NEWSPRINT CUTS IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25243, 23 July 1947, Page 7

NEWSPRINT CUTS IN BRITAIN

PAPERS RETURN TO WAR TIME SIZE

GOVERNMENT’S DECISION CRITICISED (Special Correspondent N.ZJP.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, July 21. Accompanied by further newspaper criticism of the Government’s action in cutting newsprint supplies, Britain returned to her war-time newspapers to-day. Some newspapers, “The Times” and the “Daily Telegraph,” for example, have announced that they are reducing their circulation. Others, among them the “Daily Mail,” and the “Daily Express,” have to four pages. Yesterday, various Sunday papers announced cuts in their circulation.

“The Times” said that it felt its first duty was to avoid the sacrifice of essential contents, and in consequence the number of copies printed must be reduced. It suggested that a return to the war-time practice of sharing copies might alleviate the difficulties caused by the reduced circulation.

The “Daily Telegraph,” in a leading article, under the heading, “In Blinkers.” indicated that its circulation had been reduced by 100,000 copies a day, and it remarked: “Nothing can, unhappily, prevent the majority of Ministers administrating and legislating in blinkers themselves, but nothing can excuse their attempt to fit the blinkers on the publip.”

Cabinet and Newspapers The “Daily Express” says: “As the axe falls the Minister of Labour betrays the Cabinet opinion of the British newspapers. Says Mr Isaacs: ‘We canpot get the truth (about the Government) over to the people because the majority of newspapers will not tell the truth.’ In other words, most of the newspapers criticise the Government, and therefore the dollar crisis is used as a lever to curb the Government critics. That is the construction which the ordinary man will put on this savage blow at the best newspaper press in the world. Nothing that the Cabinet spokesmen have put forward to justify this paltry saving of £1,000,000 can alter that conclusion.”

The “Daily Mail” says: "To-day we set out, undeterred, to achieve the almost impossible—a great and complete newspaper for a great country—all in four pages.” The “Sunday Times,” announcing that its circulation will be cut by 70,000, adds: “Anything that weakens the newspapers’ service is a national misfortune. The Government’s indifference to this vital consideration is another indication that the Labour Party is losing the democratic faith and fervour on which it rose to power.” The “Sunday Express” will reduce its circulation by 348.262, and the “Sunday Dispatch” by 50,000. Mr John Jordan, editor of the "Sunday Express.” in an article, declared that the motive behind the newsprint cuts “is to shake your faith in the newspapers you trust, so that you can be more easily duped. The fight is a fight for your mind and power over your life.”

“Negligible ‘Economic Gain’” The “Financial Times” says: "This is a memorable day in British journalism. To-day hundreds of thousands of readers of newspapers will find them unobtainable for love or money. Many millions of other readers have found their morning paper reduced, after two years of peace, to Dunkirk dimensions. “Why, at this of all times, should the Government choose, for an utterly negligible ‘economic gain,’ to prevent the press making its adequate moral contribution? What is the true reason for reaching a decision which can create only bitterness and justified resentment?”

Yesterday the “Observer” in a leading article on the cuts, said: “The Government’s total surrender to the big business of the film industry is one of the most astonishing features of the situation. The dollar earnings (of films) are kept a careful secret, while the vast dollar wastage runs on. There is need for a drastic inauiry into this ridiculous state of affairs, which means that anybody can see the latest bit of Hollywood drivel while many peoole have to give up their copy of “The Times.”