or the Dagme oi M. A. Thesis f ERSXTY M\CH\GAN STATE UNN' Margaret Anne Fa 1965 “VG! r H E51! LIEERARY ! Michigan Sm: Unjvemty a» 'w “mans-v p INTI“! I mmmmnmmmmml 3 1293 01059 5803 )0-!\\\ . ‘. a (I \ . V‘ - 3.40,,” . if ‘.,' J mmmmn OVERDUE FINES: 25¢ per day per item BEIURNING LIBRARY MATERIALS: Place in book return to remove charge from circulation records ABS: TRACT A UNI QUE; INT-32R 17-1: THE DETROIT DAILY PRQSS by Margaret Anne Fauver One of the by-products of the lengthy metropolitan newspaper strikes of the past five years is the interim press. The interim press is only one solution to the news- less voids in struck cities: broadcast time, circulars, papers from other cities, and expanded area weeklies are other solutions. Yet the interim press is the most inter— esting as a stopgap means of disseminating news because it faces, in a short time, the same problems hat regular papers have worked with for several years. During the l34-day Detroit, Michigan, newspaper strike in 196A one interim paper, the Detroit Qgilx grass, dis- ‘tinguished itself by hiring some of the best professional newsman in Detroit, by using ingenious methods of gather- ing news to compensate for the lack of a national news service, by maintaining a daily circulation that exceeded 200,000, by printing 123 issues, by carrying over 4,000,000 lines of advertising, by running a financially sound opera- tion that grossed more than $500,000, and by sharing profits with the editorial staff. Margaret Anne Fauver The Daily grass stopped publishing six months before this study was started. Virtually all of the information in this study was gathered from interviews with peOple who worked for, or with, the Dgilylfgggg. Sometimes these people could not agree on or remember a specific instance. All questionable material was verified. Interviews were supplemented by a study of the issues of the Qgily'ggggg, but no content analysis was done. No attempt was made to evaluate the effectiveness of the paper for readers or advertisers. This type of study must be done while a paper is publishing. Several conclusions can be drawn from this study. The Daily'§;§§§ was a success because a group of college students believed in an idea and were able to convince a financial backer, circulation managers, a printer and a few professional journalists that the idea was worth a try. In the first ten days the future of the paper looked dim. Then the State Editor and a make-up man from the Detroit Eggg g§g§§ were hired as Managing Editor and Assistant Man— aging Editor. These men gave depth to the staff. A re- organization of the advertising department also put the paper on firm ground. The major problem of the Daily §£§§§ was finding a means of getting national news. United Press International offered its services on a five-year basis and Associated Press service was available only to members. The Daily Margaret Anne Fauver Eggsg established a unique and amazingly comprehensive group ofcnrrespnnbnts and used phone calls to obtain news. Only in reporting the national elections did they rely on radio or television news. By the end of the strike the Daily Press looked like a regular metropolitan paper. It carried its own amusement section, its own columnists on local and national issues; it endorsed a full slate of candidates in state and na- tional elections. It provided excellent coverage of news stories as large as the deposition of Khrushchev, the nuclear explosion by the Chinese, and the Presidential cam— paign. Because most material on newspaper strikes is inac- curate, an appendix to this paper provides information on strikes and suspensions of publications since 1950. Another appendix gives information on interim papers in this period. Basically, though, this study includes the who, what, where, when.and why of the establishment of a very successful interim press. Since a second paper was started by the same publisher—-during the 1965 strike in Baltimore-~it is possible thatéamethod of running a profitable interim may have been found that is applicable in other cities during long newspaper strikes. A UNIQUE INTERIM: THE DETROIT DAILY PRESS By Margaret Anne Fauver A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS School of Journalism 1965 6m 9 77 Copyright by MARGARET ANNE FAUVER 1965 rill... PREFACE Three groups-—college students, professional jour— nalists, and teamsters--were in the proverbial right place at the right time during the first week of the 1964 De- troit newspaper strike. Their incentive, ingenuity, and individual skills combined to produce a most unique and most successful interim newspaper, the Detroit (Mich.) Qgily §§g§§. Unfortunately, there is no permanent record of what they did. Personally, the story of the Dgily'figggs is fascinating. This study was made so that others can know that story. In the broadest sense the Qgily‘ggegs is a by-product of labor-management relationships in newspaper publishing. Iediation between publishers and unions has been far from successful since 1960. Frequently newspapers and all but one or two unions have settled differences. But a single union, exercising its power to strike, can deprive a city of regular newspapers and several hundred employees of jobs. Emergency or, preferably, interim papers are born in this type of situation. Citizens and advertisers who have depended on the regular papers for the dissemination of information need to find reading substitutes. Newspaper employees have to look for other employment. Somewhere in the city there is at least one person who has always iii wanted to publish a newspaper. These are the factors nec- essary for the birth of any interim paper. The focus of this study is how these factors led to the organization and operation of the Detroit Daily Pgess that published from July 22, 1964 to November 22, 1964. No attempt has been made to discuss specific instances of newspaper strikes in the United States. Since little in— formation is available on interim papers, it is impossible to compare the Daily Press with other interims. Informa- tion on newspaper strikes and other interim dailies in the 1960 IN) 1965 period is provided in the Appendix. The Daily Press had stopped publishing six months before I started this study. Therefore, evaluations that should be done while a paper is publishing have been elimi- nated from the study: the attitude of the public toward the paper; the effectiveness of local coverage; the in— fluence on voting patterns; the effectiveness as a watch- dog press; the return on advertising. Virtually nothing has been written on the Daily Press. After some research it was apparent that most of what was written was very inaccurate. Because of this, most of my information was gathered through personal interviews. Fre- quently the people interviewed did not agree on specific details. In these instances the information provided by the person most directly concerned with the specific phase of production was used. This information was then verified by another source. iv No attempt has been made to present a content an- alysis of the Qgily'figggg. Complete files of the Daily P§g§§ are available on microfilm, so this can be done later. It was necessary to compile this history before memories of events became less sharp. Since the relationship between the Detroit newspapers and unions is still unsettled, and since Detroit has had nine strikes in the last nine years, it would seem likely that another strike might occur in the not too distant future. Several of the people connected with the Qgily £§§§§ predict that this interim, or a similar one, will appear during the next lengthy strike. Organization and operating procedures have been tried. It would be easier next time. This then is a story of the past-~possibly for the future. This study was possible because many people were interested. Without the cooperation of Harry Shaw, Frank Gill, William Parker, Frank Quinn, and Michael G. Dworkin, this study would have been inaccurate and uninteresting. They, and others, spent hours discussing the Daily Egggg and looking for the missing parts of its story. These interviews plus microfilmed copies of the Daily Press, gen— erously loaned by the State Library in Lansing, provided a basic framework for research. George A. Hough, III, and W. Cameron Meyers of the School of Journalism, Michigan State University, gave an- couragement and tactical advice throughout my master's V program and specifically on this thesis. The enthusiasm of my chairman, Frank B. Sanger, over my initial thesis proposal provided some of the impetus for this study. Every time I took a question to him I left with an answer-- I couldn't ask for more. This has been a pleasurable challenge. Between these lines is a special thanks to friends and family for encouragement and to Sue Williams, for patiently deciphering my drafts. