A history bit: The newspaper business

In a comment elsewhere today, milo pointed out a guy, George Seldes. He wrote about miscreantery in the newspaper business long ago. I Perplexitied his work about smoking cigarettes:

Q: Summarize what George Seldes wrote about when newspaper advertisers wanted it, a story it got boosted, but if they didn't, it got killed. He wrote about smoking tobacco was known to be killing people back in 1938.

 

A: George Seldes, a prominent journalist and press critic, was a vocal advocate for exposing the health hazards of cigarette smoking long before it became widely acknowledged. In the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s, Seldes highlighted the suppression of news regarding the dangers of tobacco by the mainstream press, attributing this suppression to the newspapers' heavy dependence on cigarette advertising 1 2 4.

Seldes's efforts to bring attention to the issue began with his publication of a study titled "Tobacco Smoking and Longevity" in 1939, which he claimed had been suppressed by the media 1 2. He continued to write about the health effects of tobacco in his newsletter, In Fact, where he published over 50 stories on the subject over a decade1 2. Seldes argued that the tobacco industry's advertising dollars influenced the media's decision to omit or downplay stories linking smoking to health issues, particularly cancer1 2 4.

His work was not just limited to tobacco; Seldes also criticized the broader influence of advertisers on journalism, suggesting that advertisers posed a greater threat to journalistic freedom than government censorship. He believed that the press was increasingly dominated by corporate interests, which could dictate what news was printed or omitted based on their financial interests1 2. 

Seldes's critique extended to the National Association of Manufacturers, which he accused of using advertising dollars to produce favorable news stories and suppress unfavorable ones. His observations and writings underscored a significant conflict of interest in the media, where economic pressures from advertisers could lead to the suppression of critical public health information.

Q2: How did the tobacco industry respond to Seldes' revelations?

A2: The tobacco industry engaged in extensive PR efforts to counter the growing evidence against smoking. For instance, in 1929, the American Tobacco Company orchestrated a public relations stunt to make smoking more acceptable among women by associating it with the feminist movement 4. This was one of the earliest examples of the industry using PR to manipulate public perception.

By the 1950s, as scientific evidence linking smoking to health issues like lung cancer became more robust, the tobacco industry adopted a strategy of creating doubt about the health charges without outright denying them. A notable example is a 1969 presentation by a Brown & Williamson executive, where he stated, "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public" 4. This approach was designed to sow confusion and delay regulatory action.

Despite internal knowledge of the health risks, tobacco executives publicly denied the harmful effects of smoking. In 1994, during a congressional hearing, CEOs of major tobacco companies refused to acknowledge that their products were harmful, even as they admitted they wouldn't want their own children to smoke 4. This public denial was part of a broader strategy to maintain the industry's image and avoid legal repercussions.

By Germaine: A person interested in things 'n stuff