIlges of the political picturo in of simple mUlcls are favorite '·stunts." ELU'ope and the worlel at large crrated a From Einstein's theory of'relativitv to new background almost every day on the latest tlevclopmen"ts in the eX"l)(:'ri- which the olel story could pasil}' be THE UHITISH PHES. 409
writ.n up aain 'lIlt1 ag:un IJl a IIIW sensational way. the \ralt'r f:llllily. whic'h had ('\\"W'e! the jlaper flli' s('\'(~1'H1 ,t!l'nCml ions, wn. forced TUE co::-< C1E:-;CE OF TJl8 NATIO:\" uy [inandal (' nsiderations to sell out to Lurd ~orthcline. After the llltter's All tfla.t has uoen said ,,0 far refers to death, pO\\'('rflll eircles succeeded ill prc wllat we hn,\'e called th(· "popular press" ventin" ~orthdiffe's broth 'I' Lord Hother of Great Britaill. In a. coumrv lik 111 're frum acqllu'ill" his late broth'r's Grat Britain, t.bere Illll>;t ouviou'sly be huldill'" in Th' Tillle Pliblishillg Com eriou political organ:, too, in ,;'hieh pany. ,'inee theil, the illdependenl polic\' Ih di. CII ",ioll of political problcm" i of the euilor-ill-chiC'f has bcen gUlll'Hnteed c/l.l'l'ied OIl. They do cxist, but. they are by the furlUa tioll of It budy of tru. Ices in few ill numu r, at lea. t a' far u~ the which, among others, tlte L'nivcrsitie' of cl<.ily pr "S i' concerned. Among the Oxfurd and l'allluridge, the Church of dailie of polit,icul importallcc. two ILrc Ell"Ian I, and the (;o\"crnment ar rep ollt"tandiJ1a: Til Tim.es and the .llan rescnted. It is also thi~' uody of trustee ell e<'iler GlIardirtn. The fOrlller i bvolld not the 8harcholders or th: directors of doubt the most influential jourllal i~ t,he th 'ompany, \\"ho de ide Oil th . uc English-speaking: world. 1 is not the CCl':-;or to It resiglling editor of I'll l'i/ll.es. ofli ·ial orglln of t.he GOVCl'Jlll1CII I. or the Fo~eigll OfticP, as fureigner' oft-cn wrongly LlilERAL yoreE beheve. On the contrary, Tile 1'im hy •\:colld only to Til Times in influence, a tradition cllrcely ever l'eriollsly di =_ e!'pecially in foreign alTa if!', is Lite J1an put d, regards it. 'elf (k; a kind of guardian dL"fer Guardia1/, Ihe only pro\'ulcial und C'on!'eicllce of the British nation. pap I' ill Britain which i. really uule to Alt hough ill close touch wit.h Lh' govern exert til inBuen" OIl th policie of the mellts of the day, it, reser,es full libertv c(luntry ill general. (Th recently much to propoUllJ and advocate polici s of it quoted J"orkshirc Po t can in no way be own, which very often run counter to COil) parcd to the ~lJanche f r Guardian 'ov rnmental iutcnti us. Althoua/) it either in Cj'ralit.y of contents or ill real circulation is small compared to those of influence. Thi. Leeds paper OWl' its the popul(~r papers, it weighs he<.L\'iJy, tempomry imparlance to the fact that it becuu:5e everybody of any impMtance in i' o\~ncd. by the family of Anthony politics, the government, or administra Ed 'n s w.lfc and is sometimes uscd by tion read The Times, Tn addition to it tho Forel'n Sccretary us his political ometimes ponderous but ulways weU mouthpiece.) The ,jlanchester Gu-urdian documonted and uallll\(;(~d lel1djll17 orti- . 0 is .t!le o.rgan. of the Hlldjeal wing of ,Ie:,' It abo offer~ high-clns special BrItIsh LiberalIsm. Although th Liberal art! 'le aud reports written by experts. Pa.rty in Parliament has dwindled, Liberal L t but· not Ipast, it has an cxcellent idea~ continue to be vcry I11U h alive, completc foreign-new servi e of i" particularly Ul the industrial Xorth and own, based on the reports of llo great in t.he uouthwcst of England, and among number of excellent correspondents ill t he middle clase in general and tbe 01.1 par f Ih world and presented i.ntell ctuaL, a' far R" th latt-cr hu\'c not WIthOllt, seru ::ltionllli~U1, although not a.1 moved furt her toward t be Left and joined \\'<1. I' WIthout a certain bil~ ill favor of the Labor or Communi, t ranks. Alt hough