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PMFA CE 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 LIST OF TABLES O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 LIST OF APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INTRODUCTION 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O A UNIQUE IN‘ERIM: THE DETROIT DAILY PRESS Chapter I. A PAPER STARTS: July 1h, 196A to August 2, 1964 O C C O O O O O O O C O C C 0 II. DAILX PRESS MATURES: August 3, 196A to OCtObeth,l9éhoooooooocoo III. DAILY PRESS CONTINUES: October 15, 1964 fidovemer22,196h00.00.00.000 BIBLIOGRAPHY O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O APPEI‘IDICES O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 vii to Page iii viii ix 31 #8 7h 77 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Daily Newspaper Strikes Started in 1960 . . . 80 2. Daily Newspaper Strikes Started in 1961 . . . 81 3. Daily Newspaper Strikes Started in 1962 . . . 82 A. Daily Newspaper Strikes Started in 1963 . . . 85 5. Daily Newspaper Strikes Started in 1964 . . . 87 6. Daily Newspaper Strikes Started in 1965 . . . 89 7. Summary of Publication Suspension at the De- troit Free Press and the Detroit News, 1960'1965000000000000coo.a 90 viii Appendix A. B. C. D. E. LIST OF APPENDICES Page SUMMARY OF NEWSPAPER STRIKES IN THE UNITED STATES,1960-l965 . . . . . . . . 78 DETROIT NEWSPAPER STRIKES, 1960—1965 . . 9O INFORMATION ON OTHER INTERIM AND STRIKE PAPERS O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O 9]. PAGES PER ISSUE OF THE DETROIT DAILY PRESS 106 EDITORIAL MEMBERS OF DETROIT DAILY PRESS 107 ix INTRODUCTION Today, when people hear that a regular daily news- paper has not been published in a metrOpolitan area for over 100 days, they are not surprised; Americans have had to accept this situation frequently in the last five years. Since January, 1960, there have been ninety-two union strikes against newspaper publishers.1 This figure ex- cludes instances of work stoppage. Three metrOpolitan areas were without regular news- papers in 1962 and 1963 for more than 100 days; the Cleve- land suspension was 129 days; Minneapolis,116; New York, 114. These strikes, though not the longest in recent his— tory, caused a tremendous gap in the reporting of regional news because the strikes overlapped. A similar strike pattern occurred in 1964 when Detroit papers were not pub- lished for 13h days and the Terre Haute, Indiana, papers were suspended for 234 days.2 #- 1This number counts each striking union in a strike but only includes the strikes reported to the Labor Rela- tions Committee of the American Newspaper Publishers Asso- ciation (Infra, Tables 1-6). 2Until the Terre Haute strike the longest on record had been an American Newspaper Guild strike for 181 days in 1954 against the Wilkes Barre, Pennsyvlania, papers; a Guild strike against the same papers for 17h days in 1939; and a ILL-day strike involving all papers in Springfield, Massachusetts, in l9h6 ("Challenging the Strike Record,” Time, LXXXV, No. A [January 22, l965],-hh). 2 Every time the presses of a city shut down, several thousand employees are without work-—many without the benefits of union subsidies. Businesses lose a means of getting news of sales to customers and papers lose their percentage of the advertising dollar. Candidates must seek election without the advantage of reaching the voters' breakfast tables. Used car dealers, real estate agents, and employment agencies have to find other methods to sell their services. Television listings and movie schedules are not available. New shows open without reviews; people die but friends can't learn of the deaths through obituary notices. In short, the city is without its guide to daily events on local, national, and international scenes. Other media attempt to fill the news gap. Specific revisions in schedules and approaches vary from strike to strike, but similar patterns can be seen. Radio and tele- vision news coverage increases;sometimes the struck news- papers present hour-long news summaries. But broadcasting schedules can include only a small portion of normal news— paper coverage. Existing weeklies often publish extra editions and neighboring dailies increase press runs and distribution in the struck city. Sometimes special English editions are published by foreign language newspapers. Many advertisers can't afford, or find available enough broadcast time to advertise adequately for their sales. Frequently advertisers band together and produce 3 throwaway circulars for mail or house-to-house delivery. Candidates have to travel to specific street corners to get their platforms to the public. In the main, though, .peOple simply go without the coverage and advertising that is found in regular metropolitan dailies. Occasionally, in recent strikes, displaced newspaper personnel have attempted to fill the void created by the absence of regular dailies by using their own medium, the written word. In some instances newspapers continued to publish limited editions for all or part of the strike period.3 In the past five years, locals of the American Newspaper Guild have produced the Portland (Ore.) Qgily Reporter, the Cleveland (Ohio) Record, the Youngstown (Ohio) §£§§l Valley Ngwg and the Baltimore (Md.) Banner.“ These "Guild papers" employ only union workers: in most cases the workers are paid in the form of strike benefits. Profits are distributed in bonuses after the books are closed. Until recently bonuses went to only those members of the Guild who worked on the paper. Now every- body who is a member of the local, even if he doesn't work on the paper, must have a share of the profits.5 Because 3Infra, Tables 1-6. klfliiég Appendix C. 5Interview with James McMahon, Treasurer, ANG Local 22, August 23, 1965. h of this change it is doubtful that many Guild papers will appear in the future since few pe0p1e want to work so that someone else will get paid. Some Guild papers, 2:51 the Daily Reporter and the Sgggl Valley News, are strike, or protest, papers while others are interim papers.6 When a Guild paper is started, cooperation is often enlisted from other unions. The paper may, in fact, be published by an inter-union group. Inter-union coopera- tion is seldom available to individuals who attempt to organize their own interim papers. The interim press has been one important source of news dissemination during several recent strikes. No two papers are alike. Some are put out by amateurs, some by professionals. All face the same general problems of locating capital, obtaining printers, acquiring staff, and gathering news. Very few of the papers last through- out a strike. Most of the failures of interim presses can be traced to the cost of starting and Operating a new newspaper, inability to get wire services, and inadequate distribution systems.7 6For the purpose of this study "interim papers" are those papers that start after publication of the regular dailies has been suspended. The term "emergency paper" is often used in reports of interim papers. This, however, implies that the papers are hurried make-overs of other editions. If regular dailies are publishing during a strike, the newspaper must be called a "strike paper." 