The Press: Broken Mirror

It is never surprising to see a failing newspaper die. But last week a paper which had gained consistently in circulation and advertising since its owners acquired it last year, was put out of existence. The paper was the Detroit tabloid Mirror which Publishers McCormick & Patterson of the Chicago Tribune had taken from Bernarr Macfadden in part payment for Liberty, and upon which they had spent money lavishly.

In charge of the Mirror as publisher was Max Annenberg, hardboiled oldtime circulation wrangler for both McCormick and Hearst in Chicago. With his son, Ivan, as circulation manager, he shouldered the Mirror's circulation from 50,000 up to an average of 110,000 daily, 150,000 Saturday, for the six months ending last March. A spring drive boosted the figure close to 200,000 in June, ahead of the Free Press, only other morning paper in Detroit. At the finish last week it was about 170,000.

Only last May the Mirror boasted a larger advertising gain for the month than any other U. S. daily. Its gain for the first half of this year, as compared to the same period last year was 608,325 lines. All other Detroit sheets had losses.

In a farewell editorial the publishers explained: ". . . The prospect of the paper's making a profit still seems remote after more than a year of operating at a loss. The capitalist system being one under which a profit must be made by any enterprise that is to keep its head above water, we are forced to call off the fight in this case."

Observers wondered if Publishers McCormick & Patterson were not eliminating their Detroit expense in order to marshal all available cash resource to the Chicago Tribune's battle against the Daily News (TIME, Aug. 8).