Baron Thomson, Businessman

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30342, 18 January 1964, Page 9

Baron Thomson, Businessman

[Specially written for “The Press’ 9 by GARRY ARTHUR) 'J’HERE have been men before him who were far more colourful, but Lord Thomson, who now appears on the New Zealand horizon, is the first truly international press lord. And with more than 100 newspapers around the world, he is the biggest of them all.

But Mr Roy Thomson, as he was known until he became a baron on New Year's Day, is neither a professional journalist on a grand scale nor a seeker after the power inherent in control of mass media. He is first and foremost a businessman. and claims to be nothing more than that. He has never shown any desire to use his newspapers to indoctrinate readers with a particular line of propaganda, as Lord Beaverbrook frankly admits he does, but seems content to retain existing editorial policies—so long as the money flows in. However, his application of chain-store methods to newspaper publishing have been criticised in Canada for the sameness which descends on their appearance and content.

Gaineness Because of his cost-cutting methods most of his 28 Canadian newspapers are essentially the same. They have the same type-face, similar layouts, and the editorial content is supplied in bulk by teletype setting from Thomson's head office in Toronto. Skeleton staffs supply a certain amount of local news and comment. In the same Toronto office is another pointer to Thomson’s attitude to the publishing business. In his own office are files detailing the “cash value” of every employee. Lord Thomson’s first venture into publishing succeeded because of his ability to assess an employee's cash value. He bought the weekly “Timmins Press” in Northern

Ontario In 1934 and turned it into a daily within three years, it is said by employing journalists at bargain prices and driving them hard. The son of a Toronto barber, Thomson started in business by starting a radio station to provide an incentive for people to buy a parcel of radio sets which he had not been able to shift. From mere, more radio stations were a logical business extension, and it was only a step to the acquisition of newspapers—all of them smallish regional publications.

Rules For Staff His instructions to his staff to serve the best interests of their communities, even when they conflict with his. are interpreted in their own way by his small rural weeklies or segregationist outlook in the Southern United States His other newspaper in that part of the world, the St. Petersburg (Florida* "Independent,” he claims to have bought to give him something to do during the winter. Apparently bored with purchases in the New World, Lord Thomson moved in on the seemingly invulnerable British scene in 1953 by taking control of Scotsman Publications in 1953. He moved to Edinburgh and found himself faced with tempting opportunities in Scottish commercial television, for which he obtained the licence in 1956. Lord Thomson's most recent big deal was his purchase of the solid Kemslcy Group, including the "Sunday Times,” in July, 1959, for 31.5 million dollars. Now aged 69. he owns three of London's Sunday newspapers, 11 provincial dailies and several weeklies. Included in his directorates are the Royal Bank of Canada and Reuters. Lord Thomson passed control of his Canadian interests to his son, Kenneth, in 1956. In June last year he registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom, perhaps because of his close identification with Scotland and things Scottish, but possibly so that he could accept the title which he now has without consent having to be sought from—and perhaps refused by—the Canadian Government.