1959-02-14 — Page 5

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY. 14, 1959.

THE POWER OF THE POPULAR PRESS ..........

A MODERN DORIAN GREY?

IN Oscar Wilde's fanciful novel "The Picture of Dorian Groy" the hero remains young and beautiful while his portrait grows older and uglier. Eventually he stabs the

London Letter

portrait in fury and falls dead, whereupon the portrait by SIR BEVERLEY BAXTER, M.P. resumes its youth while Dorian in death is as old and wizened as sin.

My purpose in recalling Wilde's novel is because Fleet Street, the street of ink, is faced today with the spectacular rise of a handsome, ebulllent man who is 46 years of age and looks 35. You may as well know about him because unless something goes wrong he is about to become the most powerful newspaper and periodical publisher in Britain.

Like many successful British journalists he served his time in the Beaverbrook menage. Actually for two years he was Managing Editor of the Beaverbrook Sunday Express and then parted company with the Canadian Baron. But they remain good friends. The cliche about ab- sence making the heart grow fonder has always applied to Lord Beaver- brook of New Brunswick,

Lest I forget to mention it Hugh Cudipp married a very

and pretty

charming young person named Elleen Ascroft who also worked for the Ex- press.

But you

His purpo to blast and not to praise, and it is to his credit an journalist that he finds something nearly every day to blast.

the attack on the shame of Lon- prostitutes don's streets where line the splendid thoroughfare of Park Lane like a monstrous regiment. It took the authorltles a long time to bet but at last As an example of Cudlipp's the shame

West of London'a also his sense End has at least been driven must not imagine shrewdness and

of responsibility I must recall underground.

incident involving myself

However, all that I have during the height of the Suez affair. The Mirror condemned written so far is no more than Eden in harsh and even cruel a preface to the recent astonish. the teams, and at the time by chance in announcement that

that the Dorian Grey of Fleet Street is the only Cudlipp to reach high place in the Street Perez, of Ink. His brother after a period of him critteisni on the Evening Standard be came the Editor of the Socialist Dally Herald whose soul is owned by the Trade Unions but body in owned by the whose Capitalist publishing combine of Qdham's.

Finally a third brother, Re- ginald, was oppointed Editor of the mass clrculation News of the World which deals comprehen- alvely on Sunday with revela- tions of

on the sux vagaries part of the British public. In fairness let it be stated that in the non-sex portions Di the News of the World there is the utmost dignity. and in the realm of palities it is more Conservative than the Tunes'.

Now having given you the background, we shall dismiss Percy and Reginald and yet down to the hero of our tale. To his credit let it be stated that Hugh Cudlipp as Editor in Cide of the Daily Mirror and its weekend offspring the Sunday Pictorial, realised that popular journalism could also be powerful journalism.

In his quick perceptive assess ment of the British people he knew that politics not only sup- plied personalities

but also

D

I found myself sitting next to Daily Mirror - Sunday Pic- dinner which he torial Group has entered into Cudlipp at a had given in honour of

anegolations to acquire the vast Hollywood magnate. In the Amalgamated Press with all its course of the dinner I accused publications and its holdings of Cudlipp of deliberately sustain- newsprint. Ing 'Britain's critics and enemies at the very time that our troops were in action.

He was silent for a moment or two and then said: "Ob- viously you feel very strong ly Un this. Very well I chall give you a full page in the Mirror in which you can damn as to perdition."

not The Amalgamated Press

general interesi only publishes magazines like Everybody's but real money makers like Woman's Journal to say nothing of many prontable trade publications,

I agreed readily but with But as often happens when one condition. There would be the presiding genius dienas in no editorial comment on my the case of Lord Camrose-the article in the actual Issue In new strong man is not there to which i

his place. There are appeared. The day take.

in the after he could blast me to many capable men perdition but not until then. Amalgamated colerle but dicta- He agreed and kept his word. tors, It was not without interest that a large, number of Daily Mirror readers endorsed my attitude, and Cudlipp published

some of the letters.

In fact this is a man of un-

usual qualities. He has a touch

like the mule, have no progeny. Lord Camrose was kindly, shrewd, and not without create genius but he failed to

And the man or

Obviously unable to restrain na rival in any other country. he will not only ол be a user of newsprint bus a

supplier.

his exuberance Cudlipp sound. In addition ed the trumpet of triumph the front Mirror on New Year's Day la these terms:

page of the Dally

INTO 1959

With The Mirror!

(Firing on all cylinders) The great Wing- ton Churchill, re- ferring

the enemy, once asked:

to

"What kind of a people do they think we are?”

The Mirror's critics

are, always asking: "What kind of a newspaper do think you

you are?"

If you expect the Mirror to be stuffed with pious plati- tudes you reading the wrong paper.

are

Try The Times instead. Or the Daily Herald.

Does the Mirror drop bricks? Sure. So does the Duke of Edinburgh. Some people don't like his racy language. Sometimes he Despite all this it came as great

doesn't surprise when it was

like ours. But he still reads the Mirror.

succeed him.

who could

11

of genius, just as he suffers known that Hugh Cudlipp and from Du impetuosity which his Mirror Croup had entered semetimes leads him into Into negotiations, troubled waters. Sowehow he has

altered the Daily Mirror from a tile tattle paper to a

So

powerful political tabloid. affects everyone. Accordingly widespread are the activities of Cudlipp took on a daily com- the Daily Mirror-Sunday Pic- mentator nomai

to torial Group that they also

Connor

of Cas- which

write the column which appears acquired newsprint interests, under the pen name

mean that they Bro that classical Bandra,

ngure secure

in the nctuat เฟ which altered WDC WOC warn- material of their trade. ings.

