News v. NRA

Administrator Johnson of the NRA asked 2,000 daily newspapers to print, one day last week, a full-page free advertisement telling how employers could earn the Blue Eagle. By no means all newspapers complied. In Manhattan the only obliging one was the Curtis-Martin Evening Post.

Manhattan's Daily News was most outspoken in explanation of its refusal. The News had been the first Manhattan newspaper to join NRA, had adopted a five-day week, added 153 employes, raised its payroll by $200,000 per year. Now, asked for a page of advertising, and for two free subscriptions for NRA's press bureau, it declared:

"The money income from one paid full-page advertisement in the News is, roughly, $1,000. But the actual profit ranges from 17% down to less than zero. . . . To put one additional full-page advertisement in the paper we have sometimes to print four extra pages. . . . Therefore, the request for a full page advertisement for the NRA is not simply a request for a donation of space costing only what it costs to print a page of news matter. It amounts to a request for a cash donation of about $900.

"We do not feel that the papers should be asked to make donations in kind to the Government unless other industries are asked to do likewise. The Government might as well ask the oil industry, for example, to donate oil for the Navy, or shoe manufacturers to donate shoes for the Army. . . .

"If the newspapers begin to give away their substance to the Government, where will the thing end. It is easy to imagine a time when the papers might be asked to contribute space for free political advertising. . . ."

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