Word: murdoch
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Taking over the Times, Murdoch tries to soothe ruffled Britons
...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...
...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...
Though the deal would save the Times, the announcement of the would-be rescuer has been greeted with dismay. Britons are already familiar with Murdoch's saucy Sun and sleazy News of the World, and the great worry is that the Times will itself adopt what the paper just four months ago described as "the breathless, grubby vision of the world inherent in the Murdoch style." Tongue tucked in cheek, Daily Mirror Columnist Keith Waterhouse told readers not to fret. "The girls," he wrote, "will appear in the Times Literary Supplement wearing fishnet stockings and mortarboard...
...Murdoch and Thomson have attempted to quiet fears by making the paper's continued editorial independence and integrity conditions of the sale. Some members of Parliament are nevertheless attempting to block the sale by demanding that it be reviewed by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the customary procedure in a newspaper transaction of this size. But such a review can be waived if a paper is in danger of folding. Says Murdoch, eager to keep the presses rolling: "This is a time for a new face and a new beginning...