Connor's column is published It is part of the universality every day in the Dally Mirror of the Daily Mirror and lis and so lo his frowning visage. Sabbath offspring that they le

A British Crossword Puzzle

13

14

18

AUBOBS

3. Essay (8).

Go to bed (0).

9 Asse (8).

11 Worried (0),

12 Twisted (4).

13 Spaniard (8).

19 Admite (4)..

22 Contrité (8).

18 Challenges (6),

24 Gunered (8).

20 Unrullesi ·(0),

26 Without equal (0),

10

20.

21

22

23

24

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DOWN

Interval ().

Denude (5),

Entertained (7).

4 Reposo (4),

5 Greedy (4).

6. Likenessa (6).

7 Builds (0).

10 Volor (8).

14. Nominates (0),

18 Dweils (7).

10

Tittle-laitle (0).

17 Freedom of recoes (8).

20 Fun and games (5).

21. Precipitous (5),

21 Medically prescribed ́(4). 23 · Capó (4).

.

PRIDAYS CROSSWORD. — AGFOUR

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London Express Service

TARGET

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VDR

How many WOTCH.Of tony, jelteri DE MEDEN ORE TOU MAKE

To m Jetters in the TOUREN ON the left 7 L making excis sort, ili lestare in each of Lle BELI Squares may be used onye ONE. Fach word must ike large jetter in TER

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SOLUTION

YESTERDAY'S 2. Arting artim Kgla agist agudačie

So

does Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Private ly he tells people he thinks the Mirror is fair to him. The Mirror will continuo

to

print the truth- for or against the Premier, What could be fairer than that?.

The Mirror may not make friends→→ but at least it makes enemies. This paper told the truth about Suez at the right time-and lost 75,000 readers. It spoke out about an "in- cident" involving British troops in Cyprus. At least the Coroner who inves- tigated the affair agreed.

This newspaper has always held that опе man unem- ployed through no fault of his own is one too many. There

employer will find a shrinking area of opportunity to which

he can tum.

There they stand, the men who control the destinies of working journalists. Viscount Astor of the (Daily) Times; Viscount Kemalcy of the Sunday Times group: Lord Beaverbrook with his Daily Express, Sunday Express and Evening Standard: The Berry family's Daily Tele graph: The Daily Mail, The Daily Sketch and The Evening News owned by-Lord Rother- more, The Evening Star owned by

From a national standpoint what does it all mean? In

the Cadbury family; The evliably Cudlips will announce Sunday Observer owned by a that his publications are in- branch of the Autor family; the dependent of political parties, struggling Sunday Reynolds They

will praise or criticise financed by th Co-Operative according to their lights, But Societies, the poor title Com- since the Dally

which Mirror is the munist Daily Worker torchbearer it

certainty sever knows whether it will that the TOD will bo have to pack up through lack of politically neutral-against the revenue and circulation and the Tories!

Newa Chronicle, representing The fading Liberat point of

Personally 1 feel in is only view. fale for the Socialist Party to have a stronger press than sexista

cannot at present. I make myself rejoice over the matter but it is impossible to deny the Justice of such change.

a

Yet there is one aspect dis- which is fundamentally turbing. Not only have a number 01 newspapers and magazines gone down to the onslaught of television, but moro and more newspapers are coming under the combines and losing their individual independence,

In my me in Fleet Street I have seth many publications feld up, not only newspapers but magazines as well. Now as the now situation develops it will be increasingly difficult to compete with the newsprint- cum-newspaper group.

And from the human sido a journalist who runs foul of his

Cypnes finemployment

Bournemouth

To those of you who live abroad, it might seem that the cholco of newspapers offered to the reading public of Britain is both wide and varied. That is partially true but it is not the whole truth. The trouble is not too few news- that there are papers but because there are too fow proprietors.

Now we must add the name of Hugh Cudlipp who, will hold power over an immense collec- tion of publications and periodl- cals and therefore their staff.

But there is no moral to my tale. My real purposo waa_to Introduce to you the Dorian Grey of Fleet Street with bla poet's brow and the pagini's wallop. The name is Hugh Codlipp.

Con

They started to call

him Blunder Mac! -by Cummings

Er-ah-um, Y. you've

∙n-n-never had

it

go good!

QUESTION TIME

I had so hoped to be "Wonder-Mac" - now I even

wake up

flapping

A

FEW

DAYS

586,000 too

are Now many

LATER

out of jobs.

... Mr Iain Macleod, Minister of

once

Tory Labour, praised the Mirror's record on Indus-

Tory Party Con- ference. He should Mirror rend the with extra atteną tion in 1989.

End quote

But,

•*. Not the best Prime Minister we've got!

Not serious Harold, you what you're Should see suffering from is

the doctor

• AND BACK IN LONDON

wonder Mac!

Wonder Mackm ALAINT CONT?

Wonder/

Mac!

WAR

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