Comics v. News

When the British press is criticized for its slim coverage of U.S. and world affairs, London editors have had a ready answer: the newsprint shortage. Last week the British press had its newsprint ration slightly increased--and used most of it for comic strips, features and fiction.

Most London dailies expanded from four to six pages, three days a week. Only the News Chronicle devoted the bulk of this extra space to wider reporting of politics and industry. By contrast, Beaver-brook's Daily Express added Dick Tracy and Kit Conquest to its comic strips, expanded the letters-to-the-editor column, and turned Woman's Editor Anne Edwards loose for two columns on her favorite foods and pet hates. The Daily Mirror, locked in a circulation war with the Express, also added a woman's page to its successful formula of sex-plus-Socialism.

This use of the additional newsprint stirred up a bitter argument in Fleet Street pubs like the Codgers and the Two Brewers. Exploded one news editor: "After all our outcry for more paper, what do we do with it? Throw it away on women's tripe, godawful strips and shoddy fiction!" Replied a feature editor: "Go bury your head! Variety, entertainment, interest . . . Let's shovel it in by the bucket!"

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