7A good discussion of the problems of New York interim papers appears in "Interim: a case of malnutrition," Colum— bia Journalism Review, II, No. 2 (Spring, 1963), 6-7. 5 The Detroit (Mich.) Daily Press found at least ade- quate solutions to all of these problems. It published from July 22 to November 22, 196h. During this period the news events of most importance in the Detroit area were the state—wide primaries, elections brought about by redistricting, two strikes in the automotive industry, and school and transit referendums. The most important events on the national scene included the release of the Warren Commission report, the Presidential campaign, the Jenkins case, the successful nuclear explosion in China, the Labor Party victory in England, and the deposition of Nikita Khrushchev. This was the news climate when the Daily Press pub- lished. Publication ceased only because the Detroit [Egg 8 Egggs and the Detroit Ngwg resumed publication. The Q3111 Egggg had said that it would "end when the strike ends."9 It did. As a matter of fact, by the end of the strike the Daily Eggsg had done almost everything it had said that it would do. 8All citations for established newspapers agree with the listing, compiled under the direction of George A. Schwegmann, Jr., in News a ers on Microfilm, 5th ed. (Wash- ington: Library of Congress, I96-). 9Interview with Michael Gordon Dworkin, Editor and Publisher, Daily Press, June 2, 1965. A UNIQUE INTERIM: THE DETROIT DAILY PRESS I. A PAPER STARTS: July 14, 1964 to August 2, 1964 @311 Session g; Egg Qgily Collegian Michael Gordon Dworkin was finishing his master's degree in economics at Wayne State University in Detroit when the Free Press and the Ngwg suspended publication July 13, 1964. As an undergraduate Dworkin had been active on the Wayne State Daily Collegian as photographer, photo editor, columnist, managing editor, and editor. He had never taken a journalism course. In 1962 he had worked with other collegiate editors to form the United States Student Press Association, a non- profit group that operates a press service for collegiate news. Dworkin was on the executive board of the Associa- tion in July, 1964. Each summer the Student Press Associa— tion holds a national convention. Tuesday, July 14, Dworkin stOpped at the Qgily Collegian to see if the staff had registered for the convention.1 Several members of the staff were trying to decide if they should include national news in Qgily Collegian during the strike. Dworkin joined the discussion. The Daily Collegian does not have a national wire service. In other strikes the paper had carried national news while ¥ 11bid. 8 metrOpolitan newspapers were suspended. Since this strike occurred in the summer, the staff faced slightly differ- ent problems: the paper was only published twice a week; the summer staff was too small to handle the monitoring and rewriting of material from other news sources that was necessary since the Daily Collegian didn't take a wire service. No one knows who started the idea,but suddenly that small group at the Qgily Collegian was playing with the idea: "Why don't we try to put out a paper ourselves?"2 One of their friends in the labor—relations depart— ment of the Free Press had predicted that the strike would be a long one. By the time the Tuesday bull session ended, the boys had decided to wait at least a week before making definite commitments to publish a new paper. In the spirit of a good bull session, however, they had tossed out ideas and made rough plans for their mythical publication. These plans didn't have much value later. Wednesday and Thurs- day the bull sessions continued. Dworkin asked Frank P. Gill, Adviser of Student Publications at Nayne, if he thought the students could start an interim newspaper. Gill had over twenty years experience on the Detroit (Timeg, the Free Press and the Toronto (Ont.) Spay, in ad- dition to his teaching experience. He'd seen lots of bud- ding journalists wrestle with half-formed ideas and felt __ Ibid. 9 that his job was to head them in a realistic direction. The tempest that was brewing in his office on East Warren Street would die out just as others had before, he thought. "Don't be silly," Gill told Dworkin, "You can't start a paper in this town unless you have $10,000,000."3 By Sunday, July 19, Gill was ready to withdraw that statement. Dworkin, former Daily Collegian advertising manager Gary Stern, Mark Stern, and Richard Siegel, a ‘Qgily Collegian photographer, had decided on Friday after- noon that the project might be worth it. From then on things continued to roll.4 Immediate Problgms As soon as the foursome of Dworkin, Siegel and the Stern brothers decided to try to start an interim paper, the problems of getting financial backing, a printer, offices, and a distribution system had to be settled. Gary Stern tried to locate a printer to handle the still mythi- cal paper. The group had decided the printer had to have a union shop: We were a 100 per cent union operation all the way. This is consistent with my [Dworkin's] political point of view, and in this town it doesn't pay to get tagged with a non-union or anti—union labe1.5 3Interview with Frank P. Gill, Adviser of Student Publications, Wayne State University, August 17, 1965. l*Interview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965. SIbid. 10 But Stern had trouble getting a printer. Many shOps couldn't handle another large-scale Operation and printers who didn't know the students weren't willing to gamble. Before long the group decided to locate everything else that they needed first. Samuel Nathanson, publisher of several weeklies in the northwest Detroit area.had already started the Egg;- gency Press. The Emergency Press was published daily but basically was simply a weekly with a page one make-over.6 Nathanson called Gary Stern to offer him a job, hoping to dissuade Stern from working on another daily. Nathanson, who had experience with other interim papers, had learned that Stern had called advertisers to discuss the tentative plans for an interim daily. Nathanson offered Stern $1,000 a week plus commission if Stern would bring his advertising contracts. This was an exceptional offer since Stern didn't have a single contract.7 At this point the boys had nothing to start a paper--just confirmation that the idea might be a good one. Gary Stern put out feelers to see if he could locate a group to handle the circulation side of the operation. One of the first calls was to Local 372 of the International 6Interview with Frank M. Quinn, Partner, Press Dis- tributors, Inc., October 13, 1965. ' 7Interview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965. 