On the cheap
Sir: As a national newspaper employee I am particularly grateful to you for prtating a regular weekly article on the press, especially as, since the extinction of our former news-
paper trade journals, it is not easy to get a clear picture of the present-day newspaper scene.
I have been most interested in Bill Grundy's recent articles on the drastic changes in circulation and his assessment of the causes of these. There is no doubt that, with the present government's economic policies affect- ing so many low-budget households, economies are having to be made—and newspapers are one of the first priorities to suffer.
I wonder what becomes of the old argument, often used by left-wingers and trade union leaders (and maybe also by Mr Grundy?), that newspapers are sold far too cheaply and should not have to depend on advertising—horrible commodity l—for their existence? I hope the present fall in circulation, quite obviously due to the last increase in price, will put an end to this specious argument.
If people are stopping papers on account of
a penny or two increase in price it doesn't need much imagination to speculate on how many more hundreds of thousands of readers would be lost were their price to be put on a 'realistic basis' as is so often urged. In any case, much as they value journals like the SPECTATOR once a week, how many readers would want their dailies to be of such solid stuff bereft of (in some cases!) attractive dis- played advertisements, often in gorgeous colour? Not me, for one!
Harold S. Priestley 16 Alexandra Drive, Burnage, Manchester 19
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