THE WASHINGTON LONE STAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300400037-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2004
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: April 22, 1974
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

0
N. WSWEEK
Approved For Release 2002/e9/$iR 11 4RDP88-01314R
The Washington Lone Star?
What does it take to save Washington's
oldest newspaper-a millionaire Texas
Democrat or a conservative Republican ,
from Michigan? Last week, it was re-
vealed that two politically at-odds suitors
were battling for control of the deficit-
plagued Washington Star-News. First,
directors of the 122-year-old paper
agreed in principle to accept an offer
from Houston banker Joe L. Allbritton
for a controlling interest in Washington
Star Communications Inc., which owns
the Star-News, six TV and radio stations
and a news syndicate. Then John P.
McGoff, president of Panax Corp., which
owns 51 small papers, bid an equivalent
amount-reportedly some $25 million-
for the Star-News alone.
Losses: Whoever wins, more than a
.century of family control of the Star-
News seems to be at an end. The Star's
three founding families-the Kauffmann,
Noyes and Adams clans-still own ap-
proxinately equal shares of the parent
company, and a dozen Kauffmann and
Noyes relatives hold executive positions
on the Star-News, including editor New-
bold Noyes and company president John
H. Kauffmann. In 1972, The Star tried
to reverse its circulation losses by ac-
quiring its afternoon competitor, The
Washington Daily News. But the com-
bined Star-News has never prospered.
Weekday circulation has dropped from
520,000 after the merger to 413,000 cur-
rently-compared to 532,000 for the
archrival Washington Post. "Everyone
expected us to reach the break-even
point by midwinter," says one Star-News
copy editor. "When we didn't, the ap-
prehension level got extremely high."
The 49-year-old Allbritton, whose bid
must be formally accepted by the direc-
tors and stockholders of Star Communica-
tions and by the Federal Communications
Commission, is chairman of the Houston
Citizens Bank and Trust Co. He has a
taste for fine art and symphonic music
and describes himself as "a lifelong Dem-
ocrat." In 1972, he attended the Demo-
cratic National Convention as a Muskie
delegate, and when many other wealthy
Texas Democrats switched their support
to President Nixon later in the campaign,
Allbritton stood by his party's ticket. He
plans to buy approximately a one-third
interest in the Star-News's parent com-
pany, which would make him the largest
.single shareholder. Allbritton indicated
that he would take an active part in
running the Star-News, and a Houston
acquaintance observed: "Joe doesn't go
into anything that lie doesn't participate
in up to his armpits."
Vote: McGolt is also a take-charge ex-
ecutive, and he runs his newspapers
with a tight hand. The Panax papers have
attacked the Eastern press for its han-
dling of Watergate, and recently they
were ordered to organize seminars on
such themes as "What's Right With
America." The 49-year-old executive
maintained that he still had a chance to
take over the Star-News. "I know that
the [directors'] vote for Allbritton was
not unanimous," he said.
ButMcGoff may have alienated some
of the stockholders when he announced
his plans for the Noyes and Kauffmann
relatives on the Star-News payroll. "The
day I take over, I expect all of their
resignations on my dQsk," he declared,
"and that's not a formality." For that and
other reasons, most observers expected
Allbritton to win out. As one veteran
Star-News reporter put it: "A lot of peo-
ple. here are trying out Texas accents."
Approved For Release 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300400037-9