Lord Northcliffe
by . New York: George H. Doran Co. 1923. 8vo. viii+250 pp. $3.50.
THE facts of Alfred Harmsworth’s extraordinary career are probably not well known to the American public. Early in 1882, at the age of sixteen, he began to write for London periodicals, and after some years of miscellaneous experience started his first venture, Answers to Correspondents, which was soon followed by Comic Cuts, a halfpenny illustrated journal. At the age of twenty-five he was a conspicuous figure in the world of London journalism. His success was based on his instinct for supplying attractive material for a large public, the product of the Board schools, which did not care for the ordinary newspaper but which would read anything that was simple and interesting. For these same readers he created in 1896 the Daily Mail, a complete morning newspaper selling for a halfpenny, the other morning papers being a penny, except the Times, which was threepence. His startling methods — devices with which we to-day are all too familiar — shook Fleet Street to its foundations; they revolutionized journalism, and brought to him and his brother, now Lord Rothermere, a great fortune. In 1908 he completed his triumphs by the purchase and transformation of the Times
In all these enterprises, Harmsworth (created Baron Northcliffe in 1905) was playing the part of the journalist pure and simple. His aim was to exploit to the uttermost the news-value of events, to find out ‘what the public wants,’ and to give it to them. Apart from their value as news, the significance of what his papers chronicled was with one or two exceptions apparently of little concern to him. He was ‘a great showman.
With the outbreak of the war, in 1914, Northcliffe became a public character in another sense. With all the might of his personal force, using the marvelous instrument which he had developed for influencing public opinion, he threw himself into the controversies concerning the conduct of the war. He called on his readers to demand the use of high-explosive shells, he insisted on the need of a coalition government, of compulsory military service, of the development of aviation. In 1917 he came to the United States as chairman of the British War Mission. In 1918 he performed invaluable work as Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries. When he died last summer, the burial accorded him in Westminster Abbey was a recognition of his place among the great Englishmen of his age.
it is Northcliffe the journalist as he appeared to his subordinates who is portrayed in Max Pemberton’s memoir. He is in these pages a ‘news story.’ made simple and interesting for the product of the Board schools. All his doings — whether he was tarpon-fishing in Florida, making a 600-mile automobile trip in twenty-four hours, golfing, or dressing up a stray tramp to be his guest at dinner—were news. It is only in his rô1e as Chief, a man strict, yet loving and loyal, that he is a real human being.
But perhaps a few readers who are not content with a story that is merely simple and interesting will tease themselves with the queries: ‘Of what value were many of Lord Northcliffe s activities? Has he made any lasting impression on journalism? And, if he has, is it in the main for good or for evil?’ These questions the book makes no attempt to answer; in fact, it ignores the possibility of their even being raised.
HENRY G. PEARSON.