RUNNING NEWSPAPERS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 47, 23 January 1884, Page 3

RUNNING NEWSPAPERS.

By some unaccountable missapprehension of facts (observes a contemporary) there is a large class of people in the world who think that it costs little or nothing to run a newspaper, and if they buy a copy occasionally they are regular patrons, and entitled to unlimited favotßi Men ask for a copy of newspapers for nothing who would never dream of begging a pocket handkerchief from a draper’s store, or a piece of candy from a confectioner, even upon the plea of having done business with them before. One paper is not much, but thirty or forty at each issue will amount to something in the course of time. But this is a small drain compared to the free advertising a newspaper is expected to do. Some people when once having purchased a copy, think they are shareholders in the establishment for eternity. Without being represented in its advertising columns, we have had people request us to gratuitously insert this notice, or draw attention to this article, with the Slight suggestion that “it will not cost you anything to put this in,” which is just as ridiculous as to ask a man to grind your axe on his grindstone, and graciously tell him it won’t cost him a cent, It takes money to run a newspaper as well as any other business ; no paper can succeed financially that carries a dead-head system. Any mention of people’s affairs that they are anxious to see in print is worth paying for. and when printed is generally worth as much as any other investment of the same amount. The newspaper business is very exacting on all connected with it, and the pay is comparatively email; the proprietors risk more money for smaller profits, and the editors, reporters, and printers work harder and cheaper than the same number of men in any other profession requiring the given amount of intelligence, training, and drudgery. The life has its charms and pleasant associations, scarcely known to the outside world; but it has its earnest work and anxieties, and hours of exhaustion, which also are not known to those who think the business is all fun. The idea that newspaperdom is a charmed circle, where the favored members live a life of ease, are free from care and go to the circus at night on a free ticket, and to Coney Island on free passes in the steamer, is an idea which should be explained. Business is business, and the journal that succeeds is the one that is run on a square business footing, the same as banking, building bridges, or keeping a hotel.