In August 1962 the Soviet Union purchased advertising space in three American and four foreign newspapers to reprint Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev's speech to the Soviet Peace Congress. For $32,500 the Soviets had the speech printed in the New York Herald Tribune, the Kansas City Star, the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin, the Montreal (Canada) Star, the Ottawa (Canada) Journal, the Winnipeg (Canada) Free Press, and the Manchester (England) Guardian. The Washington Post was also approached to run the text of the speech. The Post instead offered to run the speech in its news columns at no cost if a Soviet newspaper would agree to run President John F. Kennedy's speech on disarmament given that month to the United Nations General Assembly. The Soviets never replied to the offer by the Post.

Lower Quality.

Competition among the newspapers and with television and radio had...