Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 27, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Rupert Murdoch is now making Radical changes inside the times while tiny Rowland s bid to control the sunday observer fills its staff with dread about the possible consequences new Fleet Street owners controversial new British political baby by . Macrae special to the free press London major British political party has been launched for the first time in 80 years and it May actually help form the government of the country after the next general election in 1984. The weighted average of the seven National opinion polls since late Jan uary show labor 31 per cent conservatives 27 per cent social democrats the Newborn party 26 per cent Liber als 14 per cent. Since the idea is that the social democrats and liberals should run joint candidates in each constituency _ the combined Liberal social Democrat vote could conceivably go Over the 38 to 40 per cent which in such a Multi party system and under the present British first past the Post election system say experts in election arithmetic ought to give a Liberal social Democrat Alli Ance a full majority in parliament. In any Case it May prevent any other party from getting the 38 to 40 per cent. This would mean that it would hold the balance and could decree whether a minority labor or minority conserva Tive government went into office. It has said that its Choice would then fall on whichever party agreed to introduce a proportional representation election system in Britain which would mean that most British governments would henceforth be coalition governments. This is an enormous change in British political prospects dramatically brought about by four experienced right Wing sex labor Cabinet ministers Roy Jenkins or. David Owen mrs. Shirley Williams Bill Rodgers who were alienated from their old party by labor s leftward what Are the disadvantages first it is said that they have no policies they just want to be Middle of the Road in practically everything. This is probably not a disadvantage. The British people May now want to vote for Middle of the Road administrators instead of for political ideologues. Hitherto the liberals have not looked As if they had any administrators since they have not been in government since 1945. The arrival of or. Jenkins Etc. Removes that difficulty. Second the social democrats will need to form 635 local alliances so that social democrats and liberals do not run against each other in any constituency. This will be a bigger difficulty. There Are about 400 liberals All round the country who had thought they were going to stand in one or other of Brit Ain s 635 parliamentary seats. They Are going to cause rows when Over 100 of them Are asked to stand Down particularly in what May suddenly become winnable seats. The next problem is that nobody knows who would be prime minister of a new coalition government in Proba ble order mrs. Williams the Liber als or. Steel or. Jenkins or. I suspect this is an advantage but the politicians themselves do not think it is. . Macrae is Deputy editor of the economist. By Leonard Downie or. Washington Post London the times is changing. News reporting is More aggressive presentation is much More Lively. Familiar names and flowery writing Are disappearing from opinion columns. Behind the scenes entire depart ments of business managers Are being replaced. New printing technology is being introduced and Cost cutting moves Are being made. This is almost revolutionary change for Britain s most famous National newspaper. It also was notably staid and unprofitable before its Purchase along with its sister sunday times earlier this year by australian publisher Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is better known Here for the nude pinups and racy style of Britain s most popular and profitable papers the tabloid Sun 3.8 million circulation daily and news of the world 4.4 million each sunday and in the United states for his remaking of the new York Post with a similarly sensationalistic style to increase its circulation from to Murdoch has moved into a seventh floor office in the times building Here to personally direct an All out Effort to make his new acquisition profitable after years of heavy losses and to prove in the words of one times executive that he can publish a Quality new spa the takeover of the times and the disputed Purchase of Britain s oldest and Best known sunday newspaper the observer by another unorthodox Empire builder aroused considerable controversy Here. The influence of the times just Over sunday times about 1.4 million and observer about 1 million far exceeds their readership and the British establishment believes their Independent editorial control As Well As financial sur Vival is vital. The deals have been debated in parliament and subjected to government review including an anti Trust investigation that has delayed the Purchase of the observer by Roland tiny Rowland for up to three months. What happens to these papers also could have a far reaching Impact on Britain s 14 other National newspapers which Are published by eight different owners and Are being forced to compete for a shrinking number of readers. The combined circulation of the dailies declined by during the last half of 1980, and the total weekly sales of the sunday papers fell by 1.4 million. Although their proprietors Are Secre Tive about their balance sheets a num Ber of National newspapers Are losing Money or barely breaking even according to Industry analysts. Notoriously ineffective management and combative Feather bedding labor unions have made Fleet Street the publishing District of London a difficult place to make a profit except for the biggest Selling lowest overhead tabloids. Owners of the times and observer in particular had been expected to pay dearly for the prestige of being philanthropic patrons