Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-05-19
Cost of Publishing a Newspaper.


A newspaper agency in New York has
been Investigating the reason why some
newspapers charge more than others for
advertising. There is certainly a great
difference in newspaper advertising rates.
The leading dailies of the great cities of
the North and West charge from SOC. to
81 per line.
The agency in question, however, has
not been giving so much attention to the
rates of the leading dailies of the great
cities as to those of the dailies of the
smaller cities. There are two kinds OF
this latter class of daihes. One has all
the expenses Of full telegraphic service.
large editorial and reportorial stats and
numerous paid correspondents. Each of
the papers of this kind has an almost ex-
elusive territory, and to hold it against
competitors it has to incur large extra
expense in collecting the news of its ter
ritory, and, also, in getting facts at
the great news centres, affecting interests
in its territory.
The other kind OF dailies OF the smaller
cities is that which incurs very little ex-
pense for dispatches, or for original arti-
cles-and which, in fact, prints compare
lively little reading matter. For every
dollar this kind eXpends in the interest of
its readers the kind st mentioned spends
ten. The difference in the cost Of the two
kinds has been growing greater for good
while and continues to grow.
There has, of course, been a continual
increase in the income from subscriptions
OF the costly kind Of papers, especially in
the South, where the growth in the read
ing population has been, within the last
few years, quite marked, but the charges
for advertising have advanced very little,
if at all. In some cities they certainly
have not advanced.
For several years there has been a laud-
able rivaly among the leading newspapers
of the South, which has been of much
greater benefit to their readers than to
their owners. The statementthatth the cost of
publishing newspapers like the MORNING
NEWS, Atlanta Constitution, Charleston
News and Courier and others of the same
class is three times as great as it was ten
years ago, is within the truth. It is also
within the truth to say that these papers
are worth as newspapers and advertising
mediums three or four times as much now
as they were then. Their readers, how
ever, pay no more for them, and their adj
vertisers are charged very little, if any,
higher rates.
Comparatively few people have any idea
OF the cost OF publishing a newspaper.
Indeed, only those who are connected
with the business part of it know much
about the cost. The expenses of a daily
newspaper in this city are as great-wth
the exception of the outlay for white pa
per required by the larger editions-as
those of dailies published in cities having
from five to twenty times as many peO-
pie. The rates for advertising, however,
are very low compared to the rates in the
larger cities.
The daily papers IN some OF the smaller
cities are in advance of the ability of the
territory in which they are published to
support them, but being ambitious that
their cities shall make the best possible
appearance before the world, they unders
take 70 do more than they can really af-
ford to.