The Press: Bad News Is News

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To Publisher W. J. Valentine of California's Antelope Valley Ledger-Gazette (circ. 6,612) the news was significant, and he printed it. AIR FORCE FORECASTS ACTIVITY DECLINE AT PALMDALE AIRPORT, read the Page One banner headline. The story below quoted Air Force officials who said employment at the facility on the edge of the Mojave desert, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, would be reduced from 3,542 to 1,972 by late 1960.

But to Antelope Valley realtors bad news is no news. They were convinced that the Gazette had betrayed their efforts to sell land, and they began a campaign to get Antelope Valley retailers to pull their ads out of the Gazette. Said an angry realtor: "If I were selling apples, I would not put the rotten ones on top of the barrel."

When half of the Gazette's real-estate advertisers last week canceled or reduced their linage, Publisher Valentine, 42, an Annapolis-trained ex-commander, U.S.N., stood fast, ran a story reporting that the paper was being boycotted. Readers and retailers, although upset by the employment news, were realistic enough not to blame it on the Gazette, refused to go along with the realtors. By week's end, it was clear to all that Publisher Valentine had won his point: "Everyone in Antelope Valley is entitled to the news, whether good or bad."