Fox in the Establishment Coop

By Janice Castro

Taking over the Times, Murdoch tries to soothe ruffled Britons

For weeks members of the British Establishment had been squawking like chickens with a fox in their coop. The fox, of course, was Rupert Murdoch, the high-rolling Australian press lord, best known for his torrid tabloids. His purchase of the ailing Times of London (circ. 279,000) raised fears that he would vulgarize the staid 196-year-old newspaper with sex and sensation. But last week the din subsided. The reason: Murdoch, 49, named Sunday Times Editor Harold Evans to the top job at the venerable daily. Evans, 52, an esteemed journalist and a passionate campaigner for press freedom, is also tough--an important quality to have when dealing with Murdoch. Says London Guardian Editor Peter Preston: "Evans has as good a chance as anybody to make a success of the job."

The Manchester-born son of a locomotive engineer, Evans won high marks for his 14-year stewardship of the Sunday paper,* which he enlivened with eye-catching layouts and hard-hitting investigative stories (the thalidomide scandal in 1972 and 1977, a series on brutal prison conditions in Ulster in 1972). Unlike its daily counterpart, the Sunday Times (circ. 1.4 million) was usually in the black.

Though Murdoch promised Evans editorial control at the Times, his Fleet Street colleagues are skeptical. Said Sunday Observer Editor Conor Cruise O'Brien a few days before the appointment: "Mr.Murdoch's track record shows that he expects and gets uncritical subservience from the newspapers he owns." Evans naturally was more upbeat about his new assignment: "It is a very great honor for any journalist, although I must admit it is a daunting challenge."

Together the Times, the Sunday Times and three supplements (Literary, Educational and Higher Education) have lost some $150 million since 1967, $32 million in 1980 alone. Much of that red ink was caused by the Times Newspapers print unions, which are notorious for featherbedding and work disruptions; their unruly behavior and opposition to laborsaving new technology finally drove out the last owner, the Toronto-based Thomson Organization. Murdoch, who also owns the London Sun (circ. 3.7 million), News of the World (circ. 4.2 million) and New York Post (circ. 640,000), picked up the five Times publications at the bargain-basement price of $27.6 million (less than the current value of the plant and equipment alone). New union agreements were a condition of the sale, and Murdoch agreed to pay dismissed staffers up to $14 million. Said he:"People seem to think they're doing me a favor allowing me to buy something which is losing -L-13 million a year. It will be very difficult to make it viable."

In three weeks of round-the-clock negotiations, Murdoch's side cut a tough deal with the unions--though not so good a one as he might have hoped. The National Graphical Association agreed that the papers could use the modern computerized typesetting equipment that has been sitting idle in the plant for three years, but stipulated that only N.G.A. members could operate it. Murdoch failed, as Thomson had before him, to persuade the N.G.A. to permit journalists and ad takers to use the equipment, as they do at most newspapers in the U.S. Thus the new proprietor lost his chance to introduce a significant money saving measure. But Murdoch did win several major concessions: 563 full-time jobs out of a total work force of 4,000 will be cut, the three supplements will be printed outside London, at substantial savings, and future work stoppages will be settled by a new system of arbitration that will avoid costly shutdowns. Said an exhausted N.G.A. President Leslie Dixon, echoing the sentiments of other Times union leaders: "No one likes to lose jobs, [but] I believe it is the best deal we could have had."

The paper's journalists were not especially happy about their new publisher, but most agreed that Murdoch was far better than the alternative: having the Times and its supplements close down. Editorialized the Times last week: "[Murdoch's] decision to take on our problems was an act of considerable courage. The assurances of editorial independence, which Mr. Murdoch has given, are very far-reaching, and there is no reason to doubt he will abide by them." In Toronto, Lord Thomson of Fleet was melancholy about giving up the paper, but he professed confidence about the new proprietor: "I feel very sad that we failed to make the papers successful. I know that [Murdoch] has the desire to show the world that he can produce good newspapers as well as sensational ones."

As for Murdoch, he promises a new "marketing strategy" to attract a younger audience, a goal Harold Evans endorses. Says Murdoch: "I'm there to save the Times. However important it is as a national institution, it is also a business. We're going to sell more advertising and put the price of the paper up [from 20 pence to an estimated 25 pence]. "And if the unions renege on their pledge to cooperate? "There'll be no difficulty in getting on a plane to Australia. I'll close the place down."

Murdoch, who now controls nearly 30% of British daily and Sunday newspaper circulation, estimates that "it will take three or four years to get the Times into real viability." Whether he will keep on his best behavior for that long is another matter. Noted an uneasy Sunday Observer: "The test of the pudding will come in the eating."

--By Janice Castro. Reported by Arthur White/London

*The Sunday Times was merged with the Times into Times Newspapers Ltd. by former Owner Roy Thomson in 1967.

With reporting by Arthur White

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