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Show . , i i Humbly but firmly rooted in United States journalism1 are the Sauk Center Heralds, Archbold Buckeyes, and Oolog-ah Oozings that deliver homey news to 17,000,000 ; small-town and rural Americans. In the United States newspaper business, country week-! lies of their kind are a big bright spot. While the urban dailies wane, the rural weeklies Wax. Since 1929 they have gained in numbers, circulation and advertising lineage, while the daily group has fallen off. The American Press Association directory recently showed that newspapers in towns less than 20,000 increased by 194 to a total of 10,179 in, 1938. All but a. handful are weeklies. N. W. Ayer & Son's directory shows that dailies declined last year from. 2,085 to 2,056. Ten years ago the circulation of all weeklies was less than a third of the dailies' 45,000,000; today dailies are down to 40,500,000 and weeklies have 40 per cent as much. Radio's competition for news and advertising, which has toppled mank a city giant, has scarcely rippled the grass roots press, whose i. cl valuable news is the kind radio would not broadcast broad-cast even if it could get it. Excerpts from an article on "The Backbone of Journalism", appearing recently in Time magazine. maga-zine. . mt |