Now in the United States, Australia and elsewhere in the free world, a similar situation prevails. Thus commercially speaking, there is no more competition between television and press than there is between Time, Life and Fortune. Even so, there is no possible doubt that the two media, the visual image and the printed word, have profoundly influenced one another. Take the case of the evening newspaper. When I add that even public housesas sacred in the English way of life as women's clubs are in the Americanhave suffered a like deprivation from the same cause, you will understand the magnitude of the threat.
Morning newspapers are less afflicted.
But they too have been forced to take account of the fact that news may well have lost its bloom of television by the time they print it, that prized features may have wilted because of some tedious discussion program the night before. Oversimplifying, I'd list three. My own preference, I hasten to say, is point three, but before going into that a little more fully, let me say a little word about one and two. A controversial figure, I wrote even more foolishly than usual as a consequence. The only noticeable result of this strained situation was that it became difficult for me to engage in clandestine pursuitslike adulteryfor the very simple and cogent reason that in hotels and other resorts where adulterers consort one was immediately recognized, to the embarrassment of all concerned.