Lineage

When newspapers fought each other in the good old, bad old days, it was with edged verb and bludgeoning adjective in their editorial columns. But newspapers fight each other no longer. They now compete. Their battlegrounds are their advertising departments, their weapons statistics.

Rival publications, and different statisticians for the same publication, flatly contradict one another's figures in a way that puzzles the man who buys space. And so, since 1923, Editor & Publisher, journalism's trade weekly, has annually sought to furnish the most nearly accurate advertising lineage figures for a host of U. S. and Canadian newspapers, and these figures are always eagerly awaited.

This year, seeking to perfect its service and to establish more satisfactory classifications, Editor & Publisher obtained 1928 lineage statistics for 387 dailies and Sunday papers in 81 cities from Media Records, Inc., an independent audit bureau, instead of accepting statements of individual publishers and agents as in the past. In addition to the Media records, Editor & Publisher compiled figures for 1,019 newspapers, in 684 cities, compiled according to the old practice. The whole story was edited-&-published last week.

The Media figures showed that the 387 papers had carried a total of 2,629,598,181 agate lines in 1928. All but about a half-billion of this was display advertising, the rest Classified (want advts, legal notices and the like). In total lineage, the Chicago Tribune stood at the top with 30,874,755 lines (as against 31,834,173 for 1927). On its heels came the Detroit News with 30,726,436 lines (in 1927 the News had 30,459,968). Third was the New York Times with 30,641,930 lines (1927-29,710,606).

The Detroit News led the evening newspapers of the land, followed by the Chicago News, then by the Newark (N. J.) News. The bulky New York Sun came eleventh.

The leaders in various categories of advertising and various fields of publishings were as follows:

Papers published weekday mornings and Sunday: New York Times (national display); Chicago Tribune (local display); Los Angeles Times (classified).

Papers published weekday mornings: Montreal Gazette (national display); Wilkes-Barre Record (local display); Los Angeles Times (classified).

Papers published weekday evenings and Sundays: Toronto Star (national display) ; Detroit News (local display); Detroit News (classified).

Papers published weekday evenings: London, Ont., Free Press (national display) ; Detroit News (local display); Newark News (classified).

Sunday papers: New York Times (national display); Chicago Tribune (local display); Chicago Tribune (classified).

So soon as Editor & Publisher's figures were made public, out spoke the newspapers, protesting variously. The fatherly New York Times, in dignified but sonorous voice, claimed 1928 lineage leadership for itself despite any or all other figures. According to its own figures, the Times won with 30,736,530 lines. Both the Chicago Tribune and the Detroit News conceded that the Times was right, and claimed only 30,512,112 and 30,459,968 lines, respectively.

Media Records, Inc.. stood stoutly by its statisticians and Editor & Publisher explained that the Media figures came from measurements by the officially recognized Advertising Record Co. The figures quoted by the New York Times derived from two sources: those for the first six months of 1928 came from the New York Evening Post's statistical department, those for the last six months from Advertising Record Co., this arrangement having been agreed upon by the Publishers Association of New York City.

Following are the 25 leaders in total lineage (Media Records) for the U. S. and Canada:

Chicago Tribune (MS) 30,874,755

Detroit News (ES) 30,726,436

N. Y. Times (MS) 30,641,930

Washington (D. C.) Star (ES) 26,735,904

Baltimore (Md.) Sun (ES) 24,807,156

Pittsburgh Press (ES) 24,411,653

Los Angeles Times (MS) 23,765,329

Detroit News (E) 23,314,242

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (ES) 21,532,753

Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (ES) 21,114,379

Chicago News (E) 20,964,736

Newark News (E) 20,568,380

Los Angeles Examiner (MS) 20,529,978

Washington (D. C.) Star (E) 20,025,926

Chicago Tribune (M) 19,796,371

N. Y. Herald-Tribune (MS) 19,639,113

Philadelphia Bulletin (E) 19,337,958

N. Y. Times (M) 18,979,348

Kansas City Star (ES) 18,948,958

New Orleans Times-Picayune (MS) 18,839,359

Philadelphia Inquirer (MS) 18,839,228

Milwaukee Journal (ES) 18,838,964

Brooklyn Eagle (ES) 18,587,485

Akron Beacon-Journal (E) ...18,394,410

Pittsburgh Press (E) 18,235,121

MS-Morning & Sunday. M-Weekday mornings. ES-Evening & Sunday. E-Weekday evenings. S-Sundays only.