The W.G.N.: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (1922)
Published on 10 June 1922 for the Chicago Tribune's 75th birthday, this 300-page book explains how the paper that called itself 'the World's Greatest Newspaper' (the W.G.N. of the title) was run. The first part is a history from 1847 through the Chicago Fire, the 1893 Fair and the World War. The second walks through each division: editorial, with foreign bureaus and wireless news from Bordeaux; advertising, split into want, local and national; production, from the Tribune's own spruce forests in Quebec and paper mill in Ontario to its presses and Coloroto printing; circulation, with dot maps and delivery routes; and accounting and staff benefits.
What it is
Published on 10 June 1922 for the Chicago Tribune's 75th birthday, this 300-page book explains how the paper that called itself 'the World's Greatest Newspaper' (the W.G.N. of the title) was run. The first part is a history from 1847 through the Chicago Fire, the 1893 Fair and the World War. The second walks through each division: editorial, with foreign bureaus and wireless news from Bordeaux; advertising, split into want, local and national; production, from the Tribune's own spruce forests in Quebec and paper mill in Ontario to its presses and Coloroto printing; circulation, with dot maps and delivery routes; and accounting and staff benefits. The advertising chapters matter most to marketers: want ads as a public utility, one rate for the small shop and the department store, a free copy and art department, and a rule that dealers must be stocked before a product is advertised.
Why read it now
It is a house promotion, so read its claims as a seller's, but the operating ideas hold. The want ad chapter describes a network effect before the term existed: the section is valuable because everyone uses it, which is why the Tribune banned bold type and wide ads there. Online classified marketplaces run on the same rule. The national advertising policy, stock the trade before you create demand, is what consumer goods launches now treat as basic: advertising without distribution is waste. The zone system, buying media market by market in step with the sales force, is today's regional planning. The '1921 Will Reward FIGHTERS' campaign argues for advertising through a downturn; later recession studies broadly agree that brands holding spend gain share, but the Tribune's proof came from asking only its own largest advertisers, a biased sample. Dated: circulation figures are the paper's own, and the market charts are unreadable in this scan. Use it: before a Gulf launch, confirm retail presence city by city, then weight spend to match.
Passages worth keeping
It is a public utility similar to the telephone. Like the telephone, it must approximate universal use to be of maximum value.
الإعلانات المبوبة تشبه شبكة الهاتف، فقيمتها تزيد كلما زاد عدد من يستخدمها من البائعين والمشترين.
Therefore, no amount of money can buy bold face type or ads more than one column wide in the want ad section.
منعت الصحيفة المعلن الغني من شراء خط عريض أو مساحة أكبر في قسم المبوبة، حتى لا يطغى الإعلان الكبير على الصغير ويبقى القسم سهل البحث للجميع.
Furthermore, the dealer soon found that millions of circulation in the United States often meant an insignificant amount among his customers.
ملايين النسخ على مستوى البلد قد لا تعني شيئًا للتاجر في مدينته، لأن ما يصل منها إلى زبائنه قليل.
The Tribune considers it a waste of money to advertise a product distributed through the retail and jobbing trade, until that trade has been stocked with the product to take care of the consumer demand, when created.
الإعلان عن منتج قبل أن يصل إلى رفوف التجار هدر للمال، فالطلب الذي يصنعه الإعلان يضيع إذا لم يجد المشتري المنتج.
Each market can be given the precise amount of advertising pressure needed. Waste circulation is reduced to a minimum.
حين يُخطط الإعلان سوقًا بعد سوق، تأخذ كل منطقة القدر الذي تحتاجه فقط، ويقل الإنفاق على قراء لا يستطيعون الشراء.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original worldradiohistory.com
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