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EDWARD W. BARRETT Dean Graduate School of Journalism Columbia University New York City
Sir: One of my mischievous friends sent me his free copy of your Jan. 10 issue. He apparently was amused that you did not recognize the Christian Science Monitor as a daily newspaper.
Certainly some of TIME'S veteran correspondents haven't had any problem in evaluating the Monitor's role when they came to Boston. In fact, they have been most appreciative when our copy boys have volunteered to take them by the hand and show them where the Statehouse is or tell them off the record who is Governor. We do this from time to time as a matter of professional courtesy.
R. C. BERGENHEIM Assistant to the Manager The Christian Science Monitor Boston
Sir: You cited the late Paul Patterson's ingenuous idea—"If you put out a good enough paper, people will read it, advertisers will support it"—as illuminating a "fundamental truth: newspapering is a business, and a good business makes money."
This neat reasoning has one major flaw. Where a publisher has the field to himself, his newspaper can be a mediocre hodgepodge of rural obits on the front page, disjointed wire-service pieces, syndicated advice columns, plus a heavy dose of detailed high school sports coverage. Yet it will blanket the area, carry all the advertising the marketplace can afford, and make as much money as any Pulitzer prizewinner would in the same situation.
In fact, you have me as a subscriber as a direct result.
NATHAN MUSHKIN Captain, U.S.A.F. Ellsworth Air Force Base, S. Dak.
Sir: For Kentuckians the Louisville Courier-Journal exceeds all other papers in the country in excellence.
JIM PARKS Richmond, Ky.
Sir: Here are America's ten top newsmagazines: 1) Mad 2) Mad 3) Mad 4) Mad 5) Mad 6) Mad 7) Mad 8) Mad 9) Mad 10) Mad.
MARTIN L. DUGGAN News Editor St. Louis Globe-Democrat St. Louis