Citizen Murdoch

CHICAGO IS Rupert Munloch's kind of town. Ten days ago, the Australian tycoon paid $90 million to buy the Chicago Sun-Times, the nation's seventh largest newspaper and the Chicago Tribune's main rival. 'The Sun-Times reported the story on its front page, beneath a guide to the paper's memorial section in honor of George Halas. The owner and former couch of the Bears had just died. In his column that day. Pulitzer Prize-winning Sun-Times writer Mike Royko said goodbye to "a classic Chicagoan." Others in Chicago undoubtedly said goodbye to the Sun-Times.

Boston Globe editor Thomas Winship said at the time, "It's not a red-letter day for the future of quality journalism in this country." Winship's apprehensions center on a man whose British papers run front-page headlines along the lines of, "Sailor Who Turned Into a Girl Witch"; whose New York Post in 1977 ran front-page coupons to draft Ed Koch for governor; and whose editorial instincts often appear geared as much towards winning exclusives as towards Wingo!, whose daily jack pots grow almost as fast as Murdoch's holding in the American press.

In addition to the Post and the Sun-Times (which he officially will take over in January), Murdoch owns the Boston Herald, The Village Voice, New York magazine. The Star, and a handful of Texas newspapers. But the Chicago Story isn't as simple as one of Murdoch's headlines.

Without doubt, it's unfortunate that the paper did not remain in local hands. Publisher James Hoge and area investors offered $63 milion in a deal which former co-owner Marshall Field V wanted to accept. But Field's half-brother, Frederick, who lives in California and likes to race cars, apparently liked the idea of the additional $27 million.

"Had this decision been mine alone to make," Marshall Field said, "I probably would not have taken this action." For his part, Murdoch promises that, "basically, [1] neither plan nor intend any substantial changes in the newspaper." Murdoch may take Wingo into the Midwest; he may add splashier news coverage and a few pictures of scantily-clad women. But possible apprehension over Murdoch's latest move overlooks several facts about contemporary American journalism, Murdoch's track record, and the Sun-Times itself. A feeling that this Australian may not be that bad after all centers on a simple question. Which came first: Rupert Murdoch, or Rupert Murdoch's readership?

WHEN HE BOUGHT the Post in 1976. Murdoch said. "The role of a newspaper is to inform, but in a way that people buy your paper. It's not for us to say what public taste ought to be." Granted, a difference exists between catering and pandering to the public's interests. But in seven years, Murdoch has doubled the Post's circulation to nearly I million readers; in just a few months, he has raised the Herald's by more than 100,000. Whether or not those papers lost readers in the process seems beside the point. Observers can comment on a perceived decline in the quality of taste and interests among Americans, but the fact remains that 335,000 Bostonians apparently would rather see space devoted to fluff than, say, an extra news analysis on educational reform.

But Murdoch's journalistic philosophy also shows positive signs. He allows his publications a certain freedom--Alexander Cockburn, the media critic for Murdoch's Village Voice, often directs his jibes at Murdoch's Post. Moreover, perhaps due to Murdoch's concern with success, he does not level all his publications to the same bleak plain. If the New York Post often runs trash, then New York offers "classy trash"--to use writer Richard Reeve's description of the magazine's content. Yet Reeves offered that appraisal before Murdoch owned New York. And only a cursory examination of recent New York stories reveals that "classy trash" hasn't been thrown out.

The magazine runs high-society gossip (a few pieces on the Von Bulow trial), unusual "living on the edge" tales (one about a transexual Jewish American Princess), and voyeuristic features (a look at the behind-the-scenes goings on during the recent Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton play Private Lives.) But the magazine's contributing editors more often than not elevate the topics they address.

In fact, "classy trash" may be too harsh a description. Most issues contain lively columns by writers like John Simon, Marie Brenner and "Adam Smith." The Rupert Murdoch stamp doesn't necessarily crush talent. The Murdoch Empire.

The Sun-Times has its share of talent as well; Rokyo, movie critic Roger Ebert, and others. In addition, the paper has published award-winning investigative reports. But the Sun-Times is a tabloid, one whose weaknesses existed long before Rupert Murdoch ever saw Chicago. With few foreign bureaus, the paper relies heavily on the wire services; it often runs shortend and unexciting syndicated features; and it has two gossip columnists whose contributions often read like unused scripts for Entertainment Tonight segments. Murdoch won't have too much to change.

THE "RED LETTER" days of Chicago journalism ended years ago, when Royko's old paper, the financially crippled Chicago Daily News, folded. The Sun-Times has had its troubles recently as well; circulation has dropped. But Murdoch's fortune--his "News Corporation" reported assets in excess of $200 million in 1980--and his loyalty to the Post--which hasn't shown a profit in seven years--suggests that the Sun-Times will be around for a while even if the times get tougher.

The final issue of the Daily News offered a simple headline: "So Long, Chicago." The prospect of another farewell seems far more depressing than the prospect of an average Chicagoan winging it with Wingo.