After Son Leaves, Rupert Murdoch Is Back at The Post
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
The New York Times
August 3, 2005
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." |
