Journal of Infamy not worth?
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For journals of infamy, printing a 104x copy with the worst possible whirring contraption source (wilmots end) gives 118 journals over 18.5 actions as stated in the newspaper guide, that is 6.38 journals per action, plus 10e in other items, counting journals only, that's 27% better than soup. This is just my opinion but 27% isn't "just barely" better.
Turning in 60x salacious copies instead, you can get up to 148 journals per 18.5 actions, which is 60% better, although the 10 hour salacious unlock is a bit difficult, so more reasonable would be 136, still 47% better
Taking in a few more mid-late game sources like delighted dreams contraptions, this skyrockets the maximum efficiency to a max of 148/15 actions, 9.87 journals per action, or almost 100% better than soup