THE SALE OF THE “STANDARD.”

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 78 (Supplement)

THE SALE OF THE “STANDARD.”

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, November 11.. The sale of the old Conservative, antiChamberlain “Standard” to Mr O. A. Pearson has caused a great stir in J! leet street. Mr Pearson is the wealthy owner of the “Daily Express,” half-a-dozen provincial newspapers, and a score or so of periodicals, and the holder of the controlling interest in the “St. Janies Gazette.” - Lt is only four and a halt years since he entered the field or daily journalism, with the “Express,” and that half-penny paper now stands second only to the “Daily Mail” in circulation. Mr Pearson is a member of the Tariff Commission, and his journals are strong supporters of the fiscal policy of Mr Chamberlain. They present, moreover, a typical example of what one may call the new journalism—enterprising, well informed, ever on the look-ont for something fresh, but also “smart” rather than brilliant, and sketchy rather than solid. The new phase of London journalism has been responsible for the introduction of a continual unrest into the conditions of the working journalists life Time was when the competent man was sure of his billet for so long as be cared to remain, provided that he behaved himself and served his paper well.. Nowadays, however, the offices of the half-penny papers witness a constant procession of journalists to and from the literary staff. No man knows when his turn may come to receive his dismissal. Sometimes six or seven of the staff will be turned off at one sweep, to make room for the trial of a new batch, who in their turn will sooner or later give way to others. Men of experience and ability find themselves supplanted by untrained youngsters fresh from college, and it is a common saying in Fleet street that a cricket match could easily be arranged between the staff of a certain half-penny daily, and a team of its ex-editors. The “Standard,” on the other hand, was a. model newspaper from the pressman s point of view. It paid high salaries and liberal expenses; its staff were retained in their positions so long as they remained competent to do their work and when advancing years overtook them, they were retired on very generous pensions. Will these ideal conditions be maintained under the new management ? That is t he question which Fleet street is discussin" and Mr Pearson’s announcement that’ he intends to effect large savings in tlie production of tlie paper does not exactly encourage optimism amongst the rank and file. To the public also the sale of the “Standard” is a matter of no little moment. It was the last of the London penny papers to hold out against the Chamberlain fiscal policy, and tlie ability with which its defence of the present system of free imports was conducted ren-

dered the “Standard” one of Mr Chamberalin's greatest stumbling-blocks. Its heavy guns have been effectually silenced by Mr Pearson's capital. An independent and powerful journal, the mouthpiece of a great political party, becomes one of a group of newspapers working under one proprietary, and speaking with one voice. This tendency to “syndicate the opinions of the Press must in time exercise a notable effect upon the public influence which those opinions now command, and it is difficult to see how the effect can be other than to weaken th® importance of the editorial utterance.