11 Brotherhood of Teamsters. Because of union regulations, other activities of the union at the time, and past union policy, Stern soon realized that there was no chance that the union itself would handle the circulation for an inter- im paper. He was told that he was free to contact indi- vidual members of the local. Stern tried a couple of teamsters without any result.8 Besides trying to locate a printer and a distribu- tor, the four students had to find financial backing for the paper. Among them, they could put over $1,000 in a sinking fund, but they knew they would need more. Then too Dworkin, the only member of the group with editorial experience, had to make a fast decision on whether the venture was worth it to him at that point in his career. Dworkin was about two weeks from completing his master's thesis at Wayne State and was preparing to enter a doctoral program at the University of Michigan, reviewing Russian for his language exam. He had a graduate teaching assist- antship at wayne State and, at the same time, was working on plans for the Student Press Association Convention and serving on a committee of that group to study censorship of Oakland University's student press.9 Dworkin called a cousin, Irving A. Hershman, and outlined the situation to him. "Grab it, Mike," was wfi 12 Hershman's first response. "Come over and tell me about it."10 Dworkin Elggg Financial Backing After Dworkin explained the possibilities for an interim paper during the strike, Hershman, a broker at Dempsey—Tegeler, Inc., in Detroit, called several adver- tisers to determine the support an interim paper might receive. He figured the potential cost and profit of the proposed venture and agreed to put up $5,000 capital. One problem was solved. Actually the paper was self—support- ing almost immediately; the corporation never went into the capital fund for more than $1,000 to $2,000.11 Teamsterg Offer Services Meanwhile Gary Stern was still trying to locate dis- tributors. One of his calls solved the problem-~but not in a way he had anticipated. Thomas P. Toomey, a District Circulation Manager for the Ngwg, overheard one side of a phone conversation and sensed that someone was starting a new paper. Toomey jotted the phone number he heard on a matchbook cover.12 He called Frank M. Quinn, also a District Manager Ibid. llIbid. 12Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. 13 at the Ngflp, because Quinn had worked with the last Detroit interim, the Reporter,13 and Quinn contacted Lynwood Brin- son, a former fight promoter who had numerous contacts in Detroit. Maurice Ford was in Brinson's office when Quinn called. Almost by accident Ford came to the first organ- izational meeting of the distributors. "It was a happy ,accident; he was instrumental in figuring out routes and the sales potential of an area."lh Before the first meet- ing, Jerome W. Carrier, Gerald F. Ferrell, Chuck Shelton, and James D. Purcell, had been added to the "interested group." Friday evening the eight men, all district circula- tion managers from the ngp, met at Carrier's apartment to discuss the possibility of handling circulation for an interim paper. A local newscaster actually forced them to a decision by publicly announcing that some Wayne students were going to start an interim daily. After a brief dis- cussion the teamsters called Stern and offered to handle all circulation and related problems if they were guar- anteed exclusive rights to distribution of the interim, by that time referred to as the Daily Fress.15 ——v———.—'— —-~ w- v w —— ——— 13The Reporter was published by the Guild during the first strike in Detroit newspaper history, in 1955. hInterview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. Ibid. 14 Stern called Hershman’s house to discuss the offer with Dworkin. The two decided to accept the offer if the teamsters would buy the papers at the printer's each day and make a down payment on the first day's order. Friday night Stern, Dworkin, Hershman and the teamsters worked on circulation plans until 4 a.m.16 The publishers said the distributors had to purchase a minimum of 85,000 copies daily. The distributors agreed almost immediately because they felt the eight of them could handle that number. To protect themselves against late press runs the distributors agreed to pay for only the portion of the 85,000 copies that was printed by 11 a.m. each day. The distributors would be reimbursed by the publishers for unsold papers from press runs that ex— ceeded the minimum figure.l7 Over a year later Gill called the circulation arrange- ments a "sheer stroke of genius." The teamsters were totally responsible for circulation and the $10,000 to $12,000 they paid for papers each day more than covered the overhead in the beginning.18 Detroit Daily Press, lpp. On Sunday, July 19, Detroit Daily Press, Inc., was V '— v fi—w 16Interview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965.’ 17Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. 18Interview with Gill, August 17, 1965. 15 established for the purpose of publishing an interim daily. The corporation included Hershman, Dworkin, Siegel, and Mark and Gary Stern. Corporation officers were: Hershman, Chairman of the Board; Dworkin, Editor and Publisher; Siegel, General Manager; Gary Stern, Finance Manager; Mark Stern, Advertising Director.19 Mark Stern, who had no newspaper experience was, at the end of the strike, the least active member of the group. Alfred J. Simmons, a Eppg Pppgg advertising salesman, was made Advertising Director soon after the Qgily'fipppg started publishing. Mark Stern then became Manager of Classified Advertising.20 Simmons and Nathan Roth, Business Manager, though not members of the corporation, sat in on most of the dis- cussions and decisions of the group.21 Ppgg§ Distributors, lap. Press Distributors, Inc., organized for the purpose of handling all types of circulation, was official on July 22. Though initially organized for the purpose of distributing the Dgilylfippgp, this group maintained they could "put an apple on every doorstep if that is what someone wants."22 As of October 15, 1965, the corporation was still open though not active. ‘7 — 19Daily Press, July 27, 1964, p. 6. 20Interview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965. ZlIbid. 22 Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. 16 Members of the corporation are: Jerome W. Carrier, President; Gerald F. Ferrell, Treasurer; Lynwood Brinson; Maurice Ford; James D. Purcell; Frank M. Quinn; Charles Shelton; and Thomas P. Toomey.23 The distributors Operated as a small business part- nership.24 Initially, each member contributed whatever he could to the corporation—~the total was $25,000. When the first profits were made, the largest investors were paid back so that each member of the corporation had equal money invested.25 The Ggrfield Building Between the meeting Friday night and the formation of Detroit Daily Press, Inc., on Sunday, Gary Stern had located office space on the fourth floor of the Garfield Building, 4612 Woodward Avenue, Detroit. The Garfield Building is close to Wayne State, but this wasn't its main attraction: it was cheap and available. By Sunday morning four telephones had been installed in the Daily Press offices; desks and typewriters had been rented. Gill, Jim.Morché, Al Holtz and Lloyd Weston, associates of the publishers from Wayne State, started setting up the offices and recruiting staff. The biggest development on Sunday — .——-— v —— 23Ibid. 2“This is the corporation's income tax classification (Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965). 25Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. 17 was that Richard Siegel got Cy Aaron Publication Company, Inc., to agree to print the Daily Press.26 9y Aaron Publicatipp Company, Inc. The majority of issues of the Daily Press were printed by Cy Aaron Publication Company, Inc., which is commonly known as Unique Press.27 The interim paper was printed on a press that was used for Marshall Field's New York PM in 1940. Unique Press bought the press from a machine company in 1952. It can run 55,000 papers an hour for twenty pages straight, double delivery.28 Finding g News Staff People went in and out of the Garfield Building all Sunday, July 19. Executive Editor Gill spent most of the day on the telephone. The Free Press had laid off many staff members and these people were the target of Gill's ——.—— ' 26Interview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965. 