of the establish ment press. Yet Murdoch and Rowland Accord ing to associates intend to be Active publishers and eventually produce a profit. Murdoch moved swiftly to streamline his acquisition and Cut costs. He fired an army of business and marketing managers and he told remaining executives that he wanted to move the times out of the building it rents from the lord Thomson conglomerate and consolidate its offices with the sunday times in the building Murdoch owns across the Street. He failed to get everything he wanted in negotiations with the 54 Union Chap Els that represent the two newspapers employees. But Murdoch won a reduction of 563 jobs during the next six months and immediate introduction of computerized printing technology that Thomson s managers were never Able to unc rate because of Union opposition. Board meetings take half an hour now and Are full of said one times executive who welcomed Mur Doch s decisiveness. They used to take All Day and produce a lot of Cigar smoke but no but the biggest question about Mur Doch s takeover of the venerable times was what he would do to its editorial Content. Most of Murdoch s newspapers have in common their reflection of his increasing political conservatism. He has turned the new York Post around 180 degrees politically using it to sup port right Wing candidates the Way his australian newspapers crusade against Liberal politicians there. To satisfy critics when he bought the already conservative times and to avoid an anti Trust inquiry by the government As the owner of four British National newspapers with a combined circulation of 10 million Murdoch agreed to a number of strict conditions the violation of which would be a Crimi Nal act punishable by a prison sen tence. They guarantee the Independent appointment of outside directors and working journalists to the times Board and preservation of the newspapers editorial Independence. Editorial control Harry Evans award winning Sun Day times editor who was moved next door to Murdoch to edit the times said he has been Given Complete control of editorial personnel and Content. He has told his staff to treat Murdoch s Busi Ness interests in the news columns just As they would anyone else s and says Murdoch has demonstrated a belief in the paper backed up by Money and personal involvement in its business while reluctant to discuss the changes he is making Evans said he was trying to avoid shocking Loyal times readers. The newspaper re Mains both the notice Board and sound ing Board of the establishment with its prestigious letters to the editor columns chronicling of Royalty and High society extensive verbatim accounts of parliamentary proceedings and. Sum Maries of Legal decisions that Are admissible As evidence in English courts. But one of a number of senior editors writers and contributors who Are Leav ing the paper or losing their old positions complained that the brighter Nessier times was slighting its unique traditional commitment to commen tary ideas and intellectual discourse that had been emphasized by Evans predecessor William Rees Mogg. Yes it was Donnisha and acknowledged this journalist. That was its special role. Rees Mogg ran it almost like a commons room at Oxford. Harry Evans is a newsman and he wants Only the hot the turmoil at the times is Small compared to the reaction of journalists at the observer to its Sale to Rowland Britain s most acquisitive entrepreneur by Robert Anderson of Atlantic Richfield Oil Rowland wants to add the observer to his fast expanding Lon rho mining distilling retailing publishing and investment conglomerate. Because of the Strong opposition to his Purchase of the observer Rowland failed to avoid an anti Trust inquiry even though he tried four different ways of buying the newspaper to escape the clutches of Britain s Monopo lies commission. Rowland s associates say business leaders and bureaucrats resent his Success while others have fallen on hard times Here. Rowland s Lon rho conglomerate was already undergoing an exhaustive anti Trust investigation into his Stormy struggle to take Over the House of Fraser Britain s largest and most prestigious retailing Chain crowned by harrods department store. That take Over is being fought fiercely by the House of Fraser s Board of directors. Beginning like Murdoch with Only a Small family owned property the 63 year old Rowland built his Fortune on a base of shipping and mining invest ments in Africa through tireless often contentious and sometimes shadowy Wheeling and dealing. His close person Al involvement with various african leaders and revolutionaries his Stock trading and financing methods Auto cratic management habits and his frequent Board room Battles have not endeared him to the conservative men who run Britain s financial Community or those who run the government bureaucracy. Rowland has commanded Strong Loy Alty from Small stockholders and employees in his ventures and has depended on their support to win Tough takeover fights. But he has had a difficult time convincing outsiders that rather than being a Speculator in stocks with a paper Empire i believe in assets in land in and Rowland s Purchase of the observer was unusually secretive. Anderson of Arco never told the observer Board that he was Selling. Shocked and angry directors editors and reporters at the observer said the sudden Sale followed Anderson s failure to place his Friend observer journalist Kenneth Harris on the observer Board and the recent departure from Arco s Board of a director believed to be the observer s they wrote angry letters to the times and editor Donald Trelford published an editorial in the observer headlined a accept that called Rowland s takeover ill advised and the unacceptable face of multinational observer journalists who did not want to be quoted by name accused Rowland of trying to avoid an antitrust inquiry so he could not be forced