the politics ad'·ol:at·d u\· the paper. the Mancllp.ler Guardia1/ with a circula. Though Tit 1'ime,q is not ~trictlv uound tion of probably less than 100,000, can ~ any J liti :al party, its general tendency not ulTard as fur-flung a net of its own I' ('011.8cn·atIVe. foreign cOl'n'i'p0nc!C'nts a Tile Times, its new' report as well as it. ditorial are Th traditional poUt i('al ultlepel1dence u ually very well written, but often of t.h eclitorial stuIT of Tile Time,' of out. impaired in their effeet by a ton of elf side influences \"\'11 . eriousJy impaired righteous superioril.y and profes,oriali m. when, <1 few yeal befol'e the Great \rar, The Jlanch t"'r Guardian is regularly read 410 THE XXth CENTURY by v ry enou tudent of politics in admissible in th ea e of a few \T kly England. publications, since th ir opinions are fre foreig~ Briti h daily new.paper. are issued on qu ntly quot-ed in 1he pre ·s. wockdn.y only. For his unday reading, Although The Ecollomis!, as its name th Briti her ha.. to fall hack on pecial how, deals primarily with econon'ic unday paper~ which, gel\ rally peaking, matters, its weekly political comm nb difT r frOlll the daily pl'. more in ize d el'Ve t-o be I, k n rioUEly. a th y than ther",ise, with 16 to 32 paO'e~ of very often reA ct th view. (Jf leading t xt (in peu0e tim; during the present m n of the city. The editerie.l policy f war all pa per with v ry few exceptions this journal i secul' d against interference w r ut down to 4 t f3 page, including by pubkhing inter <: or any th I' adverti!
The Leading Newspapers and Newspaper Combines in Great Britain
(All circulat.ion figurcB refer t.o 1939)
The Time,,: owned by The Times Holding Com. lind editorial control of Lord Ca.m.rose. The pany Limited. 90 per cent of t.he capital is Daily Telegraph, the lending Conservative pnper. held by Major the Han. John J. Astor (0. brother steers a middle course between the "politicnl" of ViS(:ount Astor, q.v. below). the remaining and the "popular" papen;. In order t.o increase 10 per cant by a member of the Walter family, its circulation. which in Muy 1939 had reached which owned and managed The T·'me.. for three 763.000. certain concessions to t.he taste of tho gcnerations in the post. Today. full financial masses had to be made. However, up to the control is wit h Major Ast.or. while the freedom outbreak of the Creater Eust Asia \Vur the of the editorial stlLff in slluping the policy of poLitical column» of tho Daily l'cleyrapl. managed the papor is secured by a special arrangement to maintain a fairly high level. described above. Ceneral t~ndency: Independ The Observer: a SWldny paper owned b~' Viscount ent Conservati\'0; circullLtion 20·1,491. Astor, who for many yon,." left full freedom oC 1rlal1che.9Ier G1w'rdian: mfil1aged and edit.ed for expression to the cditor. J. L. Carvin. \Vhen more than fifty years by one of England's ablf'Bt Garvin resigned his post, the puper lost much lUld most respected jounHtlist.s. Charles Prcst.wich of its Carmer political importance. No circula. Scott. Since his delLt h in 1932, the pnper IlO.s t.ion duta are avnilal>le; probably not. over been run by II board of trustees. its policy being 200,000. unchanged ItS an organ of Radical Liberalism. lts circulation before tho Wal' Wl.l.S, according to The Associated Newspapers Group expert estilllntes. somewhut unJer 100.000. Daily Ma'il: t.he oldest of the "popular" morning Daily Telegraph: owned by The Dnily Telegraph pupers, founded by Lord Korthcliffe in 189ll. LtJ., u privute company illlder full financial From its founder it iuherited a certain political TH E IlRITlSH I'HE.·S 413
