The information must come naturally,
that is to say gratis, if not out of the heart of the citizen, then
gratis out of the newspaper. The citizen will pay for his telephone,
his railroad rides, his motor car, his entertainment. But he does not
pay openly for his news.
He will, however, pay handsomely for the privilege of having someone
read about him. He will pay directly to advertise. And he will pay
indirectly for the advertisements of other people, because that
payment, being concealed in the price of commodities is part of an
invisible environment that he does not effectively comprehend. It
would be regarded as an outrage to have to pay openly the price of a
good ice cream soda for all the news of the world, though the public
will pay that and more when it buys the advertised commodities. The
public pays for the press, but only when the payment is concealed.
3
Circulation is, therefore, the means to an end. It becomes an asset
only when it can be sold to the advertiser, who buys it with revenues
secured through indirect taxation of the reader. [Footnote: "An
established newspaper is entitled to fix its advertising rates so that
its net receipts from circulation may be left on the credit side of
the profit and loss account. To arrive at net receipts, I would deduct
from the gross the cost of promotion, distribution, and other expenses
incidental to circulation.
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