into binding guarantees of editorial Independence that Murdoch accepted. They said they believe Rowland wants to use the newspaper to further his other business interests particularly in Afri Ca where the observer is perhaps the Best known Western paper. They claimed knowledge of Rowland s intention to review All stories about Africa. Rowland s opponents pointed out that the observer has been notably critical and sceptical in its reporting of Row land s business activities in the past. They said they Hope that the anti Trust inquiry will provide time for another buyer to make a better offer to Ander son and Arco. Hiding Hydro minutes is an old nip trick a name every new Democrat in Manitoba honestly Hopes will catch on could be a coverup. It could also be a shining example of what happens when you put a Bunch of amateurs in charge of a stonewalling operation. Do it and they will mess it up. Do it and one result is that the Leader of the new democratic party in Manitoba Howard Pawley will be de fending the Winnipeg free press it is something his predecessor de Schreyer never did and it is also something that Howard himself Felt differently about before october 1977. Back then the former Premier Sel Dom made a speech in which he did not take at least one occasion to single out the shortcomings of Winnipeg s biggest daily newspaper. Rather than defend ing reporters who dug for facts be Neath the surface he often denounced them As unfair. In those Days the Premier and or. Pawley his attorney general and former insurance Czar were making government decisions not criticizing them. Anyone who thinks there was a genuine attempt to cover up what happened when a nip appointed Hydro lawyer tried to Cross swords with a conservative appointed Hydro vice chairman will have to concede that if this did take place it was really badly bungled. However with amateurs in charge Fred Cleversey with people whose fault in a coverup operation simply had to be their Basic honesty what else could be expected no one in his right mind would try to deny the existence of minutes of a meeting when by Law the minutes of Manitoba Hydro s Board of directors Are declared to be of a Public a amateurs May argue the mean ing of words but smart coverup artists even those available in Manitoba would have handled the matter differently. Such men existed in Manitoba before 1977 and kept the minutes of Manitoba Hydro secret from not Only the general Public but from elected members of the legislature As Well. Of course at the time the minutes were being held under wraps the stakes of the game were a bit higher about million higher to take the word of the experts. To find out How professionals work it is necessary to read a bit of history recent history but history in every sense of the word. In March 1972, the member of the legislature for Brandon West de Mcgill finally made Public the fact that he had been refused four times by the provincial government when he asked to see minutes of the meetings at which Lake Winnipeg regu lation had been discussed by the Board of Manitoba Hydro. Everyone knows that Mcgill is just too much of a gentleman to complain before he had tried every possible other Means. He pointed out Back in 1972, that his request was reasonable and not in consistent with my Legal rights or responsibilities As an la and a member of the standing committee on Public he said i now feel obliged to make the nip government s denial of the information a matter of Public if Mcgill has had time to read the transcript of the latest series of meetings of the Public utilities commit tee he must have had a chuckle Over Sid Green s indignation at the Mere suggestion that members of the Legisla Ture should be denied Access to the minutes of Manitoba Hydro Board meetings that were available to the Public. Or. Green said he was astonished to hear Manitoba Hydro suggest that it would not produce minutes to the com Mittee. He said he would sustain Hydro s right not to give minutes to a member of the Public but could not understand that Hydro would make minutes available to a taxpayer who walked into its office but not produce the same minutes to the committee. Amateurish. Or. Green is probably Well aware of the Law that says Hydro minutes Are declared to be of a Public nature. He is also probably aware that this can be interpreted. After All he was a Mem Ber of the government that decided when Mcgill wanted to see Hydro minutes that although the Law said they were declared to be Public in nature this did not necessarily mean that they had to be made available to the Public or even to a member of the legislature. Green had powerful backing. When Mcgill put his request directly to pre Mier Schreyer the Premier refused. When Mcgill wrote the chairman of the Hydro Board David Cass Beggs he waited a month without a reply. When he wrote again to the chairman the reply came from the Premier who wrote there is no basis for acceding to your request but in any Case you May wish to proceed for an order for or. Mcgill covering All then applied to the Secretary of the Hydro Board again quoting the Law. The re quest was rejected. He filed an order for return in the House. It was not accepted. Orders for return Are accepted or rejected on the basis of a majority vote in the Legisla Ture. What or. Mcgill was trying to find out was whether the decision to change the original sequencing of the develop ment of the Nelson River s Power potential the change that was later determined to have resulted in Power rates in Manitoba 20 per cent higher than they should have been had been taken with the support of Hydro or imposed on it by the government. Then of course there were no amateurs in charge of Hydro coverups. Doonesbury Khz Zonker Hplu. 65 coming pwn Pekin. His for brean2st? Tea inf Justi vent up Oser him. Sesnie. Ever since he his mociorptinhn6a but its wining that Topay. I ont 0bwie ;