trnclition which it 81ill (ri"s '0 k"ep "I. Its The Cadbury (Liberal) GrouJl rt'llding 1'1Ihlip is of IL "Ii!,hll~' hi~IIPr sopilll I('\'e! j.\'eIl'8 Chro"irlc: t}l(' (Inly Lihf'rnl 1l1orning paper thlln thflt of the olh"r "porulnr" pllpers. r"II"hing \\",,11 into the urfWr nlldell" {·I",....·s. Th,' Daily publishNI in I. ndon. II " more ou11l1' k n, JIll,! is I' rulnr ill • rrny and ~II\·.\· ir('I.·~ und "uliti('"l1y, lhan the other """I'ulnr" duili"s. For ycurt4 b(lror~ t h ~ wur. tilt· pilp"r wns vcry I~ omf>tirnf"S USt·t.! bv the \\"ltr L> ffi1'(' nnd Ililti-Fu.t·wi!"l nnd llllti-Kazi nnd "d\-ot'UI(·d .'-\nglo. Aelllllmlty fur the proj,ngnlld" olf thoir political :"ioviC'L rfl pproc!lcmeuJ. Cireulnl it>n uruund l.~ plnns. POlilicul t<'lId{'pc~': CM.8Cn·nl in' and 1I1I11ions. IIllp<'ri lisl'{'; circulllllun around It milliuns. 'l'he , 'tar: I h" second largest en·ning ptlp,·r. f"l1o"·· ;:,·tllill!T Xt",.~: lll{' Ill"sl widely cireulaled c\'clling ing the Mme polir'y "s Sere.• Chr""ir/.·, llllt moro I'''rer (lIbuut ij50.11l)0). colorl08>1. CirculllllOn about [,OO,OUII. SlIm/ll.'1 Tli.•W,'clr: (('lIelcn"y and circula( ion vimilor The two pnl'prs nrc owned hy lh,' ,"dbury to th Ihllly .H<1II. Tru t. found(·d b\' Ihe Illle GNlrgn Cadb\l C\ • ,·hocu· Illto mal!nllte, promillc<1t Qunk('r alld' Llheral. Th{' aho\',' three pap{'rs ar the property of Tile Cadbllry famIly still forms th IIIILjority of A"s""illl·d :"uwspapers Ltd.• 11 Jlulolic; comp'\IIY tho t.rllst{'OR. but tho activo munngllllll'nt and Dllil~' \\ IIwh in lum i" controlled by till' Mail & ultimate dit,orial cuntrol r·RIR with Sir \\,..Iwr (;,'n,'r,,1 TrUlll, the latter firm owning 4U per cont Lu)'ton, the well.known economist. rof tIll' orn,"arr sharos of Associul",l ~CW. pnrcrs. l'p lill 1(J:li tllo lutu Lord ROlh... rll1ore WUll chnir· Tbe Odhams Group '"l1n of loot h (·ompnniCil. Sill('o hiA r...signutioll his 8"". t he linn. E5molld Hnrll\5\'.'orlll. now th{' Daily Hemld: tho ollly daily p"I'('r in Gre"l Britain ""('und Lord Hotherm(·r... (who ill ,dsn Prpsid.. n( of orenI.\' 'Hh'~,('uting the vic\\:i {If tho Lnhor Party. I 110 ~ewnp"per Propri"tors' A.
color Ion in 10 til ~ortilcliffe group; laken •• over after ~or!heliff 's d ath by Lor Rothor. The .\'~lIJ8 of the World: d<' rves to b montioned m r. ince 19:11 Roth nn ro 0\"18 no m re only b . u e it ill the 'unda:.' paper with the ..lIa ill ith r o( Ihl' pllpers. The IWO papel"il high t circulation in reut Britain (31 to -l bolong to separate companies; however. Ihe millions). It catc", (or tho week· nd entortain· direct rs a.lld big hureho!dll'S arc proct i ally ment of the lower ol 's and has no politicsI identiclII, tho ·huirmtln of the board being in importance. both c 8 John 0\\'10)'. Reynolds '~1I'8: a Sunday pap r with Labor leall. inll1l own d by tLe Co.Oporative J eiution. In cent yea",. ~ ir John Ell rmlln, the let mo· Edltoriully mediocre, but oml.'tim s poltti 'ally ly rich shipping 1l1llRnal '. uequirt'd a eontrollin~ inter ting, because in an ou pok n way It interost in the Vaily Mirror. In pil-e o( his walth. veutilates tlto eomplaintg o( the di'lSll isfl d ir John EU rman. who I' o( J willh d en. has Le(t wing i the Labor movement. Circulation extr"rno Lo(I·win' syrnpathi On hi initiativ. uround 500.000. tho Dally .Virror atta ked tho hllmberhlin ov· Daily Irod..cr: publi hed by tho ComrnunilJt Party emmen!. long 1\8 it WI\5 in oxi tene • and of Gr a llriwin. neral Mana r: the \V 11· oril.lc;7.lld tho g nornls. Ih admirnls, tho indus· known ollimWlist Harry Pollit. EdiLoril\1 poli<'y trial;"t . til b nk "'. and tb i\'il' ""'ice. carniolt dictated bv !llo ow. inca outbreak o( \mr (or; If tlto Ili<'knarne o( tb "Daily'1'error." It r pentedl~" banned. but enjoying mar liberty olso atwekorl 'hurchillllncl bis cabinet. and its robid sine ovict R is's war entry. Circulation altitude W"s lorg Iy r'spon ible (or Iho Pr 1<8 Bins around 75.000 in 1930. It has probably r' u introuucoo ulltl pus d In 194::!. Ciroulution of considcrl\bly since tho conclusion of tho Anglo. both popers: consiutJrubl)' over I million. uviat aUiancc.
CARTOO OF THE MONTH
By SAJAPOU
The Super-Advertiser