For them there are published a few whole newspapers, and
sections of others, devoted to the personal lives of a set of
imaginary people, with whose gorgeous vices the reader can in his
fancy safely identify himself. Mr. Hearst's unflagging interest in
high society caters to people who never hope to be in high society,
and yet manage to derive some enhancement out of the vague feeling
that they are part of the life that they read about. In the great
cities "the printed diary of the home town" tends to be the printed
diary of a smart set.
And it is, as we have already noted, the dailies of the cities which
carry the burden of bringing distant news to the private citizen. But
it is not primarily their political and social news which holds the
circulation. The interest in that is intermittent, and few publishers
can bank on it alone. The newspaper, therefore, takes to itself a
variety of other features, all primarily designed to hold a body of
readers together, who so far as big news is concerned, are not able to
be critical. Moreover, in big news the competition in any one
community is not very serious. The press services standardize the main
events; it is only once in a while that a great scoop is made; there
is apparently not a very great reading public for such massive
reporting as has made the New York Times of recent years indispensable
to men of all shades of opinion.
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