The Press: Red Rag

To the bull spirit of U. S. newspapers, a red, red rag is radio's blatantly exaggerated "coverage claims." Last month mild-mannered Alexander Woollcott became an unwitting toreador in the radio v. newspaper ring. Seizing upon his radio praise of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice & Men ("I look upon [it] as a masterpiece") the book's publishers plastered newspapers in Chicago, Boston and New York with the claim that Pundit Woollcott had spoken thus "in speaking to 69,540,000 people."

Nearest to a radio circulation audit is the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting rating issued twice monthly and giving the percentage of radio sets theoretically...