I SEE BY THE PAPERS
Lasch, Robert
I see by the papers By ROBERT LASCH A Campaign Diary Nearly everybody was saying, during the early stages of the Presidential campaign, that Adlai Stevenson was getting a better break in the...
...Where most papers consider the news to be Stevenson's differing with Truman, the Parsons Sun sees it otherwise: Adlai Commends Truman Efforts in Party Behalf, says its headline...
...Since newspapers vary so widely in their conscientiousness and competence there is no easy way to apply a yardstick to the press as a whole...
...But the most interesting story of the day is the one about a Republican Congressional candidate who quoted Ike as agreeing with him that it is time for small farmers to get off their seats and work like anybody else...
...Indianapolis Star: Ike Calls Adlai Farm Plan 'Mockery...
...The Indianapolis Star considers one of the big stories of the day a dispatch reporting that the Saturday Evening Post has come out for Eisenhower...
...The Des Moines Register and the Baltimore Sun give it the second banner line on Page One...
...Ike is in Iowa, and the Des Moines Register gives him and Mamie almost all of Page One, reserving one impartial column for Adlai's speech in Silver Spring, Md., replying to Ike's broadcast...
...The Denver Post, heavily local in tradition, plays up Adlai Maps Campaign Visit to Denver Soon, and overplays a Hagerty handout on the Suez conference: Ike Places Accent on Peace...
...In the Star, Ike Ends Brief Visit at Gettysburg Farm gets equal play, on Page Two, with Estes Urges Free Flow of People, Ideas...
...Saturday, Sept...
...Ike gives Dick a sendoff on his first campaign tour...
...Parsons Sun: Vice President in Broadside at Opponent (again, the foe unnamed...
...Short items on the same page report Mother of Nixon Flies to Capital, and Nixon Father Will Filed for Probate...
...Baltimore Sim: Nixon Raps Kefauver Tactics...
...But though the over-all impression is generally favorable, and though Stevenson seems to be doing better than in 1952, a curious result turns up when you try to evaluate news emphasis...
...Tuesday, Sept...
...Reading a small-town daily, one is impressed by the bare-bones treatment of all political news...
...Eisenhower Blames Democrats for Farm Price Drop, says the Baltimore Sun, giving the story second position on Page One...
...Thursday, Sept...
...Quite unconventionally, the Baltimore Sun devotes a Page One banner to a phase of Nixon's Whittier speech which most papers gloss over: Nixon Praises Stevenson Statement on Hiss Dispute...
...Nixon Hits Rivals' 'War Prosperity' (Los Angeles Times...
...Brownell Assails Kefauver Charge...
...Wednesday, Sept...
...In Los Angeles the Times, which does not often use a James Reston story, today splashes on Page One his report: Stevenson Advisers Split Over Campaign Strategy...
...Friday, Sept...
...I see by the papers By ROBERT LASCH A Campaign Diary Nearly everybody was saying, during the early stages of the Presidential campaign, that Adlai Stevenson was getting a better break in the newspapers than he did four years ago...
...His location of headquarters in Washington gave him ready access to the nation's most highly organized press facilities...
...The afternoon Denver Post gives the speech good position on Page One: Adlai Charges Nixon Becoming Real GOP Boss...
...The Des Moines Register and the Indianapolis Star give it no attention...
...Adlai Assails GOP Farm Program, says the eight-column line, and the story reports that "Democratic officials claimed" his crowd was 5,000 larger than Nixon's...
...The Sun is so impressed by Stevenson's statement on Hiss that it pursues Leonard Hall and demands comment, which he dodges...
...F.D.R...
...Herewith are my notes on the New York Herald Tribune, the Indianapolis Star, the Baltimore Sun, the Des Moines Register, the Denver Post, the Parsons (Kans...
...Certainly his press relations had improved...
...a Benson speech, Secretary Jabs Demo Farm Plan...
...Nixon Debunks 'Truman Jalopy' (Indianapolis Star...
...Elsewhere the papers say Ike saw 100,000 people...
...Ike in Swings at Opposition Farm Program, says the Parsons Sun, and one wonders why the headline writer could not bring himself to use the word "Democratic...
...One Los Angeles Times headline strikes a note of religious awe: Has Been Given Strength for Challenge of Future, He Says in Broadcast . . . The Times continues to display its unbounded fondness for Nixon...