2 7The company regularly publishes the Michigan Chron- icle and the Legal Chronicle. The forty-eight page Michigap Chronicle has a circulation of 60,000; during the strike circulation grew to 90,000. The monthly Montgomery Ward circular published by Unique doubled in size that summer and ran to 800,000 COpies weekly. Unique also prints seventy-two wrap-around editions of the Michi an AFL-CIO News each month and the bi-weekly Ford Facts Interview with Philip 3. Aaron, Vice- President, Cy Aaron Publication Co., Inc., August 24, 1965). Ibid. 18 first calls.29 Gill's experience on the Free Egess and the Old Detroit Timgg was helpful. By noon he had twelve professional news peOple to work out of the city room. One of the first things that Gill did was to make certain that Local 22 of the American Newspaper Guild was not going to start an interim paper. The Guild published the Reporter during a strike in Detroit in 1955. Gill was told that the Guild would not start another interim. Robert C. O'Brien, Executive Secretary of Local 22, said that it didn't seem that the strike would last and that it would have been difficult to get the necessary unions working together. In addition, a new union ruling required that all profits from interim papers be split among the entire membership.3O Gill told the publishers when he accepted the posi- tion of Executive Editor that the news staff had to be of professional caliber. The publishers, too, were after a professional quality publication. Aside from the members of the corporation most of the young people on the Daily ngpg had minor jobs. They had Opportunities for good experience but they did not have positions of responsibility. 29Editorial employees of the News are not members Of the Guild. Since they had no opportunity to collect strike benefits, the News kept them on at least a reduced payroll throughout the strike. Guild members at the Free Press received $50 a week in benefits if they had more than three dependents (Interview with Ronald C. O'Brien, Executive Secretary, ANG Local 22, August 23, 1965). 3OIbid. 19 By the middle of August, the paper was basically a pro- fessional job done by professionals.31 Fewer advertising salesmen were available for work than editorial staff members. This, and the newness of the venture,made soliciting of advertising difficult. Copy and bona fide advertising was sparse in the first edition. Emergency National Wipp Not Avgiiable One of the greatest handicaps to interim papers is that most of them cannot purchase services of a national wire service. This, maybe more than anything else, pre- vented the ggiiy fippgg from Offering its readers complete news coverage. By the end of the strike coverage was good, but it is impossible for an individual paper to match the coverage of a regular news service. Because service from Associated Press is available only to mem- bers, "no real attempt" was ever made to get an Associated Press wire.32 Several attempts were made, however, to obtain the services of United Press International. Originally Gill and Dworkin decided to try to get U. P. I. wire service "if the News and Freg Press didn't give us trouble."33 31The staff and publishers of the Daiiy Press resent implications that the paper was a student paper. One news— paper article said "Staff members refer to the Daily Press as the junior achievement paper" (New York Times, November 9, 1964, p. 38). 32Interview with Gill, August 17, 1965. 33Ibid. 20 Gill called Harvey Patton, Managing Editor of the Nggg. Patton told him that he had no objections but that he would check with others and talk with Gill later. On the second call Gill was told that the Npflg had no objections to the Qgiiy Ppggp obtaining United Press International wire service. The same response came from Lee Hills, Pub- lisher of the Free Press. Hills told Gill that he had no Objections but would give his final word later: the "no Objections" came shortly. When Hills called back he gave Gill the number for the private line of Mims Thomason, GeneralIAanager of United Press International.34 Thomason said that the Daily Press could get U. P. I. service by signing a five-year contract for $2,480 a week. In addition, the fiflfli year had to be paid in escrow.35 Obviously the Qgily Press could not guarantee that it would be able to subscribe to the service for five years, since it intended to cease publication as soon as the strike was settled.36 As soon as the Qgiiy‘gpgpg realized that it wouldn't have a national news service,efforts were made to buy wire 3thid. 35Ibid. 36Virtually no more information can be obtained on this subject at the present time because Detroit Daily Press, Inc., has filed suit in U. 3. District Court against United Press International, the Evening News Association and Knight Newspapers Inc. (Infra., p. 70). The suit maintains that the defendants conspired to prevent the Daily Press from Obtaining U. P. 1. service. 21 service from Reuters of London, Ltd. Gill called the New York office and was told, once again, that he would receive final word later in the day. This time the mes- sage was "jolly good old chap, you can have it."37 It took two weeks for a Reuters' machine to be installed at the Qgiiy‘fipggg. In the meantime a complete news budget for the day was sent, without charge, airmail special delivery from the New York office.38 The first Reuters' copy appeared in the paper July 25.39 Reuters' service cost the Daily Press 3200 a week.“0 Admittedly Reuters' Service did not help on national news but the staff was very pleased with its coverage of the international scene. This was particularly important in the changes in the governments in the Soviet Union and Great Britain and in obtaining information on the Chinese nuclear explosion. The Qgiiy Ppppg also carried news from the Dow Jones business wire. The first story appeared in the July 23 issue. Some tips on non—business stories were gained from the wire as general news bulletins came with the business news and stock quotations. 37Interview with Gill, August 17, 1965. 38Ibid. 3223112 Press. July 25, 1964, p. 2.- 40 Interview with Gill, August 17, 1965. 22 Qipgulation Setup After meeting with the publishers, the distributors returned to Carrier's apartment to organize circulation. R. L. Polk and Company, which specializes in distribution systems, had given them a large map of the city. Quinn estimated that the detailed map cost $125. The distribu- tors divided the city into zones and called on members of Teamster Local 372 to manage the zones. The managers, or jobbers, started contacting stores and arranging for boys to solicit for home deliveries.h1 For three days the distributors tried to rent a warehouse near Unique Press. They offered to pay six months rent in advance, but people apparently didn't be- lieve that the Daily Prggp would last. Finally the dis- tributors rented the "Blue Room," a large all-purpose room in the basement of St. Anne's Rectory, 1000 St. Anne's Street, Detroit. The side yard and the parking lot could be used for distribution Of papers. Though facilities were hardly ideal for circulating a paper of 200,000, rent was cheap-~S75 or $80 a week.“2 The distributors gave a $1,000 deposit to the phone company and four lines were installed. Minimum headquarters were ready late Tuesday. When radio and television carried hlInterview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. “ZIbid. 23 the first spot announcements on the Daily Press, the phones started to ring. They stopped ten hours and 3,500 home delivery orders later, when they were shut off. Mean- while, two men who regularly work on the circulation order desk of the Nppp had routed the requests to zones.