Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/324

 the news of the day, together with the growing independence of readers, has also diverted interest from the editorial to the headline. The relation of the leading article of the London Times to the news of the day is scarcely an extreme illustration of the change in importance that has taken place in the editorial. "The article was the place, and the only place, in which the best news was given. … There was, as a rule, no display of such political news elsewhere; there were no headlines. … Whatever may be thought of the new method from other points of view, it must be admitted that the old method gave peculiar power to the leading article. To-day a reader may skip the leading article and yet be sure of not missing any vital piece of news. In The Times of Delane the leading article was the thing which no politician could afford to miss, for it might contain early news nowhere else obtainable. … Thus in various subtle ways the opinion-forming power of the leading article obtained in The Times of Delane an almost pontifical influence."

The publication of numerous signed articles written by experts or by special correspondents has added authoritativeness to the newspaper, but the custom has meant a decline in the influence of the editorial. The apparently increasing migration of editors, sub-editors and reporters from one newspaper to another has given an impression of a certain instability in the conduct of the editorial page. The advertisement has come to be an important medium for conveying information and influencing public opinion, and has thus in large measure supplanted the editorial as the channel through which opinion is reflected, expressed, or moulded.