The old farts I worked with[*] liked to yarn about buying the Times, the Herald No Hyphen Tribune, the News and the Mirror for a total price of one dime [a silver dime, at that]. They always left out the part of how many hours they'd have to slave for Sam Newhouse or Roy Howard to earn that dime, but no matter. Sometimes, when a paper was about to jack up the price, it would start running AP briefs about other papers that were raising their prices, perhaps on the theory that if Louisville or Charleston readers could stand the onslaught of inflation, so could Clevelanders. The explanation for the increase was always "rising costs." No one ever said anything about reinvesting, but the paper would brag about adding a comic strip or more recipes. Nowadays, when papers cost more than Modern Library volumes at the Strand bookstore, the papers have gotten all weepy about raising prices. Nothing else seems to work, so you might as well try shaming the readers into paying more. Also, if better [and worse] papers are raising their prices, why should your rag stand athwart the path to higher civilization?
Quote:
The Observer is to follow the Sunday Times and increase its cover price to £2.50.
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A spokeswoman for the Observer publisher Guardian News & Media said the price hike comes at a difficult time for newspapers but said it was needed to reinvest in quality journalism. GNM also publishes MediaGuardian.
"We deeply value the loyalty of Observer readers, who recognise the quality of our journalism, but this is a tough market for print and we have to make difficult decisions to enable us to continue to invest in the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, and maintain the paper's proud history of spreading ideas, encouraging debate and campaigning vigorously across a range of issues," she said.
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In July the Sun, traditionally the cheapest paper in the market and an enthusiastic exponent of price wars, increased its price by 33% to 40p.
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Guardian]
[*]
Not much older, then, than I am now, but such is memory. However, it does feel like something from the last century, because it was.
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