Wilmington Turnabout

Like so much else in Delaware, the Wilmington Morning News and the Evening Journal are owned by the Du Pont family. For years, the Du Ponts insisted on editorial docility. One editor found it wise to keep a Du Pont genealogical table next to his phone so that he could quickly establish who was complaining at any given moment. Creed Black, an editor who showed some independence, left in 1964 when a Du Pont public relations executive was installed above him. Said Black at the time: "I for one need no further evidence that the ownership wants the Morning News and the Evening Journal operated as house organs."

Today no one accuses the News or the Journal of shilling for management or anyone else. Ben Bagdikian, the press critic who once castigated the papers even more vehemently than Black, went back for another look recently and concluded: "Obviously, a revolution has taken place." In fact, the papers now routinely criticize the chemical corporation's influence on Delaware, where 10% of the work force is employed by Du Pont. Senior Vice President Irving S. Shapiro believes that much of the staff "is so anxious to demonstrate independence that the reporters try to find ways to paint the story against us."

The startling turnabout dates from 1970, when the former public relations man died. Richard P. Sanger, 42, became president and editor in chief, and John G. Craig Jr., 39, became executive editor. Both had risen through the ranks; both had suffered restrictions that discouraged criticism of the Du Pont family, company and philanthropies. Because his wife is connected to the Du Ponts, Sanger may have struck company officials as safe. "If they thought that," Sanger says, "they made a mistake."

Sanger gave Craig a free hand in hiring young and decidedly irreverent reporters. The newsroom was soon adorned with beards, Afros and blue jeans. But changes went deeper than counterculture cosmetics. Sanger and Craig overhauled layout, expanded coverage of national politics far beyond the scope of most small-circulation papers (89,000 for the Journal, 47,000 for the News). They encouraged investigative reporting, including a series charging that Du Pont properties were receiving favorable property-tax assessments (the company denies it).

When Ralph Nader released The Company State (1971), a report attacking Du Pont influence in Delaware, the papers gave the document heavy play. More recently, Reporter David Warsh, 28, was sent to Washington to cover Securities and Exchange Commission hearings on the proposed merger between Du Pont and Christiana Securities, the holding company through which the family owns the papers. Warsh's coverage was so acerbic that, as one Du Pont man bitterly put it, the reporter became an instant "folk hero."

Bottom View. A crisis of sorts was reached last November when the board of the News-Journal Co. (whose members are subservient to the Christiana board) urged Sanger to endorse Republican candidates in state and national elections. (Delaware's lone Congressman, Pierre S. du Pont IV, is a Republican.) Sanger refused, published an editorial expressing no confidence in most candidates from both parties. In space normally reserved for letters, the Du Ponts made their endorsements in a column called "A View from the Top" and signed "The Owners." Says Sanger: "We thought of heading our editorial 'A View from the Bottom,' but we didn't."

Many in Wilmington were surprised that the owners allowed Sanger and Craig such sassy independence. To have throttled the editors, however, would have meant the same kind of bad publicity that had accompanied Black's resignation. Now, having grown weary of the newspaper business, the Du Ponts have decided to sell the papers. At least one Du Pont official thinks that the company might then receive more favorable press coverage in Wilmington.

If Sanger and Craig have their way, the employees may become the owners. An outside appraiser has set the papers' value at $24.6 million, a figure that seems high in light of their modest profits ($450,000 in 1971, the last year for which figures are available). But because the dailies enjoy a virtual monopoly in Delaware, a number of buyers, including newspaper chains, are interested. Du Pont is expected to select owners who have a strong sense of responsibility toward Wilmington affairs. Thus the employees are prime candidates.

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