The Press: Not for Sale

Any big, successful paper that is losing circulation is bound to be rumored up for sale. Colonel Robert R. McCormick’s big, successful Chicago Tribune has lost almost 20% of its circulation since 1946 (latest figure: 877,636), and the inevitable rumors have been circulating. One had it that Publisher John Knight, whose string of papers stretches from Florida (Miami Herald) to McCormick’s own Chicagoland (Daily News), was dickering to buy the Trib. Last week, in answer to a reader’s question, the Trib flatly denied the rumors. Said an editorial:

“The Tribune is not for sale. This in formation will be a disappointment to ‘leaders of thought’ in New York and Washington … to Mr. Dewey and the rest of the New Deal Republicans . . . It will be a disappointment to political thieves, regardless of party, to the Communists, to corrupt labor bosses, to the Socialists, the planners and the Big Government boys. We hope that you will continue to enjoy the Tribune.”