...This is a tricky business, inherently inaccurate, and not to be accomplished merely by measuring column inches devoted to each party...
...On advance billing he does better than Kefauver, but not as well as Nixon, getting a modest Page One notice under a cartoon...
...The New York Herald Tribune puts it on Page Eight under the noncommittal headline: Visitor's Jab at Farmers Sets White House Astir...
...GOP Advance in Labor Vote Seen by Nixon (Baltimore Sun...
...I formed the distinct impression, from watching seven newspapers of varied geographical location, that a greater effort is being made this year than in 1952 to play fair with both candidates...
...Eisenhower and the Republicans received top position on Page One forty-four times...
...and Leonard Hall's exploitation of the Hiss case, Hall-Truman Feud Holds...
...Stevenson Challenged on Truman Defense of Hiss...
...The Baltimore Sun gives Page One, Column One, to Ike Accepts Stevenson's 'Challenge' a dope story from Gettysburg, and equally overplays Stevenson's arrival in Washington...
...Most papers think the story worth Page One, the Baltimore Sun giving it a second eight-column banner...
...The Star does not remind its readers what the Nixon crowd was (25,000, it said at the time) and its caption of a crowd picture detachedly asks: "Was the Crowd Larger than the Nixon Throng...
...Says its Page One headline: Iowa Corn Farmers, 60,000 of 'Em, Yell Their Liking for Ike...
...For publicity purposes, the picture is worth a half-dozen press conferences...
...It appears he only said: "We see the time not too far distant when we can have a four-day week . . ." An excellent example of Dick's capacity, as in the Truman-is-a-traitor case, for getting into the headlines on the basis of an impression not borne out by his actual words...
...Los Angeles Times: Eisenhower Rips Farm Program of Stevenson...
...Eisenhower and the Republicans got it ninety-five times...
...The Baltimore Sun plays Ike on Page One under Suez...
...but in the Times, as in the New York Herald Tribune, the head says: Mrs...
...Eisenhower makes a farm speech in Peoria, and the news editors almost unanimously view it as defensive...
...So it seemed...
...On the inside pages, Stevenson and the Democrats received top position forty-eight times during the same period...
...Talbott Not Corrupt, Says Summerfield...
...The same story gets different handling in the Baltimore Sun: Nix on Scored by Mrs...
...Stevenson's first "position paper," on aid to the elderly, gets a good play in most papers, there being little other news...
...Was it a tight word count in headline writing or something else, that kept the rival's name secret...
...In the Parsons (Kans...
...Inside, Ike gets a four-column picture of his Newton crowd and Adlai gets a two-column picture with AFL-CIO President George Meany...
...Some critical reporters say Ike's reception at the plowing match was tepid, but you would never know it from the Denver Post (President's Iowa Talk 'Warms Up' Farmers) or the New York Herald Tribune (Farm Belt Crowds Hail Eisenhower) or the Parsons Sun (Iowa Reception Fans Republican Farm Belt Hopes...
...It gets a Page One top banner line in the Baltimore Sun, similar play with a big picture in the Los Angeles Times, an eight-column Page One banner in the Des Moines Register, and major position in the New York Herald Tribune...
...touis Post-Dispatch, won an Atlantic Prize for his article, "For A Free Press...
...By combining well-timed speeches, statements, news conferences, and the issuance of treatises on special subjects, he managed to get into the news columns far oftener than he did in 1952...
...Democratic' Wars Aided Farms, Nixon Says (New York Herald Tribune...
...Fit Ike Gets Set to Mark Heart Attack, in the words of the Indianapolis Star...
...But the Parsons, Kans., Sun, not easily impressed, gives the story only six inches on Page Two...
...Sun, Stevenson gets three inches under a small Page One headline on his press conference...
...Kefauver gets a modest one-column head below the fold to announce his arrival, and a deprecatory, minor story on his appearance: Kefauver Shakes Hands, but Crowds Are Small...
...The Baltimore Sun finds its unique angle: Stevenson Calls for 'More Candor' on State of World, which gets superior play to Ike's Iowa trip . . . Interesting to note the variations of emphasis in reporting Nixon's Spokane speech in which he accused Kefauver of "low" tactics, consisting of openly doubting Ike's devotion to the plain people...
...The best way of measuring the campaign performance of the press is to read a fair sample of newspapers steadily and note how all of them do from day to day...
