Transcribe
Translate
W. Earl Hall World War II stories, 1944
1944-08-22 Letter #6
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
slug-Allied Press-4 by W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor (Letter no. 6) 22 Aug 1944 London--(Air Mail)--When I arrived here last week and ran the gamut of London newspapers, I was seized with a very great fear that British journalism had gone violently over-optimistic. Each of the many papers here seemed to be trying to outdo the others in the extent of its enthusiasm over allied gains in southern France and about Paris. I was frankly concerned about the trend. In the meantime, however, I'veseen a cabled digest of headlines and news stories from leading American newspapers--in New York, Washington and Chicago. And my report on this occasion is that the emphasis, if not the journalistic treatment itself, has been substantially the same in the United States as in London. With this knowledge, I'm going to read my London newspapers with new assurance. Perhaps my formula for judging accuracy and reliability isn't entirely understandable to my British friends. But that's the way it is. Nothing about London--except perhaps the buzz bombs, the nightly blackout and the remnants of the 1940 blitz--has been more interesting to me than these London newspapers. It isn't a matter of common knowledge in America but it's a fact that a considerable number of them have greater daily circulation than any of our journals--and for a most interesting reason. Distances are such in the British Isles that papers printed here in the evening can be in the hands of the remotest reader in Scotland, Wales or Ireland as he eats his breakfast next morning. This means that London newspapers are national in the realest sense of the term while American newspapers, even those in New York, are provincial. As a result, the newspaper here which could boast of only a million circulation wouldn't be counted very successful. Newspapers here have been drastically cut in their paper supply. They have at their command only a small fraction of the newsprint which before the war reached them from Canada and Scandinavia, particularly the latter place. In the beginning some of the papers tried holding somewhat to their old size and accomplished their paper saving by reducing circulation. Others reduced their number of pages by virtually eliminating advertising and cutting news content to the bone. How the provincial papers--Manchester, Yorkshire, Nottingham, etc.--have fared, I don't know. But for London newspapers, there has been a sensational spurt in circulation. There are periodic newscasts on the government-owned BBC radio but the people are hungry, as never in history, for news in the printed form. It has been calculated that a copy of a London newspaper is read by from 7 to 10 persons on the average. That's a reflection of popular interest. Practically every inch of every first page is given over to the war. Except for top headlines in Gothic type, the reading matter is in small type and a bit difficult of reading for one accustomed to U. S. papers. Much of the inside pages too-and the papers have been reduced to from 4 to 8 pages--are devoted to the war, including interpretative articles by staff "military experts" which frequently run to several columns. In practically every paper too, space in varying amounts is given over to personality and human interest features. Pictures are few and small. Comics, where there are comics at all, are confined to a one-column panel. It will be interesting to see whether English papers bounce back to their oldtime format and character after this war is over. In condensed and tabloid form, they've done a rather good job in the war. But it's my guess that the reading public will expect a little more from their daily journal after the bombs have quit falling. -- 30 --
Saving...
prev
next
slug-Allied Press-4 by W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor (Letter no. 6) 22 Aug 1944 London--(Air Mail)--When I arrived here last week and ran the gamut of London newspapers, I was seized with a very great fear that British journalism had gone violently over-optimistic. Each of the many papers here seemed to be trying to outdo the others in the extent of its enthusiasm over allied gains in southern France and about Paris. I was frankly concerned about the trend. In the meantime, however, I'veseen a cabled digest of headlines and news stories from leading American newspapers--in New York, Washington and Chicago. And my report on this occasion is that the emphasis, if not the journalistic treatment itself, has been substantially the same in the United States as in London. With this knowledge, I'm going to read my London newspapers with new assurance. Perhaps my formula for judging accuracy and reliability isn't entirely understandable to my British friends. But that's the way it is. Nothing about London--except perhaps the buzz bombs, the nightly blackout and the remnants of the 1940 blitz--has been more interesting to me than these London newspapers. It isn't a matter of common knowledge in America but it's a fact that a considerable number of them have greater daily circulation than any of our journals--and for a most interesting reason. Distances are such in the British Isles that papers printed here in the evening can be in the hands of the remotest reader in Scotland, Wales or Ireland as he eats his breakfast next morning. This means that London newspapers are national in the realest sense of the term while American newspapers, even those in New York, are provincial. As a result, the newspaper here which could boast of only a million circulation wouldn't be counted very successful. Newspapers here have been drastically cut in their paper supply. They have at their command only a small fraction of the newsprint which before the war reached them from Canada and Scandinavia, particularly the latter place. In the beginning some of the papers tried holding somewhat to their old size and accomplished their paper saving by reducing circulation. Others reduced their number of pages by virtually eliminating advertising and cutting news content to the bone. How the provincial papers--Manchester, Yorkshire, Nottingham, etc.--have fared, I don't know. But for London newspapers, there has been a sensational spurt in circulation. There are periodic newscasts on the government-owned BBC radio but the people are hungry, as never in history, for news in the printed form. It has been calculated that a copy of a London newspaper is read by from 7 to 10 persons on the average. That's a reflection of popular interest. Practically every inch of every first page is given over to the war. Except for top headlines in Gothic type, the reading matter is in small type and a bit difficult of reading for one accustomed to U. S. papers. Much of the inside pages too-and the papers have been reduced to from 4 to 8 pages--are devoted to the war, including interpretative articles by staff "military experts" which frequently run to several columns. In practically every paper too, space in varying amounts is given over to personality and human interest features. Pictures are few and small. Comics, where there are comics at all, are confined to a one-column panel. It will be interesting to see whether English papers bounce back to their oldtime format and character after this war is over. In condensed and tabloid form, they've done a rather good job in the war. But it's my guess that the reading public will expect a little more from their daily journal after the bombs have quit falling. -- 30 --
World War II Diaries and Letters
sidebar
