Trust in God — But Not in Luce

“Government by Journalism” was an audacious idea first proposed publicly by W. T. Stead in 1886. It caused a sensation and provoked heated discussion in London's clubland, mainly because it posed a clear threat to the divine right of the gentry entrenched in Parliament. It also introduced to Britain the idealistic German Marxist notion of a completely adless newspaper, generously endowed by some selfless benefactor, “like an abbey or a monastery in days of yore”. Nothing further happened during Stead's lifetime but there was a moderately successful, “brave try” with an adless newspaper in New York in 1940. It was made by Ralph Ingersoll, former general manager TIME Inc. It lasted till 1948 and was titled, PM.