The Disappearing Daily [antikvár]

Preface This record of the development of the American press supplements a previous study published in 1923 and republished in a revised edition in 1926. It brings up to date the situation of American journalism in the middle of the greatest of our vs^ars, and illustrates by its study of some of our foremost dailies and press associations the trend of what was once a profession but is now a business, though still vitally affected by a public interest. It would be idle to pretend that the picture as a whole is encouraging, either to journalists or to the public. Coupled with the alarming mortality among our dailies, those tendencies toward chain ownership, consolidations, and monopolies which were pointed out twenty years ago are more obvious than ever, except that the spread of chain ownership has for the moment been checked. A number of historically important journals have disappeared, and the mortality-rate has largely increased since Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately these disturbing developments cannot be offset by the citation of new experiments promising to mitigate the evils inherent in individual ownership of great organs of political opinion. There is no promise today of the sudden rise of new dailies, only the certainty that we shall see a still greater decrease in the number now extant which is already quite too small for this nation, especially as it is embarked upon a world leadership no American could have foreseen. Nor does the radio offer the solution, for that not only is government-controlled, but is itself directly supported by the great business enterprises whose rise and control have more and more dominated the American political and economic scene. The battle for democracy will not have been won when Germany is beaten. The war itself will produce new dangers to it, both here and abroad. No war heretofore engaged in by the United States has been so secretly conducted as this, as to both military movements and far-reaching governmental actions and policies never submitted to the electorate or the Congress for approval; and these actions and policies have profoundly committed the nation to involvements all over the globe the outcome of which no man can foresee. The trend toward State Socialism will be accentuated in every country, and the specter of [ V ]