Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 8, No. 11. August 8, 1945

[Introduction]

That digests are an important and highly dangerous cultural development was stressed by Mr. W. J. Scott, sometime lecturer in English at WTTC, in a disclssion at Weir House on Sunday evening, July 29. Cultural standards are not now set by men of integrity and intelligence, but by those whose only aim is sales and whose technique therefore is to appeal to the lowest common emotions and ideas of the greatest possible number. The Beaverbrook press provides the best English example of this tendency and the "Reader's Digest" is Exhibit No. 1 of the United States.

Mr. Scott quoted an advertisement in which it was claimed that in an age where knowledge had expanded to such a tremendous degree, the "Reader's Digest" provided a summary of the chief lines of progress and gave the average busy man an integrated view of the various fields of activity. For each edition of the "Digest" 30 editors worked 5,000 hours, selecting the best articles from 500 of the best magazines, and rewriting them in a sparkling, snappy style which gave them new zest and vitality.

Mr. Scott pointed out that the best magazine for which experts write were, in fact, seldom digested. Most of those whose articles were quoted were already in popularised, simplified form and the further abridgement of these resulted in their being so far away from the reality of their subject matter that they became virtually unrecognisable.