Another radio guy goes after a newspaper

Michael Hedges June 2, 2008

Newspaper people seem absolutely panicked over the arrival of radio people in their midst. The Tribune Company in the US is now filled with radio people. NextRadioTV owner Alain Weill took over Le Tribune in France. Now it’s Denis O’Brien, owner of two Irish national channels and dozens more in Europe, going after the O’Reilly clan’s Independent News & Media.

O’Brien let Irish and UK stock exchanges know Friday (May 30) that he’d raised his stake in Independent News & Media (INM) to just above the 25% threshold. INM owns five national newspapers in Ireland, the Independent and Independent on Sunday in the UK, 14 newspapers in South Africa plus significant interests in media companies in Australia, New Zealand and India.  As Mr. O’Brien’s radio company Communicorp owns the two Irish national licenses, two stations in Dublin and a regional station the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland said they’d now be taking a look at those radio licenses, reported the Irish Times (May 31).

INM made its own announcement last week (May 30). It purchased at 20% stake in Indonesian media company Abdi Bangsa for €4.8 million (£3.8 million) cash.

What, might one ask, do radio people see in the newspaper business? For Denis O’Brien it seems to be an Irish billionaire blood feud with INM chief executive Sir Anthony O’Reilly. He wants the loss-making UK Independent titles sold, calling them “vanity projects.” He also wants changes in corporate governance, which now he can influence by virtue of holding a stake greater than 25%. He’s all but called Sir Anthony a plutocrat, horrifying the gaggle of newspaper owning plutocrats and their toadies. That and more will all hit the front pages June 11th when INM holds its annual general meeting.

Obviously, O’Brien wants changes at INM, like everything. And that includes style, causing considerable moaning by the O’Reilly clan that controls INM. “O'Brien's criticisms rely on a box-ticking approach to corporate governance,” said an INM spokesperson after the release on INM’s annual report (May 12).

US newspaper people – no plutocrats there, oh no – have mercilessly railed against recent aphorisms by new Tribune Company Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams, who serves at the request of CEO Randy Michaels; radio guys both. Abrams shocking memos and pronouncements suggest – between the lines spiced with pop culture terms – taking an entirely different look at newspapers. Criticism snarks of “You don’t understand newspapers.”

Understand this: Out with the old, in with the new. And by all means, get ready for a different view.