August 3, 2005
After Son Leaves, Rupert Murdoch Is Back at The Post
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/business/media/03post.html?pagewanted=print
It's back to the future at The New York Post.
Nearly three decades after first buying The Post and taking over as
publisher, Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation chairman, said yesterday he
was again taking up the mantle of Post publisher after the sudden
resignation of his son, Lachlan.
In doing so, the 74-year-old Mr. Murdoch sent the message that the News
Corporation remains fully committed to The Post, as the tabloid pulls close
to its crosstown rival, The Daily News, in an intense circulation war.
Mr. Murdoch's return - he previously held the title of publisher for 10
years - pits the Australian-born multibillionaire head to head against
Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the billionaire developer who is also chairman and
publisher of the higher-circulation Daily News.
The presence of the News Corporation's chief executive officer would
suggest no shortage of cash for the money-losing newspaper.
It is not clear whether Mr. Murdoch is planning to assume any of his son's
other responsibilities in the worldwide News Corporation empire. Lachlan
Murdoch was the company's deputy chief operating officer, responsible for
its TV station group, newspapers and book publishing.
Howard J. Rubenstein, the public relations executive who has represented
Mr. Murdoch for three decades, said Mr. Murdoch was relishing his return to
The Post, which was founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801. But Mr. Murdoch
never fully left.
"He loves the paper," Mr. Rubenstein said. "When you see him at The Post,
he reads the paper end to end, he makes comments, he calls the editors.
It's not a surprising transition. It's a great part of his professional life."
It seems unlikely that Mr. Murdoch will devote much time to The Post, a
tiny part of the News Corporation's vast holdings, which also include a
movie and TV studio and global satellite systems. The move seems more
symbolic than operational, intended to send a signal of stability and
commitment both to advertisers and the staff at The Post, where Lachlan's
abrupt departure left some uncertain of their future.
Lachlan Murdoch had brought his own management team to The Post, and Mr.
Rubenstein said Rupert Murdoch intended to keep those people in place.
"He emphasized his strong belief in The Post, that he wants to continue to
build a great asset and that the paper is running very smoothly," Mr.
Rubenstein said. "He wants people to know that he thinks Lachlan put
together a first-class team and he is giving full support to that team."
He said Mr. Murdoch wanted to hold onto the paper because "he thinks before
too long it will make some money." Mr. Rubenstein quoted Mr. Murdoch as
saying "the losses aren't as heavy as have been reported," though he would
not say what those losses were.
Mr. Zuckerman, in an interview before Mr. Murdoch reclaimed the publisher's
title, minimized any threat The Post might pose to The Daily News. "Their
percentage of the advertising market has gone down, even as their
circulation has gone up," he said. "It doesn't work as an advertising vehicle."
He also said that any problems The Daily News was having were not due to
The Post but to problems afflicting many urban newspapers: the rise of free
dailies, the loss of young readers to the Internet, and the rising costs of
newsprint. Even so, The Daily News remains profitable.
That both newspapers still exist is a surprise in the heavily competitive
New York market. Many analysts had expected either The Post or The Daily
News to have vanished by now.
Instead, The Post became the fastest-growing newspaper in America, selling
678,086 copies daily at the end of March. While it made eye-popping
circulation gains over the last few years, particularly after slashing its
price in half to 25 cents, it still has not overtaken The Daily News, which
had daily circulation of 735,536 at the end of March. Now, The Post's daily
growth has slowed to just 0.01 percent in March, and Sunday circulation
fell 4 percent, to 427,039.
Even before word of Mr. Murdoch's return, Michael Cooke, editor in chief of
The Daily News, said he doubted that The Post would in any way surrender in
their long-running battle. "I don't think it's in Rupert Murdoch's DNA," he
said.
Nor is it in The Daily News's. "It's a relentless war that never ends," Mr.
Cooke said. "We get up every morning and we buckle on the sword and we go
outside and we fight. We'll be fighting till somebody loses."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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