Trouble for the Biggest

The tabloid New York Daily News, biggest paper in the U.S., was in a congratulatory mood last week. But in its usual breezy manner the News added a new twist; it was mysteriously congratulating itself. Said a News editorial: "The News congratulates numerous other newspapers, in New York and elsewhere . . . on the shrewdness and sense of their editors and owners in trying to copy so many features, practices and styles which were originated by the News . . . We cannot congratulate the people who buy these other papers. We can only commiserate with them, and hope for their sakes that their eyes may be opened in due time . . . They don't know what they're missing . . . It's a sad spectacle, which moves us to pity--though not to worry . . ."

In Manhattan's fierce newspaper competition, another paper gleefully cleared up the mystery by explaining what the "sad spectacle" really was. The News's circulation has steadily slipped, by close to 14%, from a high of 2,402,346 in 1947. For several months the News, which ordinarily publishes its up-to-date daily circulation figure in the paper, has been using its October circulation (2,075,000) instead. Not until last week were readers brought up to date again, told that circulation in January had slumped under the 2,000,000 mark (to 1,925,000) for the first time in years.

After pointing this out, Hearst's Daily Mirror, the News's arch rival (whose circulation has slipped as much), needled the News some more, saying: "They also said they originate and others only imitate . . . Heck, we remember last summer when the Mirror started the great 'Lucky Buck' game that set the city and the nation on its ear . . . Weeks went by. Our friends ignored it. Then we heard [the News was] holding meetings . . . All those brains! All that money! What were they going to come up with? Then came B-day. Our friends brought forth something called Banana [i.e., Bonanza] Bills--a game that was, so to speak, 'Lucky Bucks' spelled backwards."

The News's President and General Manager F. M. (for Francis Marion) Flynn acknowledged that there was trouble.* To the News staff and others he reported that the "decline is a major reason for concern." With every price increase in the paper (from 2-c- to 3-c- to 4-c-), circulation has fallen off, and increasing costs have tended to catch up with income, thus cutting the News's fat profits. The eleven-day Manhattan newspaper strike also cost the paper well over $1,000,000 in ads and lost the News readers it never regained. But if the News and General Manager "Jack" Flynn were "concerned," they were still not gloomy. Said Flynn: "The News is [still] one of the strongest newspapers financially in the country . . . with more than twice the circulation of any other newspaper in America."

* There was also trouble from another source last week. A three-alarm fire broke out in the News pressroom, sending 1,500 employees scurrying out on the street, and doing an estimated $300,000 worth of damage. But the News missed not an edition.

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