European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Is the monthly preventive maintenance Magazine and other military magazines. By Donald Lambro United press International Ca j f 7 it p q is a handsomely Illus of sol Josl la l to Tratch Magazine that wants its readers to know television reruns of Star trek Are Back in orbit and Buffalo Bill s liquor Bill was tre  for those More interested in the fairer sex the inside Back cover of customarily features a full Page color cheesecake photo. Law enforcement bulletin will Tell you everything you have Ever wanted to know about the Massage parlor problem including that Parlours in Chicago have advertised nude manicures nude Shoeshine nude key Mak ing nude wrestling and nude sex  Driver Magazine which promotes car safety features an interview with world racing Champion Emerson Fitti Paldi who says he feels safer on the track than in Ordi nary Street traffic. Meanwhile a Glossy full color photo spread on the International Azalea festival in Norfolk va., is lavishly featured in All hands and the july Issue of progressive fish cult Urist reveals the effects of water salinity on the eggs and Fry of goldfish. These magazines have one thing in common they Are edited published promoted and sold bythe government. They Are just a few of the thou Sands of magazines and other periodicals being published by virtually every Federal Agency and department in Washington. A two week investigation which surveyed More than 125 weekly monthly quarterly and annually issued government magazines revealed Many government magazines Are Duplica Tive. Others Are provided members of Congress who give them to constituents. Many contain articles that Are merely previously published speeches and testimony of the Heads of the Agen cies producing them. Many Are expensively priced by the government printing office id some instances nearly four times what they Cost to produce. No one in the government knows precisely their total numbers or Cost nor How Many government workers Are assigned full or part time to produce them. But officials say Uncle Sam in the world s biggest mag Azine  at the office of management and budget the budget keeping Agency responsible for auditing and justifying government expenditures say they have no idea the size or Cost of the government s Magazine business. I guess there s not As close a scrutiny As we would like to have said an bomb spokesman. Government officials privately estimate however that their total annual Cost in terms of employee salaries overhead benefits and production printing costs to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And that Cost they say is growing each year. Asked to provide a copy of each Magazine published by the army a Public information officer said i d almost have to Send them Over in a  a spokesman for the Commerce department said that if his department tried to catalogue every periodical it issued we would have a catalogue that looks like the Washington phone  a fat Library reference Book Andriot s guide to . Government serials and periodicals has 1,168 pages. Government publications run the Gamut from the bimonthly problems of communism to our Public lands a quarterly that tells you How to buy Public lands to Plant disease reporter a monthly specializing in Plant pathology. In addition to stories on Star trek and Buffalo Bill one Issue of soldiers the official army Magazine included pieces on cigarette smoking and the Joys of sailing. It costs the army $1 million a year to publish and Dis tribute the monthly Magazine free to about 200,000 servicemen. In addition to the Massage Parlours Story the Fri s monthly Law enforcement bulletin has run articles on the speeches and views of Fri director Clarence Kelley firearm silencers an Oil and Gas investment fraud scheme and a promotion piece on the new Fri Academy. The Fri publishes 70,000 copies each month and sends them free to police and other Law enforcement agencies around the country at an annual Cost of about $414,000. Seven employees work on the Magazine. Driver billed by the air Force As the traffic safety Magazine for the military Driver features interviews with top racers like Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti and Sto Ries on go karts antique Auto restoration and tips on car care. An examination of the last four issues of Treasury papers which temporarily halted publication this year showed that All contained at least one and sometimes two or More speeches Given by former Secretary William Simon who often criticized the growth in Federal spend ing. Numerous publications similarly feature the com ments and photographs of the people who head the agencies issuing the magazines. The july Issue of All hands published by the Navy included a full color cover photo of Secretary w. Graham Claytor jr., plus a seven Page profile that is sprinkled with 10 photos of him in addition to a Story on his wife. The june Issue of airman published by the air Force devoted a cover photo Story to its Boss Secretary Thomas c. Reed with a six Page article that says Nei ther the Forest nor the Trees blocks Secretary Reed s  one of the most expensive publications is the Interior department s annual yearbook generously illustrated with Brilliant color photographs depicting the nation s Rich natural resources. Thursday september 15, 1977 doily Magazine last year s 160-Page Bicentennial Issue devoted to America s 200-year history which took two years and the full and part time work of two dozen employees to pre pare Cost almost $100,000 just to  the 55,000 copies printed More than 12,000 were Given to members of Congress to distribute to constituents and friends. Another 25,000 were sent to department Field offices for distribution As they wish an Interior official said. The official said it Cost the go $1.25 to print each copy. Go Sells them for $5.55, More than four times their Cost. They re making a big profit one Interior offi Cial said noting that lower income americans probably could not afford to buy  asked if it was necessary to print the magazines on such expensive paper with costly color pictures the offi Cial said the photographs Are the biggest Appeal. We could t sell it if we did t have  the Dpi Survey revealed duplication among the Agen cies publishing activities Interior s fish and wildlife service National Park service Bureau of land management Bureau of out door recreation Bureau of reclamation and office of territorial affairs All Issue publications concerning recreation. There Are at least three magazines on fish. The Navy alone issues at least three magazines on safety. While virtually every department and Agency Issue periodicals none can compete with the Pentagon for pub Lishing  study on military magazines was conducted in 1975 by the armed forces journal which is a private Enterprise. The journal said the Pentagon was spending at least $57 million a year to publish 371 different Maga  military the journal said was producing eight times As Many magazines As the nation s biggest Trade Magazine  by the journal study then defense Secretary Melvin Laird launched his own investigation which found a total of 1,402 different magazines newspapers and new letters being published by the military services. Who reads these magazines it often is impossible to Tell. The Only known Survey was conducted by Laird s task Force study which sampled Reader reaction to several military magazines. Asked How familiar servicemen were with command ers digest a biweekly published by the armed Force news Bureau More than 44 per cent of those surveyed said they never heard of it. Another 41 per cent said they Seldom if Ever read  other periodicals the Survey showed had Good readership among enlisted men and women and officers. Nonetheless an examination of numerous magazines indicates that Many Are issued solely for Public relations purposes and actually reach very Small  department of transportation s full color quarterly transportation Usa has a distribution of about 12,000 but costs $100,000 a year to  in the Magazine have included stories about the popularity of bicycles minibuses in Westport conn., and experiments with people movers subjects that have been widely written about in regular magazines and papers. Are these magazines filling a need one bomb offi Cial who asked pot to be identified said Many of them Are probably not needed but they have become status symbols of a sort and Public relations vehicles and that Type of activity is hard to  also various interest groups and businesses Benefit from Many government  weekly internal Revenue bulletin which costs subscribers $40.60 a year keeps tax lawyers abreast of the latest irs decisions and tax  of the most popular magazines is the Commerce department s Commerce business daily which provides a summary of the government s procurement sales and contract awards All for $105 a year. Like their counterpart in the private sector govern ment magazines Are increasingly specializing in narrower Fields of interest. For example direction a monthly Public relations Magazine published by the Navy contains articles show ing naval personnel How to Deal with the Media plus in formation on producing film photos As Well As copy for newspapers and magazines. Thus there Are even government magazines on pub Lishing magazines. Direction has run articles on the myth of the Adver sary press and the Don to of photo releases which shows the proper Way to crop photos for publication. One of its editorials suggested the Media Are not always fair or fully responsible. You Are the ones who must go More than 50 per cent of the Way to meet the Media if necessary not for their Sake but for  the stars and stripes Page 13