Manhattan Mergers

The most interesting shop talk for New York City journalists for the past few years has concerned the death, rebirth or merger of their papers. Last week the gossip was at least partially confirmed--but not by one of the papers' own reporters. It came from Gabe Pressman, a ubiquitous newsman for NBC television. Pressman reported "top secret negotiations" involving a merger of the morning Herald Tribune and the two afternoon papers, the World-Telegram and Sun and the Journal-American.

Financial Woes. The publishers confirmed Pressman's scoop, but they were not offering any details. Best guess, however, was that Scripps-Howard's Telly and Hearst's J-A would merge, quite possibly under the editorial direction of the Journal. That would leave the New York Post the only other remaining afternoon paper. In addition, the Sunday edition of the Trib would combine with the Journal's Sunday paper (the Telly has no Sunday edition). At the same time, the papers are exploring the possibility of combined printing operations to cut production costs, and are considering building a new $25 million plant. Hopefully, these new arrangements would enable the papers to compete more successfully with the front-running--and money-making --News and Times.

The necessity for such drastic change stems from 1963's 114-day strike and the subsequent wage settlements, which have cost the New York papers an extra $25 million a year. Moreover, the intransigence of Bertram A. Powers' printers' union has prevented any agreement on automation--a must for survival. It was Powers who brought the publishers together. During the strike, they got in the habit of seeing one another regularly and discussing their financial woes. "They can't fool each other any more," says one newspaper executive. "They know perfectly well who's making or losing what."

Around the Horn. The papers' difficulties go deeper than Bert Powers. At a time when city dailies are fast dwindling, New York still has six of them--more than any other city in the U.S. But suburban papers, newsmagazines and radio and television have cut deeply into the circulation of all but the News and Times. From 1955 to 1964, the circulation of the Trib dropped from 340,462 to 307,674, the Journal sagged from 653,291 to 538,057, the Telegram from 570,275 to 403,340, the Post from 399,886 to 329,523; in that period, the Times rose 117,759, to 652,135, and the News climbed 33,445, to 2,170,373. Meanwhile, production wage costs at all the papers have jumped an estimated 23% and the price of newsprint has risen 4%. The Trib, Telegram and Journal stand to lose a total $15 million this year.

A decision on a merger could come as early as this summer. "They're really driving for a solution," says a top newspaper union official. "They've gone around the horn on all possibilities." Says Scripps-Howard President Jack R. Howard: "To this end, there will be more, rather than fewer talks."

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