1958 - Communications, Media

Communications, Media

Sinhalese extremists force Ceylon's prime minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike to nullify the agreement he made 2 years ago to permit Tamil to be used as the official language in parts of the country (see 1956). The action provokes communal violence, rioting, and massive internal migrations, but although the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act signed into law in August permits use of Tamil for some administrative purposes and in secondary and higher education, it does not satisfy either Tamils or more extremist Sinhalese, and conflicts between the two sides will continue for decades.

Zenith Radio founder Eugene F. McDonald Jr. dies of cancer at Chicago May 15 at age 72; CBS newsman (and wartime OWI director) Elmer Davis of a stroke and pneumonia at Washington, D.C., May 18 at age 68.

U.S. television sets number an estimated 41 million, up from 5 to 8 million in 1950.

The United States has 1,751 daily newspapers (307 morning, 1,456 evening), down from 1,878 in 1940. By the end of the century it will have 1,480 (766 morning, 727 evening).

United Press International (UPI) is created May 24 by a merger of the 51-year-old United Press with the 52-year-old Hearst International News Service.

Cartoonist Frank Willard of "Moon Mullins" fame dies at Los Angeles January 11 at age 64. He has been receiving a gross salary of $100,000; the comic strip that he began in 1923 has been running in 250 newspapers with a combined circulation of 15 million, and his longtime assistant Ferd Johnson keeps it going; journalist Herbert Bayard Swope dies at his Sands Point, N.Y., home June 20 at age 76.

U.S. first class postal rates climb to 4¢ per ounce August 1, up from the 3¢ level that has held since July 1932 (see 1963).