How to be a press baron

Abstract

The fall of the House of Barclay as proprietors of the Daily Telegraph and its Sunday sister is a reminder that British national newspaper ownership has usually been short-lived. Only two current owners, Rupert Murdoch and the fourth Viscount Rothermere, can point to the longevity of their tenures. Down the years, they have watched a host of rivals go by the wayside. So, what makes Murdoch and Rothermere different? How have they succeeded while so many others have failed? At first sight, there are few similarities between an Australian-born buccaneer who built up a media empire from virtually nothing and the dynastic inheritor of a successful company. One word links them, however. Money. At root, newspapers are businesses. These two men have always understood that basic fact of economic life. They know that financial stability is the key to maintaining their hold on what Lord Beaverbrook, one of the most famous (or infamous) of the 20th century press barons, liked to call the organs of propaganda. In admitting in 1947 that his purpose in publishing the Daily Express was all about using it to advocate his views, Beaverbrook told the first Royal Commission on the Press: “No paper is any good at all for propaganda unless it has a thoroughly good financial position. So we worked very hard to build up a commercial position.” There you have it, the nexus between profit and press power. One engenders the other. No surprise there. We exist in a capitalist economy, after all. It would be foolish to suggest that a grasp of business alone is good enough to sustain thriving newsprint proprietorship. A large dose of media