PERILS OF THE STAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300400021-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2004
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: August 11, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

NEWS MEDIA
ived For Release, 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-0131
Allhritton_(left), Bellows: A damaging non-decision.
Perils of the Star
`-The survival saga of The Washington
Star is beginning to resemble a journal-
istic version of. The Perils of Pauline."
Texas millionaire Joe L. Allbritton, who
purchased control of the financially ail
ing afternoon paper last fall, seemed just
the man to pluck the 123-year-old Star
from the brink ofbankruptcy. Allbritton
plunged millions into the paper, hired
an innovative new editor and vowed to
stay in the field against the morning
Washington Post. Allbritton, however,
set forth one key condition: that he also
be authorized to: buy the parent com-
pany's six profitable- broadcast stations
in order to help offset the newspaper's
losses.
Last week, a, new villain loomed on-
stage in the form of the Federal Commu-
nications Commission. The FCC an-
nounced that it was putting off a final
ruling on Allbritton's request until pub-
lic hearings could be held-a process
that often consumes more than a year.
With the Star currently losing about $1
million a month,. the FCC's inaction
could amount to a death sentence-
thereby turning the nation's Capital into
another one-newspaper town.
The legal han:gup in the Star case is the
FCC's new cross-ownership rule. De-
signed to break up local media monopo-
lies, the rule prohibits the perpetuation
of newspaper-broadcast combinations in
the same market when their ownership
changes hands.Allbritton, who took over
the Star with a S5 million payment and a
$5 million loan, was scheduled to in-
crease his investment to $25 million
through the purchase of effective con-
trolling interest in Washington Star
Communications, Inc., which owns ra-
dio and television stations in Washing-
ton, Virginia and South Carolinii. Thus
the second stage of the deal hinged on
Allbritton's persuading the FCC to
waive its cross-ownership ban. But after
eight months of deliberation, the FCC
refused to settle the waiver petition until
the lengthy public-hearings procedure
could run its course.
Outrage: The irony of the FCC's deci-
sion to delay is that it night well produce
exactly the kind of situation that its cross-
ownership rule is supposed to prevent-
namely, the creation of a Washington
Post monopoly if the Star is allowed to
die. "The FCC seems to want to kill us to
preserve competition," finned one Star
editor. "How in the hell do you figure
that one?" Star columnist `Lary McCrory
was outraged enough to propose that
staffers conduct a candlelight vigil at the
FCC. "We should go completely pub-
lie," stormed McCrory, "with marches,
bumper stickers and everything." A no-
table vote of support came from the rival
Washington Post, which in a strong edi-
torial branded the FCC's wait-and-see
ruling "a demonstration of regulatory
lethargy at its worst." Added the Post:
"We believe in a freely competitive
press, and that is precisely why we also
believe that the nation's Capital needs
at least two competing newspapers."
Treasury Secretary William Simon also
chimed in, denouncing the agency's
postponement as "a coward's way out."
Allbritton himself called the ruling
"shocking news," and then hurriedly
met with lawyers to consider his options.
He is contractually free to pull out of the
deal and thus, as one Star staffer doleful-
ly put it, "take; a $5 million bath now
instead of maybe a $50 million bath
later." Biat the tough, 50-year-old Texan
told us after the FCC ruling that he hasn't
played all his cards yet."
As it happens, the Star's latest setback
comes at a time when the paper, which
dominated the Washington press scene
until the mid-'50s, is suddenly showing
renewed signs of journalistic zip. Al-
though daily circulation has slid to
369,626 (vs. the Post's 536,350)1 the
once-stodgy Star has undergone a per-
sonality change under new editor James
G. Bellows. A 'trendy, fast-wheeling vet-
eran of The Los Angeles Times and the
late New York Herald Tribune, Bellows
has introd6ced a perky front-page "Q
and A" interview column (subjects have
ranged from a local dogcatcher to Joan
Baez) and an irreverent Capital-gossip
column called "The Ear" (which likes to
poke read-between-the-lines fun at the
extracurricular love lives of unnamed
but. identifiable public figures). In a
reference to rumors that uneasy Star
staffers are trooping to-the Post with
resumes; "The Ear" indulged in some
gallows humor. "The Washington Post
elevator fell two, stories, ' it cracked.
"Twelve Washington Star reporters
were injured."
Bellows's proudest innovation is a
"writer in residence" column, featuring
new journalisin heavyweights on a drop-
by basis. The series was launched by
Jimmy Breslin, who gleefully spoofed
the absurdities of Washington bureauc-
racy. Breslin will be followed by writers
Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, Dick Schaap
and Gloria Steinem-a line-up that
would have lifted eyebrows among the
Star's old-school editors. But Bellows
shrugs offsuggestions that he is tryingto
out-Post the Post, and he rejects the
notion that the new Star should serve as a
conservative alternative to its liberal
rival. "What we need is a more lively and
important newspaper," he says. "We
need people like Breslin who glitter."
Hope: What the Star doesn't need is- a
divided front. But rumors persist that
some members of the Noyes, Kauffimmann
and Adams families, which had owned
the Star since 1867 and still control the .
parent company, . want to unload the -
paper because it is draining revenue
from the firm's lucrative broadcast prop-
erties. A recent story in The New York
Times-reprinted in the Star--claimed
that some board members have reneged
on their promises to Allbritton to guaran-
tee the loans he has sought to keep the
paper afloat. Newbold Noyes, the Star's
former editor, has heatedly denied such
reports, but Noyes does concede that
there are "differences of opinion" among
the board members about "how much
stockholders with varying resources can
afford to bet on the outcome."
Late in the week, the Star's demoral-
ized staffers received one dose of hope-
ful news. The FCC announced that it had
decided to speed up the schedule of
public hearings on Allbritton-'s waiver
request. That still left the Star in limbo,
Approved For Release 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300400021-6
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Approved For Release 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300400021-6