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W. Earl Hall World War II stories, 1944
1944-09-06 Letter #39
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Use anytime, Don slug-Circulation of -4 Passed for Publication 6 Sep 1944 By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor Letter No. 39 London--(Air Mail Special)--There's very little about a London newspaper office--in plant, equipment or organization--that reminds you of a newspaper back home. This was an over-all conclusion reached by me after an inspection trip, from basement to garret, through the London Express a few days ago. The Express, I should explain, is not only London's but the world's largest journal, with a daily circulation in excess of 3 million. When I say it was different from American newspapers, I wouldn't want to leave the impression that it necessarily is inferior. In some respects it has gone further than any newspaper in either New York or Chicago. In this respect I'm thinking particularly of a "remote control" department which brings out simultaneously in Manchester and Glasgow editions which are identical in type matter and news content with the London edition. If there's a newspaper in America doing this exact thing, I don't know of it. First my newspaper associate here, Fred Chistopherson of Sioux Falls, and I went to the Daily Telegraph, the London paper with the most impressive building.. We were told by a dignified receptionist in full regalia that to get past the front office, we must have a permissive letter from the proprietor. The Express was our second attempt and there the cordiality was "all out.." We inquired for the city editor. And in this we got our first bit of professional education. The city editor here is the equivalent of a financial editor on an American metropolitan paper. It was the news editor we wanted and that's what we got. We were taken to a "cubicle"--English word for a small office--and had a delightful chat about English journalistic practices, including type and makeup. Then a most intelligent and hospitable worker from the mechanical department was assigned to us for a complete tour of the building. We started in the newsroom where we found the copy editors and reporters working pretty much on their own as distinguished from the close contact and supervision which are the marks of an American news room. Then we went through the library where newspaper files and clippings were piled in endless rows on shelves. Next to the engraving plant where pictures were being converted into zine cuts. A particular pride and joy of the man conducting us was the wire and radio photo equipment which has made it possible for the Express to bring in daily pictures from the fighting fronts farthest forward. Our tour closed with a visit to the press room. This was really something. Three batteries of rotary presses, each almost as long as a Mason City block, turn out papers at the rate of almost a million an hour. In the days before the war, the Express averaged 24 pages per edition. Now, under the impact of war's restrictions on newsprint paper, it is down to 4 pages. "Are you looking forward to the day when you can go back to the old size?" I inquired of the new editor, "or do you feel that the smaller paper is meeting the demands of your public?" "All of us," he replied, "are awaiting the day when we can go back to getting out a newspaper. What we're doing now is makeshift--the best we can do under the circumstances but not anything that we can have pride in." And that seems to be the attitude of all the thousands who make their living on Fleet street's newspaper row. -- 30 --
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Use anytime, Don slug-Circulation of -4 Passed for Publication 6 Sep 1944 By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor Letter No. 39 London--(Air Mail Special)--There's very little about a London newspaper office--in plant, equipment or organization--that reminds you of a newspaper back home. This was an over-all conclusion reached by me after an inspection trip, from basement to garret, through the London Express a few days ago. The Express, I should explain, is not only London's but the world's largest journal, with a daily circulation in excess of 3 million. When I say it was different from American newspapers, I wouldn't want to leave the impression that it necessarily is inferior. In some respects it has gone further than any newspaper in either New York or Chicago. In this respect I'm thinking particularly of a "remote control" department which brings out simultaneously in Manchester and Glasgow editions which are identical in type matter and news content with the London edition. If there's a newspaper in America doing this exact thing, I don't know of it. First my newspaper associate here, Fred Chistopherson of Sioux Falls, and I went to the Daily Telegraph, the London paper with the most impressive building.. We were told by a dignified receptionist in full regalia that to get past the front office, we must have a permissive letter from the proprietor. The Express was our second attempt and there the cordiality was "all out.." We inquired for the city editor. And in this we got our first bit of professional education. The city editor here is the equivalent of a financial editor on an American metropolitan paper. It was the news editor we wanted and that's what we got. We were taken to a "cubicle"--English word for a small office--and had a delightful chat about English journalistic practices, including type and makeup. Then a most intelligent and hospitable worker from the mechanical department was assigned to us for a complete tour of the building. We started in the newsroom where we found the copy editors and reporters working pretty much on their own as distinguished from the close contact and supervision which are the marks of an American news room. Then we went through the library where newspaper files and clippings were piled in endless rows on shelves. Next to the engraving plant where pictures were being converted into zine cuts. A particular pride and joy of the man conducting us was the wire and radio photo equipment which has made it possible for the Express to bring in daily pictures from the fighting fronts farthest forward. Our tour closed with a visit to the press room. This was really something. Three batteries of rotary presses, each almost as long as a Mason City block, turn out papers at the rate of almost a million an hour. In the days before the war, the Express averaged 24 pages per edition. Now, under the impact of war's restrictions on newsprint paper, it is down to 4 pages. "Are you looking forward to the day when you can go back to the old size?" I inquired of the new editor, "or do you feel that the smaller paper is meeting the demands of your public?" "All of us," he replied, "are awaiting the day when we can go back to getting out a newspaper. What we're doing now is makeshift--the best we can do under the circumstances but not anything that we can have pride in." And that seems to be the attitude of all the thousands who make their living on Fleet street's newspaper row. -- 30 --
World War II Diaries and Letters
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