When the British press is criticized for its slim coverage of U.S. and world affairs, London editors have had a ready answer: the newsprint shortage. Last week the British press had its newsprint ration slightly increased—and used most of it for comic strips, features and fiction.
Most London dailies expanded from four to six pages, three days a week. Only the News Chronicle devoted the bulk of this extra space to wider reporting of politics and industry. By contrast, Beaver-brook’s Daily Express added Dick Tracy and Kit Conquest to its comic strips, expanded the letters-to-the-editor column, and turned Woman’s Editor Anne Edwards loose for two columns on her favorite foods and pet hates. The Daily Mirror, locked in a circulation war with the Express, also added a woman’s page to its successful formula of sex-plus-Socialism.
This use of the additional newsprint stirred up a bitter argument in Fleet Street pubs like the Codgers and the Two Brewers. Exploded one news editor: “After all our outcry for more paper, what do we do with it? Throw it away on women’s tripe, godawful strips and shoddy fiction!” Replied a feature editor: “Go bury your head! Variety, entertainment, interest . . . Let’s shovel it in by the bucket!”
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