Behind the Headlines: Newsprint Shortage Causes Concern for Jewish Press

A crisis in newsprint is not limited to the daily newspapers of this country. The Jewish press is similarly affected. Thus far there have been no serious casualties. The Yiddish newspapers are appearing; the magazines have not been affected; the weekly English-Jewish periodicals are publishing. But that’s part of the story. The reason the monthly magazines and those printed on heavier or coated stock are not suffering is because the costlier–much costlier–paper they use is available. But they, too, may suffer and could well be pressed to the wall for survival because of mounting costs. For the weekly press it has been a near-calamity. On several occasions some weeklies printed on colored stock–blue, green, yellow, pink–whatever was available as scrap in printing shops; scrap the printers were anxious to get rid of.

In the meantime, the papers suffered; For the first time in its experience. The Detroit Jewish News abandoned a Chanuka issue. It published a statement with the names of some 300 advertisers, apologizing to them that the usual Chanuka greetings would not be published because there wasn’t going to be a Chanuka issue. There are three traditional holiday issues–Rosh Hashana, Passover and Chanuka. Now there is the puzzle: will there be Passover and Rosh Hashana issues: will there be enough newsprint for such special editions which are always eagerly awaited by the communities served by the newspaper? Weeklies in small communities are not affected: their needs are minimal. In the larger communities it is near-calamitous. The Cleveland Jewish News, for example, was forced to use the scrap in color already referred to and its size was cut from 16 inches deep to 14 inches. But even that was a blessing–that there was no restriction otherwise.

The publisher of the largest of the Jewish papers had this to say: “We use 40 tons a week. We have enough for two months. We just bought 400 tons at a prohibitive price. There is danger of a black market that may demand anywhere from $225 to $400 a ton. That would ruin all of us.” But one of the most authoritative printers in America is more optimistic. Hyman Safran, one of the country’s largest printing plant operators–the president of Detroit’s Safran Printing Co.–responded with his views. Safran, who just retired from the chairmanship of the Institute for Jewish Life of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds–he is a member of the board of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency–views the situation as follows:

“I do not believe that the newsprint used by the Jewish press compares to the little Pontiac Press Daily Newspaper–thus the tonnage requirements are relatively insignificant. The least difficult time you had was caused not by insufficient production, but rather by strikes–these strikes are now over and as soon as warehouses reach reasonable levels of inventory, there should be no problem–especially for the Jewish press. Long term–I believe that paper will not be as plentiful as in the past–the reason is that the total needs, especially in Europe, are much greater. Finland used to export newsprint to the United States–now Europe imports newsprint from Canada and uses all the paper they can produce in Europe. Newsprint prices will probably stabilize at about $150 per ton–at that figure they tell me that it will make economic sense to begin building new paper mills. Up to now they could not afford it at the combined low rates paid for newsprint plus the escalating costs of capital equipment.”

One publisher of an English-Jewish weekly said that he was forced to buy newsprint on the black market for $400 a ton; and Editor and Publisher, the leading Journalistic organ in the country, commented upon it editorially, stating: “Everyone knows there is a newsprint crunch which has resulted in a black market. But this exorbitant price goes far beyond what the traffic will bear and amounts to a gouge of the small, weak or defenseless. Probably other small newspapers have suffered similar experiences. It shouldn’t happen but it does and it has. Leaders in the newspaper business are concerned about it and to their credit help is available when needed in such cases. Not one newspaper has had to close for lack of paper.”

Strikes in paper mills are over; now they maintain they do not have enough energy power to produce all that is needed. The Washington Post gave up its Sunday Book Magazine Section. Some papers abandoned Sunday editions, and some are curtailing to such an extent that instead of printing 60 percent news matter and 40 percent advertising, they have turned their papers into reverse, with as little as 30 percent reading matter. The problem has reached the Jewish press. It is surviving. There are nevertheless obstacles to be hurdled.