Abstract
ALTHOUGH in his pamphlet, “Newsprint—a Problem for Democracy”, Sir Walter Layton was concerned more specifically with the consequences of the reduction in size and freedom of circulation of newspapers,.the position he discloses is not without relevance to the scientific and technical Press. Scientific and technical periodicals may also be described as imported articles, being like the newspaper printed either on imported newsprint or on newsprint made in British mills from imported pulp, and they are equally vulnerable to any factor intefering with imports. Similarly, scientific work and interests, as much as knowledge of public affairs, have suffered from the compression and also from the selection that are inevitable when newspapers are confined to four pages. Matters of scientific and technical importance raised or debated in either House of Parliament, for example, are frequently unreported or at best receive bare mention in the daily Press; the scientific and technical Press can rarely afford the space to discuss the topic adequately, and sometimes it is overlooked entirely. Some attempt is made by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in Science in Parliament to remedy this position, but the summaries thus published are usually too belated for any effective action to be taken.
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Scientific and Technical Books. Nature 158, 923–924 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158923a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158923a0