Biggest News

Like grandstand experts naming their All-American football teams, leading editors of the U. S. select the Ten Biggest News Stories of the year. Last week President Karl A. Bickel of the United Press, General Manager Kent Cooper of Associated Press, and President Frank E. Mason of International News Service announced their lists, agreed unanimously on only three: Robert Tyre Jones's four-fold golf victories. The Columbus, Ohio, prison fire. The crash of the R-101. The finding of the bodies of Arctic Explorer Andree and his companions, which developed into something of a Hearst scoop (TIME, Sept. 1 et seq.), headed the list of Hearst's I. N. S. But A. P.'s honest Cooper also placed it at the top, risking the inference that the A. P. was beaten on the biggest story of the year. A year ago the birth of the Lindbergh baby might well have taken high rank among International stories, but since Col. Lindbergh discriminated against Hearst's getting the baby's picture (TIME, July 21) the name of Lindbergh is not hallowed in Hearstpaper offices. A. P. and U. P. both included the nativity in their lists, but not I. N. S. However, I. N. S.

alone mentioned the London Naval Disarmament Conference.

United Press ignored Andree but made sole reference to the Russian situation, in reporting which the U. P. takes great pride. Remaining stories in each list: U. P.--The economic situation; November's elections; the Gandhi movement; South American revolutions; the Italian earthquake. A.

P.--The Coste & Bellonte flight; the Gandhi movement; the U. S. Drought; the discovery of Planet X (Pluto); the return of King Carol. I. N. S.--November's election; Coste & Bellonte; South American revolutions; return of King Carol; Italian earthquake. Editor & Publisher carried the survey further, asked editors to imagine what might be the "sweetest" news break of 1931 (barring death and disaster). Some imaginings: Roy Wilson Howard, chairman of Scripps-Howard papers, Paul Patterson, president of Baltimore Sun, Ik Shuman, executive editor of Paul Block newspapers, and others: Affirmation by the Supreme Court of Judge Clark's decision invalidating the 18th Amendment (TIME, Dec. 29). Philadelphia Bulletin's Editor Fred Ful ler Shedd: Return of U. S. Steel Corp. to full-time operation. New York World's Managing Editor Ralph Renaud:

Simultaneous overthrow of the Soviet system in Russia and establishment of a Soviet system in England by Parliamentary decree; also, discovery of life on Mars through the new 200-in. telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. Kansas City Star's Editor H. J. Haskell 1) Discovery of a new source of power through the release of atomic energy; 2) Announcement from a responsible source of a cure for cancer; 3) Incontrovertible proof of a spirit message from Conan Doyle.

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