THE GERMAN PRESS.

Shannon News, 14 August 1928, Page 1

THE GERMAN PRESS.

AN INTERESTING STUDY. " BERLIN. A most successful attempt to acquaint the newspaper reader more closely with the daily companion on which he so much rplies for information —to supply him with a more intimate ■ knowledge of the • press—has been made by the international press exhibition, "The Pressa," in Cologne. It furnishes the world with most valuable information on the , Organisation of a newspaper, the distribution of _ its news, compos.tion of its advertisements and other questions of importance to the reader as well as to the newspaper expert. The question how to divide up the incoming news, what to print and what to shorten or reject, and how much space shall be taken up by advertisements is vital to the newspaper world' and here the press exhibition furnishes valuable material by showing the wav in which 10 leading German newspapers of different types divide up their space. An average of all 10 shows that 40 per cent, of the space is devoted to general news, 24 per cent, to the business and financial section and 30 per cent, to advertising. The category of general news is- subdivided as follo\vs, the figures giving the percentage of the total space of the newspaper; entertaining articles of a good class, various kinds of reviews, 13 per cent; politics, 11 per cent; local news, 5 per cent.; editorials, economics, miscellaneous reports and sports, 4 per cent. each.

Since some, of these newspapers, being outspoken party organs, probably receive subsidies from outsido sources and thus are able to somewhat neglect their advertising, this average does not quite apply to a newspaper depend cat '"on its own earnings for support. An average of four such papers, the Berliner Tagcblatt, Frankfurter Zeitung, Munehener Ncueste Nackrichten and Hainburger Fremdenblatt, shows these figures: general news, 40 per cent business and financial section, 18 per cent.; advertising, 43 per cent. Noteworthy is the preponderance of good reading material which is typical of the German press. Interesting, too, is the fact that the Frankfurter Zeitung carries only one per cent, and the Berliner Tageldatf only two per' cent, of local news. The latter paper devotes only three per cent, to miscellaneous reports, so that not very -much space is reserved for crime or disaster because a considerable amount of. this 5 per cent, is'taken up by other news.

Truth in Advertising Advised.

Comparatively much space is devot-c<-l in the press exhibition to advertising-, of which a close study has been made. A strong appeal is put forward for truth in advertising. This is of especial value in-view of the fact thai the material collected for the exhibit is based on very careful and unbiased investigations, and . aims to give the best information and make tho. most profitable suggestions. In giving hint." to advertisers one tableau declares: "Abovo all things, an advertisement must be true. Without truth there is no permanent success." In explaining the necessity of adhering - to this de immd, it is stated that it is claimed of eight different toothpastes that they arc the most concentrated in the world. A warning is also issued against the use of foreign words in advertisements which are likely to "becloud" tho reader. For the first time perhaps the educative fr'aluo of studying advertise Rents, 'has been touched upon. It i; j innoun&eij ith,# one week's perusal oJ ' the adverjti.seiwe-jpts in the Berliner r . -oblatt, the Ko".n.er Anzciger and .» x> "Hncr IHustrierte Zcitung, the .ne-uei •'•i nstnir(l( i we ekiv hero, witt. »ost read i.. ~ 1,800,000, acquaint.i cireulat.on c '„ ames of m actoi> he reader with the .. m mußic IS9. authors, 6S compos, *.<, tit]es o( irtists, 136 painters, with lu. „,;<„ 102 plays, 108 books, 66 films am. ~ 5955 prices. Interesting tests were made of tho alertness of advertisers.. It was found that to inquiries 'wade in reply to advertisements, 3/i per cent, of "the-'art I vertiscrs answered after two -days,. 25 per cent, after three days, 10 per" cent. I'fter four days, 0 per cent, after five days, 5 per cent, niter six days and 10 per cent, after eight to 26 days.

Few Valuable Replies. Of these, 59 per cent, sent merely printed matter, 12 per cent., sent ordinary letters, 9 per cent, sent two lei--ters, 7 per cent, accompanying letters, 0 per cent, post* cards and 4 per cent, 'samples. Sixty-five per cent, replied only* once, 11 per cent.'twice, one did this three times; two, four times; one, five times; and two, seven times. Of tie replies 18.6 per cent, were regarded as really valuable, 43 per cent, as fair and 38.4 per cent, as insufficient. Among the hints .given- to advertisers- are the following: Employ words in common use; avoid words having more, than six letters; never forget that the paper of newspapers is gray not white, that print is often gray not black; in selecting a newspaper find out its circulation, number of subscribers, estimated number of readers, their professions and the.positions they fire ; likely to hold in them, and the , day's.'on which the various supplements are published. The effect of advertisements should be tested in three'' different ways, - it is suggested, by technical experiments, by submitting them to experts -and to laymen. 1

Careful track should be kept of the way they are dealt.with by the paper. Another interesting inquiry at the; •xhibition was that held by the local •uthoritics among boys and girls q£ Cologne schools as to what;- attracted most in the newspapers. The lK are an open defeat for reports Vesult3 -oceedings and disaster, a court p. news they gave preferAsked what -«; S) 28*6 per cent, of nee to in the piv. 17 years, re?he boys, aged from 1„ -» n t. were indied "sports," 17.3 per c> 13.3 forested 'in miscellaneous nc. *• in r-er cent, in politics, 11.5 per eeiu. -.hort stones and general literature, 10 S per cent, in novels, but only 1 per cent, showed any special interest in court trials and only 2.3 pur cent, cared to read about disaster and accidents. Of the girls of the- stune age 20.7 per cent, gave preference to novels, 20.4 per cent, preferred miscellaneous news, 17.4 per cent, short stories, 14.7 per cent, local news, 10.8 per cent, sports, 7.4 per cent, news about disaster and accidents, 0.2 per cent, to court trial reports.