...I ruled out non-political news and local politics, paying attention only to stories directly connected with the Presidential campaign In the seven papers I read, Stevenson and the Democrats received top position on Page One thirty times during a two-week test period...
...And the New York Herald Tribune: Stevenson Gets Pledge by Meany . . . Amazing how the size of the Ike crowd in Iowa is so widely accepted as pregnant with meaning...
...Labels Eisenhower Part-time President, No Longer Master...
...His noon-hour speech in Monument Square (where Nixon also spoke) is treated as the second-best story of the day, with ample Page One space...
...In the Los Angeles Times, the Stevenson story gets Page One treatment: Stevenson, Joe Smith in Capital...
...Adlai Says Ike 'Not Master in Own House,' cries the Register...
...A picture of the leave-taking is Page One stuff everywhere...
...I leave it to you...
...In Indianapolis, Nixon's first speech gets a black eight-column banner in the Star: Keep Prosperity, Nixon Says, and a story beginning objectively: "Don't swap Republican prosperity for a Democratic Administration that was never able to produce prosperity in time of peace, Vice President Richard M. Nixon exhorted . . ." The Los Angeles Times, which has an ill-concealed passion for Dick, proves that distance makes the heart grow fonder by giving his Indianapolis speech almost as heavy a play as the Star, along with a five-column picture, dominating the front page, of Ike bidding Dick farewell...
...Several papers note that the anniversary of Ike's heart attack is approaching...
...Monday, Sept...
...The Sun's leading political story is about a local man named head of district Democrats, but Stevenson's appearance in Oklahoma goes unnoticed...
...Inside, Nixon and the GOP truth squad get a four-column picture and his tour itinerary is printed in full alongside a build-up for his California speech...
...Furthermore, the typical newspaper still seems to regard Republican news as somehow more important than Democratic news...
...The whole paper is politics: a six-column picture of Ike at Newton on Page One, a story about Adlai's forthcoming speech at the plowing match, a Nixon speech on civil rights, a big picture of Democratic Chairman Paul Butler with a campaign newspaper, an Estes speech, a full page of Ike pictures, texts of Adlai and Ike speeches, a three-column picture of Ike meeting the plowing champions, a two-column picture of Ike at the mike, a four-column picture of Ike being greeted by admirers...
...Los Angeles Times: Nixon Accuses Kefauver of 'Low-Road' Tactics . . . The Denver Post is carried away with long-distance exuberance from Iowa...
...For a dull day, the Times finds lots of Republican news in radio and TV appearances: Conservatives Advised to Back Republicans...
...Stevenson Calls Nixon Real Republican Leader, says the Sun...
...The Parsons Sun, mildly uninterested as usual, gives Ike in Iowa a little over half a column on Page One, and Adlai similar space on Page Two under the headline: Ike Guilty of Half Truths, Rival Asserts...
...Pictures are an important part of campaign news, but it is surprising how vacuous many of them are: Kefauver shooting an arrow, Nancy Kefauver holding a rural hat, Stevenson with a sack of grass seed, Kefauver with his foot on an elephant, Nixon sleeping on a plane, Estes sleeping on a plane, Ike getting a book from a pastor . . . The Des Moines Register today is still throbbing over its big local story, Ike Visits Iowa...
...Was it coincidence, political bias, or the natural result of the "ins" making more news...
...The Indianapolis Star and Baltimore Sun put it inside, but treat it respectfully...
...When Nixon was here he got a top banner on Page One of the Star to announce his imminent arrival, and another top line, decorated with a picture of Dick and Pat, on his speech...
...Eleanor Roosevelt, who strongly indorsed Stevenson...
...The Indianapolis Star gives it three columns at the top of Page One...
...arrival in Washington modest attention on Page Two...
...Ike is in Gettysburg...
...In Denver, Post readers get the cryptic headline, Dems 'Blow Up' White House Farm Incident...
...It is also remarkable how Nixon manages to be given so many different interpretations on the same day...
...Denials Issued...
...Not much news, but the papers make it anyway...
...The Meany story is handled with some interesting variety...
...On Page Two he gets a top head (Nixon Urges U.S.-State Power Plan), a four-column picture at breakfast' a two-column local story (Nixon Pays Whittier College Surprise Visit...
...The Baltimore Sun boldly tells what it is all about: 'Farmers-Off-Butts' Crack Draws White House Denial...
...The man in office commands a gigantic publicity machine which functions automatically whenever he functions, and in a political campaign nearly every official act bears political significance...