“3 Almost immediately some of the zones had to be re— duced or shared. One jobber turned in a request for 6,000 copies of the first paper. By the end of the strike, four regulars and one relief man worked the zone.44 mil-.Aal Detroiters saw the first edition of the Qgiiy’fipppp on Wednesday, July 22. The staff had worked on the paper since Sunday and the end product was sixteen pages, eight Of those advertising. Copy was late getting to the printers and this was disastrous. The Michigan Chronicle, a regu- lar customer of Unique Press, was already on the presses. It was 5 p.m. when the first COpies of the Daily Pgess got on the streets. In a self-introduction to Detroit readers, the paper said: The Detroit Daily Press will be published as a service to the people of metropolitan Detroit for the duration of the strike that has interrupted publication of the Detroit prg and the Detroit Free Press. 24 It is not the intention Of this paper to com- pete with the News or the Free Press. . . . [During the strike] we hope to provide the public with a readable, interesting and informative newspaper. FOr the short amount of time that we worked on it, we think you'll find today's paper pretty good. But give us a little time. It will get better.h5 Fortunately, all this was true. The paper did stop pub- lishing at the end of the strike. This was a necessity, since almost all of the employees returned to the £233 Ppppp. But more important than that, the paper improved. The stories withouttnhlines or notation of source, very common in the first issues, gradually disappeared. Sports coverage expanded beyond just racing results. Qgiiy Ppppp personnel no longer had to ask people if they would like free congratulatory ads: thousands of lines of advertising appeared daily. Fortunately too, after the first issue, the names on the masthead were actually owners or employees or the Dgiiy £52§§.A6 Without any news service, adequate advertising, or sufficient staff, the Qgiiy Ppggg was able to publish July 22. This issue is not an example of a metrOpolitan newspaper. It is, to be sure, a throwaway laid out in an PSngly Pr 55, July 22, 1964, p. 1. héArthur Dorazio was listed as managing editor on the masthead of the July 22 Daily Press. Later the paper apolo- gized for the mistake. Dorazio had turned down the job offer (Daily Press, July 24, 1964, p. 3). 25 amateurish fashion. Dworkin said simply "It was miser- able."47 Nonetheless, the first paper was on the street. It could only improve, and it did. Circulatiop_pi Pippy ipppp At 9 a.m., July 22, most of the jobbers had paid for their orders. The total press run was to be 85,000. It was a long day for the distributors who, after collect- ing money for the press run, had to wait until 5 p.m. to dispatch the first papers. Quinn admitted that, "We were disgusted with the whole operation. We had been geared to Operate, and we never really got a chance."48 The jobbers were touchy, and doubts about the future of the paper were seemingly confirmed. The distributors knew that the paper was too short on copy to be worth a dime, but after the papers were dispatched they headed downtown just to see how many the eight of them could sell. "We hollered '1ate race results' and in a matter of minutes we'd sold between 2,000 and 3,000 copies. The city was really hungry for something to read, and we were encouraged."49 The Firsp Ten Days "The first week was touch and go," according to 47Interview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965. 48Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. “glbid. 26 Dworkin. "We made mistakes and so did the printer."50 Most interim papers have their hardest times during the first week or ten days. Interim papers usually start publishing before they are organized and adequately staffed. Because everyone is short on sleep,mistakes are compounded. Capital is short, and the papers can't afford to gamble more than necessary. Often a paper will fail because it didn't hire the few extra staff members necessary to make the paper function more efficiently. One of the biggest breaks for the Qgiiy‘fippgp came when Gary Stern got Alfred J. Simmons, a Free Press ad salesman, to agree to be Advertising Director. Simmons brought most of the Fppgpfpppp salesmen with him, organized the advertising staff, and started the paper on its way financially. Simmons started classified ads, recruited national ads, and got an advertising representative in New York City. By the time the paper closed in October, more than 4,000,000 lines of advertising had been pub— lished.51 Nathan Roth was also a Free Pre§§ ad salesman before the strike. His role on the Daily Press is hard to define. Though Roth was Business Manager he spent most of his time during the first week as a liaison between the printer .— T—v? — — *— SOInterview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965. Sllbid. 27 and the staff. Probably the most important thing be accomplished, though, was the recruitment Of Harry B. Shaw, the Assistant Managing Editor of the Dgiiy Ppppp, and George William (Red) Parker, the Managing Editor. Roth convinced Shaw, a night make-up man at the Free Press, to join the Qgiiygfippgg on July 31.52 Osten- sibly Shaw was to be the night make-up man. But Roth and the publishers had decided to put out a Sunday paper, and they thought Shaw could do the job. Shaw refused several times, but at about 4 a.m. Saturday morning Roth caught him in a weak moment. jjigi Sunday Edition The publishers decided that for a paper to be re— spected by both advertisers and the general public, it needed to be a seven-day paper. Originally no one con— sidered putting out a Sunday edition. The distributors initially refused to handle an extra edition each week. Their "no" was an important one since the distributors had control of press runs. The distributors knew that a small Sunday edition would be hard to sell to a readership that was accustomed to papers of more than 100 pages. The jobbers were set against it. "They had gotten used to not working on Sundays, and they hadn't made arrangements for .— szlnterview with Harry B. Shaw, Assistant Managing Editor, Daily Pres§, August 25, 1965. 28 Sunday carriers.53 That was Thursday, July 30. Friday morning, July 31, the publishers still needed the teamsters to agree to handle a Sunday paper and they didn't have an extra person on the staff who could edit the paper. Nonetheless the first Sunday Qgiiy'fipppp was published August 2. Late Friday the publishers convinced the distributors of the value of a Sunday paper in soliciting advertising and, ultimately, in the total operation. When the dis- tributors agreed,they didn't realize that the comics would be in tabloid form. Safrens, printer of the T! Cpigg for the Nppg, produced the comics for that first edition and the quality was excellent. The teamsters didn't feel that the Detroit market was ready for tabloid inserts but their major complaint came late Saturday afternoon.54 The offset printer didn't have a counter that could handle the tabloid inserts. The distributors had to hire thirty Mexican boys from the community to count, individ- ually, all 85,000 copies of the insert. Since jobbers paid fifteen cents a COpy of the edition, the distributors couldn't afford to hand out approximated bundles.55 Shaw, the newest member of the Daily Pres; staff, was responsible for supervising the Sunday paper. Shaw 53Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. 29 still maintains that it was the worst nightmare he's ever lived through. His consignme.t of staff was one rewrite man, one police reporter, two "converted Office boys," and Executive Editor Gill who filled in whenever he was needed. At 9 a.m. Saturday Shaw had virtually no COpy for a paper that had to be off the presses by 5 p.m.S6 Fortunately for Shaw, a $1,000,000 fire broke out at a paint plant. He sent two reporters to the scene with a photographer and added their reports to those from the police reporter. By the time the paper was to be on the presses, Shaw had found just about enough news for page one but not enough for the other fifteen pages. That Sunday Reuters Service saved the day. Shaw grouped several stories together for a page one summary news column, "Reuter News."57 The Daily Press took quite a financial beating on the paper because of missing the late Saturday sales, heavy rain Saturday night and Sunday morning, and the quarter per issue price. Understandably, returns were heavy. Shaw met with the publishers on Saturday. After almost twenty—four solid hours of work, he was tired. He says that he was in a mood to tell them what was wrong with the Daily Press Operation.58 He apparently did just —_ 56Interview with Shaw, August 25, 1965. ”MEIfiEAusust 2. 