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Labor-management relations in the newspaper industry were building up to the gravest crisis since the days of the early Guild organization in the fall of 1947 as the International Typographical Union voted a showdown on the Taft-Hartley act and the publishers' associations lined up to oppose them. The continuing rise in the cost of newsprint added to the production problems in the publishing field. In the editorial field, the formation of a new national association of editorial writers and a new continuing study of AP news reports emphasized the newspapers' interests in improved reading matter. The question of international news freedom reached the United Nations in several forms, and at once resulted in the usual lineups of opposing groups in favor of or opposed to lessened controls over information.—W. F. S.

Newsprint shortages constituted the biggest trade news in American journalism in this quarter, as a Congressional inquiry and grand jury investigations carried the search as far as Canada and Alaska. In the field of radio there was some prospect of a general revision of the Communications Act by Congress, with both radio broadcasters and the FCC arguing against certain proposed changes. The so-called Hut chins report on press freedom continued to stir controversy, and spectacular developments in mechanical production of newspapers eliminating some of the standard procedures of the present were under serious study as American journalism still sought to stabilize its postwar economic position– W. F. S.

The professional aspect of journalism came in for an especial degree of discussion during the spring of 1948 as the ACEJ made its long-awaited announcement of its first list of accredited institutions. Several individual schools reported on their educational programs in the trade and professional journals, and in the newspaper field an increasing interest was shown in problems of improved news writing and readability of news copy. These seemed to be related signs of a general awareness that journalism was in a state of change. Mechanically this was reflected in continued research into "cold type" printing and related processes, the Chicago Tribune's experiment with newsprint made from straw, and the Chicago Herald-American's work in magnetic ad layout sheets. The printers' fight with publishers over the Taft-Hartley law continued indecisively, meantime. With television coverage of the national political conventions in Philadelphia, radio in the field of public events entered a major new phase of development itself, and in radio circles also there was increased interest in the professional responsibility of communications. —W. F. S.

The crisis in newspaper labor relations was still the most important development in the winter of 1947-48 as newspapers in Chicago, Springfield, Mass., and various other cities undertook to circumvent the rash of typographical union strikes which sought to test the Taft-Hartley act. In the radio field, the prospect of a general revision of the Federal Communications Act excited charges of censorship clauses and other threats to freedom of speech on the air. Radio expansion for 1948, however, was anticipated to be of record proportions.—W. F. S.

Critical evaluation of the press, both within and outside the profession, assumed a new significance this spring as the Commission on Freedom of the Press completed its lengthy study and published a series of reports on all phases of communications. Although the reaction was generally favorable to the work of the commission, it was criticized for inadequacy in familiarizing itself with certain fundamental problems and techniques of working journalism, and especially for its evident lack of knowledge of professional journalistic education… . Another significant development of this spring has been the creation of the Society of Nieman Fellows and the publication of its quarterly Nieman Reports on professional problems. In both cases, the ultimate objective in these projects is the professional betterment of American communications through a more informed general public. W. F. S.

Labor unrest highlighted the newspaper scene in the winter of 1946-47 as major daily publications in half a dozen metropolitan centers suspended operations or continued on emergency manpower while unions representing typographers, carriers and editorial workers bickered with employers over contracts adjusted to the zooming cost of living. In Jacksonville, Fla, and in Philadelphia the managerial staffs kept the papers going—although by the first of February Publisher J. David Stern exploded a bombshell by selling his strikebound Philadelphia and Camden, N. J., properties. Some labor troubles threatened radio, too, but the prospect for 1947 was a boom year in radio station growth.— W. F. S.

Two developments stand out in the trade news of the spring of 1946–a reawakening interest on the part of newspapers in the news and editorial side of their publications, and a climax in the prolonged dispute over radio's public service responsibilities. The latter was precipitated by the now-famous FCC report upon commercial announcements and the general program policy of the average American station. The radio industry responded with an attack upon the whole philosophy of government control of radio operation. Less spectacular was the emphasis upon improved newspaper content which key noted a number of spring editors' meetings; but the persistence of this theme indicated an awareness on the part of newspaper people of the need for consolidating readership gains of the war years in preparation for postwar competition.–W. F. S.

The year 1946 witnessed the inauguration of several new journalistic undertakings –the U. S. State Department's international information program, the prospective doubling of the number of domestic commercial, radio stations, and new ideas for institutional advertising based on wartime experience. Of these, the first ran into immediate embarrassments as first the Associated Press and later the United Press declined to supply the government with further free service as they had done for the wartime program of the late OWI. A meeting to seek some sort of solution was requested by the State Department late in January. Meantime the question of free international news communications as a basic need for postwar international harmony continued to be discussed from the UNO down to many individual press groups, while in many war-wrecked countries the rehabilitation of newspaper and radio properties began to take tangible form.–W. F. S.

V-J Day signaled the start of the postwar journalistic era, with almost immediate announcements of plans for expanded newspaper and radio facilities and activities, changeover of advertising themes, new editorial interest in local news, and a re-valuation of foreign news. The general labor unrest of reconversion was reflected in strikes throughout the newspaper industry, several newspapers in half a dozen cities ceasing publication altogether at the height of the disputes. The AP case became virtually a closed issue with the denial of a rehearing by the Supreme Court, and AP officials made ready to revise their by-laws in compliance with the original judgment against them. Meantime, the question of worldwide press freedom passed from the stage of academic discussion into the field of practical politics as countries everywhere began adjusting themselves to the tasks of peace.—W. F. S.

Ethical problems played a greater prominence in newspaper activities during the spring and early summer of 1949 than had been the case for many years. The question of newsmen on state payrolls, in Florida, Illinois and New York, caused the American Society of Newspaper Editors to make an official investigation. The question of medical society advertising against "socialized medicine" touched off charges of bribery and collusion in California. Overseas the British Royal Commission of Inquiry completed its study of the press and rendered a much milder verdict than had generally been expected. In both countries, however, the press was receiving increasing warnings from laymen and from its own practitioners to be more fully conscious of its public service responsibilities.–W. F. S.

A concerted congressional effort to raise second-class postage rates was the chief problem facing the press in the spring of 1949. Another legislative question affecting the newspaper industry was the possibility of repeal or comprehensive revision of the Taft-Hartley Act and its effect upon the strategy of both management and labor. In other branches of communications, the commercial success of television manifestly was assured, thus providing press and radio with a permanent new competitor. The general business pause in the spring of 1949, between recession and further inflation, had its effect on advertising also. On the international scene, the long-awaited United Nations draft convention on freedom of information was submitted for debate at Lake Success, with both Britain and the United States expressing fear that the convention would be modified too drastically for them to accept. —W. F. S.