...The Denver Post gives it a Page One banner, the Los Angeles Times a full text and Page One position...
...Over the weekend, Nixon's Colorado speech "pledging" a four-day work week agitates the nation...
...Wednesday, Sept...
...And the Los Angeles Times, with sinister overtones: Meany Meets Stevenson on Campaign Help...
...But the Los Angeles Times shyly neglects to do so: White House Angry Over Misquotation, says its headline on Page Eight...
...Last night was Eisenhower's first TV speech...
...A picture of him with Mamie and grandchildren at the wheel of a stalled jeep catches the fancy of editors the country over...
...Stevenson held a press conference in which he made his statement on Hiss...
...Friday, Sept...
...Coincidence or Bias...
...In Parsons, Kans., things continue quiet...
...And the Indianapolis Star: Adlai Confers With Meany on Labor's Role...
...The Los Angeles Times gives it similar play, but with a more descriptive head: Stevenson Calls Nixon GOP's Chief...
...Indianapolis Star: Nixon Hurls 'Below Belt' Charge at Kefauver...
...The New York Herald Tribune quietly accords the speech a wooden one-column headline on Page One: Stevenson Officially Starts Drive...
...I even heard one experienced observer remark that Adlai Stevenson was getting the most complete and fairest coverage in, of all papers, the Chicago Tribune...
...Close by is the headline, Nixon Demand Turned Down, and you have to read closely to learn that this is about Kefauver refusing to apologize for remarks about Ike...
...the Register with two banner lines on Page One proclaims: 225,000 Greet Ike in Iowa, and its political expert writes a solemn evaluation of Biggest Turnout in State's History...
...Kefauver is in Indianapolis...
...The Oklahoma speech gets a secondary eight-column line on the Des Moines Register front page, and more modest Page One display in the New York Herald Tribune...
...Says the Baltimore Sun: Stevenson, AFL-CIO Chief Confer on Labor Matters...
...The Des Moines Register wisely carries no politics on the front page, gives Adlai's ROBERT tASCH, editorial writer for the St...
...Sun, and the Los Angeles Times for a typical period in the early part of the campaign...
...He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard...
...Opposite on Page Three is a huge picture, occupying one-fourth of the page, of Nixon being given an Indian warbonnet...
...A Hickenlooper interview is reported: Farm Economy Gain Reported by Iowa Senator...
...Asks North to Set Racial Example...
...F.D.R...
...The Denver Post last evening caught its late editions with: Adlai, Truman Differ on Hiss Case on Page One, but the Indianapolis Star this morning puts the Story away back on Page Eleven...
...Maybe it's a nasty word in Kansas...
...Tuesday, Sept...
...Says the lead paragraph: "Senator Estes Kefauver came and saw, but Democratic campaign chiefs admitted they weren't sure he conquered Indianapolis...
...What I did was to note, by rather flexible standards, which party got the top play on Page One, and which got top play on the inside pages...
...Now it's Stevenson's turn in Indianapolis...
...The New York Herald Tribune, handling the same story, resorts to its usual non-descriptive headline: Stevenson in Attack on Eisenhower, which somehow conveys the notion of dirty pool...
...Saturday, Sept...
...The papers are reporting Stevenson's opening speech at Harrisburg, Pa...
...Thursday, Sept...
...Ike Raps Critics' Farm Stand, says the Des Moines Register, which regarded the speech as the top story of the day...
...One of the big TV appearances was that of Mrs...
...Nixon Urges GOP Victory As Best Peace Hope, says the eight-column banner...
...Monday, Sept...
...Today the Denver Post on Page One reports: Nixon Did Not Promise 4-Day Week, Text Check Reveals...
...Even so, a tremendous advantage rests with a Republican incumbent...
...Contrast the Denver Post: 'Ike Gave Only Half of Facts' in Opening Talk, Adlai Charges...
...Nixon Lauds Progress in Civil Rights (Des Moines Register...
...Saturday, Sept...
...Des Moines Register: Nixon Says Estes Hitting 'Below Belt...
...Whether this is due to the tarnishing of the Eisenhower crusade by time, or to an aroused news conscience, or to the critical outcries made during and after 1952, I cannot guess...
...Saturation coverage...
...the Los Angeles Times and New York Herald Tribune make it four columns...
Vol. 20 • November 1956 • No. 11
