"THE TIMES."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 99, 29 April 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

"THE TIMES."

MOST FAMOUS NEWSPAPER.

TRIUMPH AND VICISSITUDE.

(By CYRANO.)

The most famous newspaper in tho world is far from being the most popular. The circulation of "The Times," I believe, is about 200,000, whereas those of the "Daily Mail and the "Daily Express" approach the two million mark. * "The Times,' however,' though it is written for tho comparative few, does not scorn the arts of advertisement. It is busy these days not only in providing the public with news and comment, and in keeping abreast of all technical improvements in newspaper production, but in blowing a, gentlemanly trumpet about its achievements. Last year, when it adopted a new type of its own designing and making, it quite properly told the world about it, and I had the pleasure of drawing attention to this enterprise. Now "The Times' Company has issued a short and well-illus-trated history of the newspaper, which gives me an opportunity of filling in some of the gaps x had perforce to leave in my other first article* Freedom of the Press. There are many of us, I suppose, who take the freedom of the Press for granted, unaware that it had to be fought for over a long period, and not realising that but for constant vigilance and determination it might have to be fou"ht for again in British countries. In some other countries it has disappeared.. In Russia, Italy and Germany the Press is cagged and no one can be certain what other countries will surrender to this form of tyranny. Also there are many people who- have the vaguest mea of the size and complexity and cost of newspaper production. Being unimaginative, they do not see behind the daily pages of news served up to them, the news-getting organisation stretched over their town, their country, and the world—the threads that extend from London or Auckland to Detroit and Timbuctoo, the pains that are taken to ensure accuracy and promptness, the»army_of men that inquire and write and sift and print and deliver. And the price of the resultant paper is twopence! Surely it is the cheapest twopence worth that man has ever been offered.

Well, this book provides enlightenment as to tLa rise and' maintenance of a great paper. Let us go back 130 years or so and see how the second John Walter got news nnd fought the Govern' ment. 4 'He acted consistently upon two main principles. One was that his paper must be free of all obligation to the

Government. Tho other was that the public has a right to know all the news and to know it without delay." The Government tried to "buy" "The Times," and, finding it was not venal, tried to kill it. It had bceomo the practice of certain Government officials to hold back and open foreign journals addressed to English newspapers, translate news therein and sell it to the very papers to which it was addressed. John Walter denounced the practice in his paper and proved his accusation. Packages of news addressed to "The Times" were stopped at English ports, but Walter fought the Government successfully over this as well. All the time he went on organising his news servicc abroad,*so that he was able to give the first news of Ulm, Trafalgar, Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland. This enterprise paved the way for the editorship of Thomas Barnes (1817-1841) under which "The Times" became the first journal in Europe. He was succeeded by the most famous of all editors, Delane. Like Barnes, he was a young man. "The Times" has generally gone to youth for its editors. Barnes was 32, Delane only 23, Buckle 29. Of the extraordinary position won by "The Times" under Delane I have little space to write. It made and unmade Ministries, and its special correspondents were treated like ambassadors. A Heavy Blow. That, however, was before the era of universal education. That reform produced a vast new reading public for whose wants Newnes and Pearson and Harmsworth (afterwards Lord Northcliffe) were to cater. And about the time this new journalism was born "The Times" fell upon evil days. The Pigott forgeries are touched on lightly here, but these were a terrible blow to the paper. Its acceptance without sufficient inquiry of letters purporting to be written by Parnell cost it £100,000 in cash, and much in prestige. And while "The Times" reeled under this blow it was handicapped by an antiquated and inefficient system of control that made it impossible for the competition of the highly enterprising new journalism to be properly met. This also is referred to but briefly here, but the story can be read in the late. Mr. Kitchin's fascinating book, "Moberly Bell and His Times." "The Times" was a partnership with a hundred partners, and the various sections of the business were in watertight compartments. That a great business should have been conducted for so long in such an insanely ' unbusinesslike fashion, is astounding. Moberly Bell, a man of great ability and strength of character, killed himself in the management, but no expenditure on foreign news service, no outside enterprises like the Encyclopaedia and the Book Club, could make up for fatal defects in organisation. Moreover, local news seems t» have been sadly; neglected, A news-

paper—though many readers never grasp this essential fact—exists primarily to furnish news, and is not cither a foretaste of the Day of Judgment or a magazine of unlimited size, and, generally, speaking, local news is more important than news from a distance. "The Times," in short, was suffering from dry-rot, and only drastic reconstruction could save it.

It was saved by Northcliffc, who was called in by the valiant Moberly Bell. Tlio transaction is one of the most interesting in the history of journalism. Northcliffe paid £320,000 into Bell's banking account, trusting the man completely. Under Nortlicliffe's direction "The Times" was reorganised, and since then it has never looked back. Northcliffe, however, did not really understand "The Times"—the methods and traditions of which were so different in certain respects from tlioso of his other journals—and it was a piece of great good fortune for England and English journalism that on his death it passed into its present hands —those of Mr. John Walter, great-great-grandson of the founder, and Major J. J. Astor. Their determination to maintain it a$ a national institution was exemplified in the creation of a committee without whose consent shares in "The Times" may not be transferred. The committee consists of the Lord Chief Justice of England, the Warden of All Souls' College, Oxford, the President of the Royal Society, the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the Governor of the Bank of England. The Great Strike. That was ten years ago. In that period "The Times" has strengthened its position. Its enterprise in its supplements is as notable as the quality of its typography and printing. Yet the circulation of the Literary Supplement, the foremost journal of its kind in the English-speaking world, is only 30,000. And New Zealand, with a population of a million a,nd a half, is sometimes cliided for not maintaining purely literary periodicals! The most exciting experience of "The Times" in these ten years was the Great Strike of 1926. "The Times" was the only London daily newspaper which never failed to produce an issue during the strike. The issue of May 5 was a eingle sheet, 13 inches by 8 inches, containing, for the first time in the history of the paper, po advertisements. And on top of all its troubles, the Government proposed to seize all its stock of paper for the Government "Gazette"!

An average issue of "The Times" contains a quarter of a million words, and you get all this for twopence. I repeat, a very remarkable achievement, which the public is far from appreciating at its true worth. »"The Times"; Past, Present, and Future. .("Time 3 "- Office, London.).