Thomas Geoghegan

But I really get goose bumps in this station when I look at all the papers. I mean the big, thick German dailies ... with few if any pictures on the front page.
And then I look at all the racks of books. Though it's changing, it used to be the books had no pictures on the covers. Nothing. One chose a book just for the sake of words! Words, words, words, and no pictures.
According to Facts About Germany, the official government publication, 78 percent of Germans read a newspaper every day for an average of twenty-eight minutes. And while paid circulation has wafted gently down in Germany, it has plummeted in the U.S. Germany has 23 million in paid circulation, while the vastly larger U.S. has only 34 million.