The Political Re-Education of Germany and her Allies by Nicholas Pronay Keith Wilson

Author:Nicholas Pronay, Keith Wilson [Nicholas Pronay, Keith Wilson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367247935
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2021-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

V Conclusion

Anxieties concerning the possible ruin of the system of licensed papers made the British and the American authorities take precautions against possible undesirable consequences of what has been called the end of the monopoly or the opening of the free market. Developments up to 1954 fostered the illusion that the liberation of the market really was possible. Actually, only the proprietors of printing plants returned to the newspaper business. At the end of 1949 there were 87 licensed papers in the British Zone including weeklies and official periodicals. Within three months 197 newspapers of the old publishers, some under their old titles, had reappeared. In the other two Western Zones the disproportion seemed even greater, with 59 licensed and 240 old newspapers in the US Zone, and 19 licensed against 150 old newspapers in the French Zone. But, in spite of this, the larger share in circulation remained with the licensed press. It soon became obvious that the newly published newspapers were competing mainly with the regional or local editions of licensed papers, 400 of which were in the British Zone, 120 in the US-Zone and 174 in the French Zone. A significant reduction in the number of licensed papers, from 29 to 19, had occurred only in the French Zone. The situation in Berlin remained stable until the sixties.

There was one notable difference after 1949 which prevented a mere return to the situation of 1932. In 1932 only 1.4% of the German newspapers had a circulation of over 50,000 copies. In 1949 there were only 1.4% with a circulation under 20,000 copies, but over 80% with more than 50,000. By 1952 the return of the old publishers resulted in over 60% of all German newspapers having less than 20,000 copies, but more than 10% with over 50,000 copies: seven times more than in 1932.

Today, the majority of the 120 newspapers have a circulation of well over 50,000 copies and, among the largest the majority were licensed before 1949. Since 1952 the non-subscription popular newspapers with a circulation of up to 5 million daily gained a growing share in the entire German newspaper circulation, said to be about 21 million copies in West Germany and West Berlin.

Circulation figures, of course, have little relation to the standards which the British tried to implement, which amounted to the well-known formula of separating news from comment. This did not survive for long even amongst the British themselves. In November 1947, a member of the Foreign Service, J.O. Reichenheim, of German Jewish origin, in a document arguing against Sefton Delmer’s emphasis on ‘news value’ as defined in British journalism, referred favourably to ‘the valuable traditions and trends in the German press and publicity’. [71] Reichenheim recalled ‘the still existing remnants of qualified (German) journalism’ thinking of the Frankfurter Zeitung, Berliner Tageblatt and Kölnische Zeitung, all of which had continued to be published well into the Nazi era, and were either turned into Nazi organs or, at least, had been forced to follow suit.

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