The Press: Death in Five Months

When the London daily Recorder came out five months ago, it was the first new British daily in 23 years (TIME, Nov. 9). Editor and Publisher William Brittain hoped his Tory paper would find a "new public'' of 500,000 who "are repelled by the vulgarity which admittedly appeals to millions" of readers of other British dailies. But Brittain never found the audience. With his weekly losses running at about $4,500 and circulation down to 47,000 he gave up the search entirely last week. The typographical union delivered the death blow; it refused to let Brittain cut his staff sharply in a last desperate effort to keep the Recorder alive. Commented the Manchester Guardian: "Fleet Street wished the Recorder well. It was an undernourished, sickly child, not very bright and lacking in inspiration, but it was truthful and had good manners . . . It lived longer than . . . expected."