WHO OWNS OUR NEWSPAPERS ?

Evening Star, Issue 19519, 29 March 1927, Page 3

WHO OWNS OUR NEWSPAPERS ?

PERSONALITIES BEHIND THE PRESS At one time an exchange in newspaper control was un event to fill men’s thoughts for many days. The vast social and political effects of such a I change evoked comment and surmise not: only from journalists, politicians, ' and financiers, but also from an inter- . ested public, to whom a newspaper was i something more than a mere daily nc- ; count of tho world’s happenings (says ‘John o’ Loudon’s Weekly’). RAPID CHANGES At the moment it would take a verv Knowledgeable man to state witli accuracy tho owners of. say, all tho London dailies; and by owners one means tiio actual controllers —those, -in short, wno have the largest financial holdings in the respective ‘newspaper comuames. Yet such powerful anonymities are relatively few. Take, for instance, the ‘ Daily Mail.’ founded and steered to its present prosperity by the late Lord Northcliffc. 'Jhis paper, together with the ‘ Weekly Dispatch.’ the ‘ Evening , News,’ and tho ‘ Overseas Daily Mail,’ is owned by the Associated Newspapers. Ltd., which is controlled by the ‘Daily Mail ’ Trust, The ‘ Dailv Mail ’ Trust, in ns turn, is subordinate to the company owning the ‘ Daily Mirror ’ and ‘Sunday Pictorial’: and. since Lord Rothcrmere has the largest holding in , that company, the fact emerges that 1 Loid Rotliermeie is the controller of this influential group. LONDON’S “ INDEPENDENTS.” The 1 Daily Mail ’ Trust also possesses a 49 per cent, interest in the , ‘ Evening Standard ’ and in the ‘ Dailv i Express ' and Sunday Express,’ which arc controlled to the extent of 51 per cent, by Lord Beaverbroc-k. The grouji ol London “ independents,” the dailies that publish no evening editions, and until recently ■ were all sold at double the price of . their penny comjiotitors, aro ‘ The i•Tunes,’ the ‘Daily Telegraph,’ and tho ; ‘Morning Post.’ Major Astor, member lor Dover, is responsible for the policy and administration of ‘The Times.’ Lord Burnham controls the ‘ Telegraph.’ ana the Duke of Northumberland is ; prominent in the company which owns j the ‘Morning Post ’ and which is now 1 amalgamated with the ‘ Financial News.’ It may be added that the 1 Observer ’ is controlled by Lord Astor. Tho remainder of the London dailies, with the exception of the ‘ Daily Herald/ aro shared ainong the Cad bury family, who own tho ‘ Daily News’ and the ‘Star,’ the United Newspapers, Ltd., and the Berry Bros. The Rowutrcc family, togcthei with Sir Charles Starmer, have considerable interest in a long string of London and provincial newspapers owned by tho 1 Westminster Press, Ltd. Latterly they 1 have been bached ny Lord Cowdray. Their mam London daily is the ‘ Westminster Gazette,’ founded by the late Sir George Newncs, first edited by Sir E. T. Cook, and then by Mr Alfred Spender. Jn addition they control tho Islington ‘Daily Gazette.’ The list of i papers owned by them in tho provinces is too long for mention here. In Sep- | teraber, 1926, the same group purchased the Yorkshire ‘ Observer,’ with its allied papers. The United Newspapers, Ltd., is the 1 name of the firm of which Mr Lloyd ■ George was until recently the driving lorce. This company now has as chair-

man Lord Reading, who was recently ' named for the Liberal leadership. Besides the London ‘ Daily Chronicle,’ the : combine includes the ‘ Sunday News,' i the Yorkshire ‘Evening News,’ the 1 Edinburgh ‘ Evening News,’ and the Doncaster ‘ Gazette.’ I THE BERRY BROTHERS. ! The Berrys—Sir W. E. Berry and j Mr J. Gomor Berry—control more newspapers than any other group in the country. Associated with-them is their, brother, now Lord Buckland, who was formerly a partner of the lato Lord Rhondda. Apart from a formidable list or trade weeklies, fashion magazines, and periodicals, their interests are pre--1 dominant in the ‘Daily Sketch,’ which | recently absorbed the ‘Daily Graphic,' I the ‘ Illustrated Sunday Herald ’ — j these purchased from Lord Rothermere | —and the ‘ Financial Times.’ In Manchester they own the ‘ Daily Despatch,’ the ‘Evening Chronicle, 5 and the ‘ Chronicle ’; in Sheffield the tho ‘ Daily Record ’ and ‘ Evening Telegraph and Star ’; in Newcastle the ! ‘ North AI ai 1 and Daily Chronicle ’ and j the ‘ Evening Chronicle ’; in Glasgow the ‘ Daily Record ’ and Evening Nows ’; and in Middlesborongh the ‘North-eastern Daily Gazette.’ This group is particularly rich in Sunday papers—the ‘ Sunday Times,’ tho ‘ Sunday Chronicle,’ tho ‘ Empire News,’ and the Glasgow ‘Sunday Mail.’ The ‘ Empire News ’ may not be read in sophisticated circles, yet it is probably the chief money-maker of the Berngroup. Tho outstanding feature of modern newspaperdom is tho fact that the public have enormous investments | in the various comnanies. tho control j of w-hich is vested in the persons who i own the bulk of the ordinary shares j The public investments probably amount to fifty million pounds, and in these days it is no uncommon thing for a man to invest his money in a company owning newspapers with the pol’cy of,which he profoundly disagrees, just in the same way as teetotallers sometimes invest in brewery shares—one or the minor inconsistencies of modern life, due to tho almost impersonal character of these huge concerns. RECENT ACQUISITIONS. Recently tho Berry group bought the Amalgamated Press, Ltd., with its hundred magazines and periodicals. This deal followed close upon that of Mr William Harrison, chairman of the Invcrcsk Paper Company, who acquired Sir John R. Ellcrman’s string of illustrated weeklies with tho view of issur ing a regular market for his raw moduct. The papers concerned are the ‘Sphere,’ tho ‘ Tatler,’ the ‘Sketch,’ ‘ Eve ’ —which absorbed tho _ ‘ Gentlewoman ’ —‘ Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News,’ tho ‘ Illustrated London News,’ the ‘Drapers’ Record,’ and ‘Men’s Wear.’ Mr Harrison has also bought from the Berry brothers and Sir Edward Iliffe the ‘ Graphic ’ and the ‘ Bystander.’