Canadian Press: R.I.P.? p.13

By: MARK FITZGERALD

CANADIAN PRESS, THE 79-year-old news cooperative, was wounded badly ? perhaps fatally ? by Southam Inc.'s June 26 announcement that it is pulling its 20 daily newspapers out of CP.
Southam contributes nearly $6 million (U.S.) to CP's annual $33.8 million (U.S.) annual budget. Even before the Southam announcement, CP had said it intended to cut the budget by about $5 million (U.S.).
Southam, however, is not only pulling out of the 88-newspaper cooperative ? it is also going to compete with it.
The chain said it is creating its own national news service, which will also be available to non-Southam newspapers.
In a letter to CP President David Jolley, Southam Vice President Gordon Fisher said the chain's resignation is effective Dec. 31.
CP might be given a new lease on life, however, from an unlikely source: cost-cutting press baron Conrad Black.
Black's Hollinger Inc. last May doubled its stake in Southam and won controlling interest in the chain.
At the time he said he intended to slash costs at the chain even further than Southam management's announced plans to cut 750 jobs over the next three years.
But while pulling out of CP would save Southam some money, Hollinger President F. David Radler was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the Southam move was made without the approval of Hollinger ? and that he supports CP's continued existence.
"I think in the next six months we can finally, in my opinion, review all aspects of Canadian Press, and I think we will still have Canadian Press as a national newspaper syndicate operating in two languages," Radler told the AP.
And at the company's annual meeting in Chicago in May, Black also supported CP, saying he would "review the subject with Southam management who have become skeptical about continued Southam membership."
However, another published report, cited by the Wall Street Journal, also quoted Radler as saying Hollinger will "probably" withdraw its own 38 dailies from the cooperative because of liability issues.
Radler did not return an E&P phone message for comment.
CP has 350 full-time employees across Canada and maintains news bureaus in Washington and London.