THE GERMAN PRESS IN WAR TIME

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3110, 14 June 1917, Page 6

THE GERMAN PRESS IN WAR TIME

AS DILIGENTLY FOSTERED AS THE

ARMY

PART OF THE WAR MACHINE

(By Mio London "Times" Corrc-spondont Formerly in Berlin.)

From the outbreak of war it was obious that the German Government intended to make the utmost possible, uso of publicity. Whilo other countries seemed to consider the suppression of news to be »ii essential condition of successful conduct of war, and made secrecy their ideal, the Germans rapidly set about tho organisation of publicity as one of their most important weapons. The consequences a.s regards propaganda, generally are now familiar. Like so much, else in the German scheme, the propaganda, campaign suffered in the long run from having been devised for a. short war. II: was no more foreseen that: the world would have time to recover from, the German literary hurricane than (hat Germany's enemies would have time to outdo the ITin. ICrupp.howitzers.

While, however, the general question of propaganda is now beyond dispute, what is less well understood is the German view of the actual and permanent importance of the Pre". Those who are Familiar with Busch's "Secret Page-" know how Bismarck used the Press, lrath i:i tho preparation for the war of IS7A and in the conduct of .the war. Not only was he untiring during the war with lf.fn.nce in the personal direction of the most various organs of opinion, but he had as keen nn eye. for a cartoon in "Kladdoradatseh" or a picture in the "Tllustrirto Zeitung" a.s for a carefullyplaced article in some provincial German paper or a foreign magazine. Bismarck's successors have followed his cxample\ with the liiffereaces dictated by time and'changed conditions. They still consider, as Bismarck did, that the "Cologne Gazette" is worth an Army Corps on the Rhine, and they consider that Germany cannot Save too many newspaper and magazine units of every sort and size. German Press Strategy. The main objects of German I'ress strategy appear to be three—the maintenance of moral at home and the information and guidance of German opinion; secondly, propaganda in Allied and neutral countries; and, thirdly, the maintenance of the Press in tho highest possible stale of efficiency with s_ view to instant, operations on the conclusion of peace. The third of these object) has not. been sufficiently appreciated. German politicians are. constantly discussing the reform of the diplomatic and Consular services; but they are probably paying even morn attention to the reform of the Press machine. ar<l especially to tho establishment of a German "World's news service." Articles on this subject are constantly appearing in German technical and economic periodicals. In the early stages of Ihc war it was argued mainly that for Gernyvny's .political and economic purposes freedom from foreign influence and State initiative were tho chief requirements. Now, however, it is generally held that the great object is to maintain and strengthen all possiblo "news" connections in all parts of (he, world, and that, it is only the Press, with its real or apparent independence, which can form tho foundation of German political and economic publicity. This is ono oF the main reasons why tho German Government keeps the interests of tho German newspaperstn the front, no matter what 'the difficulties may be.

Meanwhile Hie Prow is retarded iib Hip r.hiof .support of public opinion, and ;ia infinitely the most important weapon for life in neutral countries. The exportation of Gorman newspapers and periodicals of all sorts is enronraged, tjoH only with utter disregard (o general trnrlo policy, but with complete, indifforonre to the cost. Government agencies "plaeo" Gorman newspapers—including those which ii.ro in apparent .opposition to the German Government—with tho same zeal with which they "place" speci-ally-manufactured nropagonda. German papers aro scattered free of eost through the hotels of Scandinavia, Holland, Switzerland, and Spain, and _ every encouragement is given to tho increase of Iheir foreign circulation. Tt is evident that this remarkaWo nowspaper policy, conducted on such a scale, involves very special efforts for a. country which is exhausting every possible source of power and energy, and is compelled to out off all unnecessary manufactures, and, as regards such importation ns is possible to givo precedence ruthlessly to articles of priino importance. Favoured Treatment. It is nevertheless a tact that in the wlmlo sphero of German production an<l consumption there is nothing that has heen so little affected as tho newspapers. About a year ago there weio unmistakable signs' of a paper crisis in Germany. Tho newspapers began to announce that owing to the scarcity and increased cost of paper it had beeonio necessary to raiso the price of subscriptions and also of advertisements, tmd at tho end of March, 1916, a largo increase' in tho price ot paper took place. As a matter of fact, the increases in price of newspapers never exceeded from 10 to 20 por ceDt. at most. The "Cologne Gazette," for example, increased its local subscription, prico from 28s. to 30s. a your, but it has remained at that figure for the past twelve months.

The result of the German newspaper policy is that comparison of any wellknown publication to-day with the same publication in i9U shows that there has Ijeen little or no change. This applies just as much to tho illustrated and comic papers, or, for example, to popular weekly publications like the "Woche" as to the daily newspapers. The strength of the newspapers is astonishing. Take, for example, tho "Frankfurter Zeituug." It lias recently ptiblisked upon an average 108 pages a week, or the 'equivalent of 18 pages a day in the case of newspaper which appears on six days of the week, and yet a page of the "Frankfurter Zeitung" is only a little smaller than a page of "The Times." Tho "Berliner Tageblatt," one of the most widely circulated and most popular papers ui Germany, averages IGS pages a week, or 28 pages a day for a six-day week. A page of tho ".Tageblatt" is just Iralf of a pago of "The Times," so that the "Tagoblatt's" daily space is equivalent to that of a. H-pago issue of "The Times." On Sundays the "Berliner Tageblatt" publishes 52 pages, which, with a probable circulation of at least 250,000 copies, requires about 47J toils of paper! I An examination of other newspapers would vield similar statistics, and it should be added that the maintenance of undiminished advertisements is as striking a feature as the maintenance of unaltered news columns. There are as many advertisements now as before the war, and the abundance of small advertisements is particularly noticeable. One of the most Teinarkable features of the illustrated papers is that they are.able to maintain their colour work to practically the same, extent, an dof (he same quality, a-; before the war. As regards man-power, the newspapers have throughout received special consideration from "tho military authorities, being treated on much the same basis, as Government offices, which in Germany enjoy no general rights of exemption, but retain such man-power as is absolutely neees.-ju-y for efficiency. Similarly, under the national service scheme, the Press will be affected only in hi far as inquiry may prove it to bo over-staffed.