1961., p. 1. 58Interview with Shaw, August 25. 1965' 30 that. At any rate, the news flow, the make-up, the rela- tionship with the teamsters, and everything in general seems to have improved after that fateful first Sunday edition. II. DAILY PRESS MATURES: August 3, 1964 to October 14, 1964 Rpppuitmepp pi Professionals With the publishers and the distributors aware that the‘Qgily‘Epgps could function as an interim daily, the loop-holes in internal organization started to close. One of the most noticeable changes occurred when Nathan Roth added a second major recruitment to his growing list of accomplishments. During the first week in August, George William (Red) Parker, State Editor Of the Free Press, ac- cepted the position of Managing Editor of the Daily Eppsp. Parker, in addition to working for the Free Press, has his own free-lance business, Parker Associates. He writes for American Metal Markep, a five-day paper in New York, Ilflé and Fortune, and does promotion work. When the strike started Parker decided to concentrate on his free-lance work. This plan lasted less than a month. When he joined the Qgily.§pg§§ staff, Parker found "a few pros and a collection of collegians."l One of his jobs as Managing Editor was to gradually build the staff of pro- fessional peOple. 1Interview with George William Parker, Managing Editor, Daily Press, August 25, 1965. 31 32 Parker faced several recruitment problems. Almost all of the staff of the Free Press who had vacations com- ing were claiming them. Those who didn't have vacations had located jobs on their own or with the help of the Fpgp‘gpggs management. Several were at the Knight papers in Charlotte, North Carolina, Akron, Ohio, and Miami, Florida. Still Others had found jobs through the place- ment bureau set up by Local 22 of the American Newspaper Guild. Several of the Free Pregp Sports writers had formed an association to handle publicity and publication of race results for Detroit race tracks. One by one reporters returned from vacations and tired of other jobs. Gradually these people were added to the staff of the Daily Press. The additional staff members added to the quality of the news coverage and also to the cramped conditions in the newsroom. Several type- writers were added to the original four, but it was still necessary "to stagger the use of typewriters as the staff grew. fl 2 Organization pi Editorial Department Dworkin has described his staff as a fluctuating one. Throughout the strike the Qgily‘fipggg added staff members and shifted responsibilities. When the strike ended, there were over 100 people working on the editorial side of the 2 Ibid. 33 paper. But many of these peeple remained, through- out the strike, in spots they didn't belong in. Before Shaw and Parker joined the staff, Dworkin knew he had problems in the front office. But the people involved were professionals, and he didn't think he should tell them what to do. Dworkin still thinks this was the right decision.3 When Shaw started supervising make-up at the printers and Parker began handling personnel and copy-flow problems in the office, the staff gained the professional depth that it needed. Dworkin feels that the Daily Press became "a real newspaper at that point."h Executive Editor Gill held down two jobs during the first month of the strike. He was at the Daily Press in the morning and evening and at Wayne State in the after- noon. After a month Gill had to devote more time to his teaching assignment at Wayne State. Though be retained the title of Executive Editor, Gill then acted more as an adviser on the Daily Press. "When you have Parker and Shaw on a staff, you don't need anybody else."5 Second Sunday Edition By the time that the second Sunday edition of the Daily Press appeared, August 9, the improved staff 3Interview with Dworkin, June 2, 1965. “Ibid. 5Interview with Gill, August 17, 1965. 34 organization showed. The 20-cent edition, because it was cheaper and on the streets on time, brought actual sales of 170,000.6 The comics were in standard rather than tabloid form so they no longer had to be counted by hand. The comics were printed by an affilitate shOp of Unique Press, Capco Press, 6400 Miller, Detroit. Capco Press continued to publish the comic sections throughout the strike. The quality of the Safrens' comics the first week was superior to any subsequent editions of the comic section. The Capco Press offset process could only carry three colors. Each week a different color was dropped to see which combination produced the best re- sults.7 Blue was drOpped permanently but the comiCs, minus one color and frequently out of register, were defi- nitely the weakest feature in the Sunday Daily Pres§. Even Philip 3. Aaron, Vice-President of Cy Aaron Pub- lishing Company, admits "at the start they didn't look so 8 good." Gill maintains that the Daily Press added a comic section before it could be adequately produced and that the $3.000 the publishers paid for comics was an unneces- sary expense.9 6 Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. 7Interview with Aaron, August 24, 1965. Ibid. 9Interview with Gill, August 17, 1965. 35 Daaa for Two Printers By the time of the second Sunday paper the output of the Daily Dpaaa exceeded the facilities at Unique Press. Deadlines were always tight but the printer had more work than he could handle on Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon. Tuesday night Unique Press was pub- lishing the weekly Michigan Chronicle and the Wednesday edition of the Daily Press. The Saturday edition of the Daily Pgess and parts of the Sunday edition needed to be produced at the same time. To relieve these bottlenecks and provide for larger press runs on the Wednesday and Sunday editions the publishers contracted the American Publishing Corporation to print these editions.lo American Publishing printed the Sunday editions of August 9 and August 16. Thereafter, they printed the Wednesday and Sunday editions of the Daily Dpaaa. Fre- quently the company shared split runs with Unique. Staff members of the Daily Frees have a great respect for the American Publishing Corporation operation. Feelings are mutual. Originally the Daily Dpaaa had tried to get American Publishing Corporation to print thquai y Dpaaa. The company would have liked to have the entire Daily Dpaaa contract, but there was a misunderstanding as to whether 10The American Publishing Corporation continued to publish the Polish Daily (Ted Pekala, Plant Superintendent, American Publishing Corporation, August 16, 1965). 36 two dailies-~the Daliaa‘gpaaa and the Daily Press-~could be printed by the same plant. "When Roth and Hershman came to us the second time to explain deadlines and sched- uling, they sounded like they knew what they were doing. At that point we agreed to help."1; By splitting the printing load between Unique Press and American Publishing Corporation and by exchanging classified forms for advertisements that were to appear again on days when the paper was printed in the other shop, the two plants were used with a minimum loss of efficiency. The press at American Publishing Company averages 45,000 per hour. The largest paper that they printed for the Daily Press was forty-eight pages. Ameri- can Publishing Company had a good record for being on time. They were never more than fifteen minutes behind schedule. "If we had trouble we called and they [the pub- lishers] had it straightened out in a few minutes."12 American Publishing Company turned down several orders to print the major competitor of the Daily Egaaa, the Emergency,£pa§§. They felt it would be unfair to regularly publish the paper. A few times during the strike American Publishing Corporation handled part of a run for Nathanson's, Emergency Dpaaa, but there was no Daily Dyaaa work in the plant at the same time.13 Ibid. 12Ibid. lBIbid. 