The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-24
What Influence
 Has Advertiser
 On A Newspaper
Question of Business Office Influence Discussed by
 Well Known Publisher
American PresS.o

It IS well KROWn fact that In or dinary lines of business the custom CT must be taken care off, that cour- tesies must be shown him which he does not pay for and which he some times doesn't even expect. All this makes for the retention of his trade, heightens his good will for the house he is dealing with and will induce him to recommend others to the same concern
 How does the newspaper proprietor stand on this question? Can he do the same? The answer is "No." This does not mean that he would not like to show his patrons a favor now and then. But he cannot do it, and the reason is that he must do it open ly, if at all, whereas a trader can show a certain customer favors which his other customers know nothing about
 This question is gone into at length by Charles H. Grasty, publisher of the Baltimore Sun. In a paper read be- fore the Associated Advertising: Clubs of America at Boston recently MT. Grasty said:
 "The greatest problem that con- fronts the daily newspaper is how to maintain the pleasant relations that should and do exist between the or dinary business enterprise and it's pa irons on the one hand and on the oth-
  tirely where it concerns the larger question of the performance of the public functions which belong to jour- nalism. In the newspaper business alone of all the various branches Of human endeavor, it is necessary thus to carry on two conflicting functions.
 'I think that most thoughtful pub, opinion that the most deadly menace to independent and truthful journal ism lies in the power of the advertiz- CT. A compact body of advertisers, or ganized and acting in concert, can, in theory at least, decree the destruc- tion of the average newspaper. The big advertisers are so big, their. num- Der is relatively so small and the eff feet of their leadership on other ad- vertisers so potent that they are apt to arrive at a despotic' conception of their right to keep out news, to have items put in that are not news and sometimes to dictate editorial policy itself.
 Against this power the newspaper has the recourse of a protest address ed to it's public, but it must reckon on the savage punishment of the ad- vertisers on the one side and the prob- able indifference of the public on the other
 'Tt is only human that advertisers
 
 of things that they ought not to have. In other lines of business it is usual to take care of the customer in ev- cry possible way. Publishers of news papers would get human pleasure out of doing the like thing for those who directly support them, but newspaper management requires constant mOrti- flying of the flesh. There must be a complete reversal of the usual methods in business. Although a few adver- tisers apparently determine the suc- cess or failure of the paper, it is really the reader who settles its fate. The advertiser to whom it is worth while to make study of the matter knows this in his heart of hearts and is un- happy when a newspaper gives him the kind of favors that he fools him. self into thinking he wants and that hurt it with the reader.
 ''In my opinion, square dealing with the advertising body exerts an in- f1uence in building up paper that ex- tends far beyond the matter of good relations with the advertisers them- selves. The way a newspaper treats it's advertisers comes to be known to the general public and furnishes a key to the good faith of the paper through out it's whole policy. It has always seemed to me that only a one rate paper could occupy a position of in-
 
 this principle of square dealing ought to be carried out to the last detail, not only for it's value in itself, but for the reflected light that it throws on the newspaper in every department of it's activity.
 ''The interests of the customer are the interests of the papers. I have taught my solicitors and counter men for years to make the customers dol, lar go just as far as possible. Along the same line my rule has been scru- pulously to take care of the adver- tiser who did not take care of him. self
 'This puts a premium on trust as against the policy which I fear is all too general of taking care of the kick CT and thereby putting a premium on distrust A newspaper is built of trust The impalpable, intangible, invisible thing, conf1dence-the conf dence of the reader the confidence of the advertiser-is the solid rock upon which the newspaper properly is founded. Newspapers change hands at the price of millions of dollars It is impossible to crowd a million dol paper plant.
 Using and is looked to for information and guidance by people who want to buy things it becomes the market place where buyer and seller meet and the habit of using it by the adver- tiser and looking to it for advertising matter by the reader will survive a surprisingly long period of loss in cir culation and prestige"