NEW NEWSPAPER, THE TRIB, GOING ON SALE IN NEW YORK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300120023-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 14, 2004
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: January 9, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

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THE NEW YORK TINIES
pproved For Release 2Od4fi'O 2 : IAARDP88-01314R
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New Newspaper, The Trib,
Going on Sale in New York
The Trib, a ' new morning New York
City newspaper, is scheduled to begin
publication today.
The tabloid, which is to be issued Mon-
day through Friday, will normally have
72 pages. The paper is printed in New
Jersey, and plans are to distribute it
throughout the metropolitan area.
The editor-in-chief, publisher and chief
organizer of the paper is Leonard Saffir,
who was an. aide to James L. Buckley
when Mr. Buckley was a Conservative-
Republican. United States Senator- from
New York.
- The newspaper is. owned by. a group of
about. a dozen private investors, most of
whom Mr. Saffir has declined to identify..
However; he: has. acknowledged that he
is the biggest stockholder and has con-
firmed a report that one of the investors)
:.is Richard Mellon Scaife; publisher of
The ` Tribune-Review in suburban Pitts-
burgh.
Mr. Saffir has said that The Trib will
have an "independent editorial policy."
The paper will cost 25 cents and will
print only one edition -a day, Monday
through Friday. It should reach. homes
:and newsstands within a 75-mile radius
of the city early in the morning. The
paper is aiming for an initial circulation
of 200,000. .
The Trib is only the second metropoli-
tan New York morning paper to appear
since 1924, when The Daily Mirror ent-
ered a field of more than a dozen daily
newspapers. On Dec. 31, 1976, The News
World Wag established by the Rev. Sun
Myung Moon, founder of the Unification
,Church, and new has a, circulation of
20,000 according to a spokesman.' The Trib's editor is John Denson, who
- was editor of The New York Herald Tri-
' buns in 1961 and 1962. The Herald
Tribune's last issue was-on April 24, ?1966.
Mr. Denson has also been editor of The
Los Angeles Herald Examiner and News-
week magazine and executive editor of
The New York Journal-American. He is
73 years old and has been a newspaper-
man since the 1920's. . ".. ?
The art critic is Emily Genauer, former
art critic of The New York Herald Tri-
bune, who won- a Pulitzer: Prize -for dis-
tinguished criticism in. 1974 : for her syn-
dicated columns. for Newsday, the Long
Island newspaper. The dance- critic is
Walter Terry, former, dance critic for The
-Herald Tribune.%%e . -. ,.. +_
The Trib has 112 employees, including
those on the news and business sides. It
will subscribe to a number of news serv-
ices and syndicates, including United
Press International, Reuters, the Scripps-
Howard News Service and the Christian
Science Monitor Service. Its syndicated
columnists will include George Will,
David Broder and William Raspberry. .
The first few pages contain no ads and
emphasize foreign, national- and metro-
politan. news. There are: special sections
for gossip, style, entertainment, sports,
business and finance, television and stock
tables. There also is a special section
called The , Commtuucators, devoted to
news of -advertising, publishing,-,broad-
casting, public ?relations,G marketing and
the business- end of television: :.? > . i2-
The Trib came into being aftert con-
siderable birth pangs. In August the IHT
Corporation--which, with The New York
Times Company and the Washington Post
Company, jointly owns the International
Herald Tribune-brought a trademark-
infringement suit against The Trib. It
charges that The Trib is the name by
which both the old New' York Herald
Tribune and the International Herald
Tribune are known and that the new Trib
should not be allowed to use the name.
The Trib filed a denial in September. '
It declared that there were more than 250
newspapers in the United States with the
word Tribune in their names, many of
which were informally referred, to as The
rrib.
The paper 'also filed a counterclaim
charging that The New York Times Com-
pany in conjunction with the International
Herald Tribune and the IHT Corporation
had conspired to prevent the new paper
from coming out.
On December 29 IHT went to court
again, seeking to enjoin The Trib from
publishing under that name, The Trib
filed a. response last week, contending
that "the granting of the injunction will
literally destroy this newspaper."
"I am forced to admit," Mr. Saffir said
in an affidavit, "it would be financially,
impossible to make the -necessary changes
in advertising and promotion and ever
come out with a newspaper without a
complete6 refinancing."
More papers were filed Friday in Fed-
eral District Court in Manhattan, but no
date has been set for a hearing.
In the newsroom of the new paper at
711 Third Avenue, between 44th and 45th
Streets, there are clusters of desks with,
computer terminals next to them frona.I
which copy can be sent electronically to
printers in New Jersey. There are also
various modern electronic egivalentsc of
old-fashioned teletype " anachines' and
photo transnii.tters, Mr. Saffir says that
about-$3 million has been spent to date
on equipment, salaries, promotion and
other expenses. Contracts for Press Work
The Trib does not have one of the
traditional major expenses that 'new
newspapers often face. Instead of buying:
its own presses it-has contracted with
the Somerset. Publishing Company in
Somerset, N.J., to have the newspapers
printed in offset at its plants in Somerset
and Morristown, Trucks will take the
papers when they come off the presses
to 28 distribution points in the metres
politan area.
There are. no unions at The tfcib.-Ac-
cording to Mr' Saffir salary scales and
benefits are comparable to these of other
.newspapers in New York City. He did
not give details.
In October The Trib became involved
in a controversy when William. E. Simon,.,
.former Secretary of the ' Treasury,. and"
William J. Casey, former chairman of the
Securities and Exchange Commission and
president of the Export-Import Bank in
the Nixon and Ford Administrations, re-
signed from -The Trib's board of direr.-
tors after disagreements with Mr. Saff671
Mr. Saffir had : charged--that *.Mr. Simor l
was trying to gain financial and editorial;
control of the paper to further his awn'
political ambitions. '-:v
'One-of the persons whom Mr. Simon
reportedly tried to bring into"s ignifi:caut-
financial participation'' .iii. the paper .was
Robert ?H. _Abplanaip, n. close friend af
.former President Richard M. Nixon and
a substantial contributor ,in the past. to
Republican political campaigns... -
.Mr. Saffir= says: he has commitments
j
from "virtually every- major- retailer in the city" to advertise. in the new paper;.
A full page ad cost about $2,000
Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300120023-5