37 Deadlines ap the Printers It took more than a month for the Daily Press dead- lines at the printers to seem totally realistic. The schedule called for ads for the Tuesday paper to be in by l p.m. Monday. Straight matter was due by 4 p.m. with the exception of the front, jump, and sport pages that were due at midnight. Dummies were at the printers by mid- night but changes in the front page could be made as late as 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. Press time was 5 a.m. and the first papers reached the streets at 5:30 a.m.l“ The Sunday edition was made up all night Friday night and the presses started turning by 1:30 p.m. Saturday.15 Technical Changes ap Unigue Several changes were made in the Unique shOp to handle the Daily Press work. Two linotype machines were bought from the Free Press for the six-point classified ads. A partition was built around the main press: "It threw off an awful lot of ink. This was all right for the one day a week, but when it was used every day, the par- tition was necessary."16 During the strike the supplier for Unique Press couldn't provide enough paper so some had to be shipped in lhlnterview'with Aaron, August 24, 1965. 1SInterview with Shaw, August 25, 1965. 16Interview with Aaron, August 24, 1965. 38 by rail. This paper was more narrow than the original stock so the margins had to be scrimmed down. The first time the narrow paper was used there were virtually no margins on the Daily Press.17 Mail Distribution From the beginning the circulation practices of the QéllI’E£2§§ were like those of the Napa except for the limitations that a smaller staff imposed. One difference though was that all special orders of paper were mailed, even those for Detroit addresses. These orders included daily mailings to the telephone company, the gas company, and Air France. Air France put COpies of the Daily Epaaa on overseas flights.18. Several libraries subscribed daily and these, along with the other mailings, were sent at the expense of the distributors-~the customer's price was the same as the 10- cent street sale. The distributors assumed that most of the requests were from peOple who wanted the paper as a matter of record. Complete sets of the Daily Press were sent to individuals out of the state, presumably for col- lectors' items.19 l71bid. 18Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. Ibid. 39 On September 25, Daily Press, Inc., applied for a second class mailing permit. After a routine inspection of circulation records by a post office inspector, the permit was granted October 2, effective on the date of application. The second-class mail rate for non-local mail is based on the percentage of advertising in the particu- lar issue. Local second-class mail is one cent per piece. The Daily Dpaaa apparently found second-class service too slow. They only used the second-class mailing permit one day, the day that permission was granted, October 2. The remainder of the time they paid first-class rates. Based on totals for the one issue that was mailed, the mailing requirements clerk at the Detroit Post Office estimates that the Daily Press mailed no more than 500 copies per issue.20 Circulation Problems When papers came off the presses two or three hours late the distributors estimated that they lost 60,000 cir- culation. This was the biggest circulation problem in the first weeks of the Daily fipaaa. Home deliveries were encouraged because these papers could arrive late in the afternoon and still be assured sales. The first batches of papers had to go to the downtown areas. The papers 20 Interview with Robert M. Block, Mailing Require- ments Clerk, U. S. Post Office, Detroit, October 15, 1965. 4O started to reach the distributors on time after Shaw and Parker started working. "Parker wasn't there more than two days when [there was} a difference in the flow of copy. . . . He was a whiz."21 Breakdowns in the presses also held up circulation. Unique Press ran more copies per hour than the American Publishing Company but was, unfortunately, more suscepti- ble to breakdowns. Two basic problems face all hustlers: they must have time to sell a product and the product must be good. Gradually the improvement of the product made the circulation job easier. The distributors feel they detected the dissatisfaction of almost every customer over the absence of a national news service. Not very many people had ever heard of Reuters Service according to the distributors.22 Methods pi Naaa Gathering Because the Daily Preas could not purchase a national wire service, other methods of news gathering had to be devised so that the readers could receive as much national news as possible. The staff does not quite agree on the extent to which radio and television reports were used. Managing Editor Parker says, "We cadged national and inter- national news off broadcasts."23 Parker said members of 21Interview with Quinn, October 13, 1965. 22Ibid. 23Interview with Parker, October 25, 1965. 41 the staff listened to news broadcasts and because Of the brevity of the reports, called long distance to fill in the details. In many instances the Daily Dpaaa called a local paper's city editor and offered to pay for the services of one of their reporters. Gill said that they had com- plete cooperation in almost every instance. This, in effect, gave the Daily Press its own man on the scene. "Long-distance reporting" often was more direct. A radio report of the overturning of a truck carrying noxious gas in a suburban Miami section sent staff members to the phone. Information from police headquarters and local hospitals provided the lead story on August 19.24 Governor George C. Wallace addressed the Platform Com- mittee of the Democratic convention in Atlantic City, and the Daily Press wanted to run a story on his speech. Gill called Wallace's hotel suite and got the Governor's finan- cial adviser to read the speech over the phone. Again the phone had brought another lead story.25 Curt Haseltine, the City Editor, suggested that American Telephone and Telegraph might declare a special dividend because of the Daily Press account. He said that 2l’During an interview (August 17, 1965) Gill told abogt gathering the story (Daily Press, August 19, 1964, p. . 25Daily Press, August 22, 1964, p. 1. 42 one day the staff spent more than $1,000 in long distance calls.26 Correspondents Contacts in cities throughout the United States also helped with national news coverage. The professional news- men knew reporters on other dailies and the Wayne State students were acquainted with members of the collegiate press all over the country. Because of both types of con- tacts it was frequently possible to locate a sympathetic journalist who would file a story directly with the Daily Dpaaa or send a carbon of a story he had written for his paper.27 By the end of the strike the Daily Ppaaa had five correspondents in Washington, D. C. The first corres- pondent to agree to send material from the city refused to have a by-line on his work because he was working for the Washington Dpap. Gill,who was very relieved to know that the Daily Press Would have material from Washington, wrote the by-line "G. Schenk Gott" on the first story from Washington.28 G. Schenk Gott is a play on the German phrase Geschank von Gott, a gift from God. Later G. Schenk 26Daily Press, November 1, 1964, p. C-2. 27Interview with Parker, August 25, 1965. 28The by—line appeared as G~.ScheH