NOTES 291 



Journalism has attempted to overcome these handicaps by 

 gaining the same immediate attention for the printed as the 

 spoken word. Its success has been emphatic, particularly 

 during the past few years ; everybody reads newspapers now, 

 and many people read three or four a day. 



Nobody would dispute the power of the Press ; indeed, 

 politics, like the pulpit, has often shown itself more than a 

 little jealous, and while it asks favours in private, is apt to 

 denounce, or at least disavow, the newspapers in public — a 

 pleasantly human contradiction at Westminster that some- 

 times amuses Fleet Street. 



But most thoughtful journalists will admit themselves 

 dubious whether the Press has much real power, and still more 

 doubtful whether it is increasing. As a purveyor of news, 

 it is, of course, unique. But the sale of news by itself gives 

 no more power than the sale of any other article in universal 

 demand ; it is the views that count as propaganda, and the 

 influence of newspaper views on public opinion may easily be 

 exaggerated. 



In 1905, for instance, the Press, and particularly the London 

 Press, was predominantly Unionist ; but the General Election 

 yielded a huge Liberal majority. In 191 8 there were several 

 Liberal dailies and no Labour dailies, while the Labour weeklies 

 were obscure and inadequate sheets ; but the Liberal party 

 shrank to a bare handful, while Labour more than doubled its 

 representation. Since 191 8 Labour has established a daily 

 newspaper — the communist Daily Herald — but the communist 

 faith has perceptibly declined, and political Labour has not 

 apparently increased its authority. 



It is the same with personal as with pubhc matters. Mr. 

 Asquith ignored the Press ; it did not prevent him from becom- 

 ing Prime Minister for eight years. Neither Mr. Lloyd George 

 nor Mr. Winston Churchill has been wholly indifferent to 

 Fleet Street, possibly because both have been denounced year 

 in and year out by powerful newspapers ; yet neither has 

 found his position impossible, as it should have been long 

 ago, could leading articles and headlines have decided the fate 

 of statesmen. 



On the other hand, the Prime Minister has seen, and has at 

 least not discouraged, the new Coalition Press that has sprung 

 up since 191 6. By a series of singular coincidences, titles have 

 suitably rewarded the faithful proprietors of these journals. 

 But their large circulations and valiant propaganda have not 

 noticeably increased the popularity of the Government, which 

 has fluctuated visibly month by month according to the events, 

 and not according to the comments of the day. 



The late Prof. Schreiner is said to have remarked that 



