Revolt in Mississippi

For years--to all outward appearances--the two daily papers in Jackson, Miss. bitterly competed with each other. The afternoon News (circ. 41,361) was run by fire-breathing Fred Sullens, who liked to boast how he beat up his complainants, was once caned by former Governor Paul B. Johnson. He also liked to attack the morning Clarion-Ledger (circ. 47,396), owned by the Hederman family. But despite the appearance of editorial rivalry in the state capital, the two papers worked as one on business and advertising matters.

Both papers held a club over local businessmen by setting their ad rates jointly and by making national advertisers who wanted to buy space in one paper buy the same amount in the other. As a result of what a Mississippi court termed their monopolistic "subterfuge," both the News and Clarion-Ledger made an average profit of 18% on their total incomes, one of the highest newspaper profit margins in the U.S.

But the Hedermans, a powerful old Mississippi family which has amassed a fortune in the state from real estate, printing and newspapering, were not satisfied. The seven members of the family, led by Clarion-Ledger Manager Robert Hederman Jr. and his cousin, Editor Tom Hederman Jr., quietly began buying up News stock, hoped to turn the News into the afternoon edition of the Clarion-Ledger. Last year when Editor Sullens and the other owners found out that the Hedermans were on the verge of taking control of the News, they tried to block them in court. After a long and bitter court battle, Sullens' group won. But the court fight was so costly and other financial pressure from the Hedermans was so great that Sullens, 77, finally sold out to the Hedermans for about $500,000, though he stayed on as editor of the News. Said Editor Sullens to his embittered staff: "You may think I prostituted myself. If so, I'm the highest-paid he-whore in Mississippi."

Friends & Enemies. No one was more bitter over the sale of the News to the Clarion-Ledger than the citizens of Jackson. Businessmen feared the effects of an absolute Hederman newspaper monopoly; other readers resented the Hedermans' poor coverage of the news and special treatment for their friends and enemies.

For example, Mayor Allen Thompson, who refused to lower the assessment on a piece of Hederman property, was bitterly attacked, while a family friend who shot to death two people in a cafe was able to get the story buried deep inside the paper.

Last week Jacksonians, smarting under the Hedermans' new monopoly, took drastic action to end it. They banded together and raised $830,000 to launch a new daily, the State Times, in February. Its 672 owner-stockholders started to build a brand-new plant; they lined up newsprint and ordered $300,000 worth of linotypes, printing presses and teletypesetting equipment. They also have recruited more than a dozen staffers from the Hederman papers, hired as editor Norman Bradley, 41, who for the past seven years has been an editor of the Chattanooga Times, Southern cousin of the New York Times. Bradley will run a news staff of more than 30 with the help of Robert C. Cook, 51, president of Mississippi Southern College, who has been appointed general manager.

Minister & Mail Carrier. The revolt against the Hedermans was led by Mississippi-born Dumas Milner, 37, one of the leading businessmen in Jackson and biggest Chevrolet dealer in the South. Milner, who is estimated to be worth more than $2,500,000 himself, began to think about starting the new paper when the Hedermans made their first open move to buy the News. Milner got twelve other businessmen to put up the first $300,000, and then "it was one of those things that snowballed, with people just calling in and asking to buy stock without even being asked." Investors, who are limited to $25,000 each so that no one can control the paper, include everyone from local businessmen to schoolteachers, housewives, a Negro mail carrier, and one minister who invested his savings ($200) because "the state of Mississippi is too big for one family or one corporation to run."

State Times's Chairman Milner and his 30-man board of directors are optimistic about their chances, hope to break even with a daily circulation of 25,000. On advertising they already have a big advantage: many businessmen in Jackson are stockholders of the State Times and have signed up for ads. The State Times still faces stiff and rough competition from the Hedermans, who have thawed out their own news coverage. Says Chairman Milner: "We can't afford to fail. The Hedermans would run us out of town if we did."

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