The Press: The Acquisitor

When Washington Post Publisher Philip Graham, 47, stole Columnist Walter Lippmann from the New York Herald Tribune syndicate last month, Graham hinted broadly that more raids might follow. His newest columnar prize is Joe Alsop, another old hand of the Tribune syndicate, whose byline will join Lippmann's in Graham's kit bag. Any more columnists to come? "Well." said Graham. "I could have had another big one, but I didn't want to seem greedy."

Greedy may not be the word, but Phil Graham is certainly acquisitive. Since 1961, when he bought Newsweek, Graham has added possessions at an increasing rate. Besides Newsweek and the Washington Post (which he inherited by marrying the daughter of Owner Eugene Meyer), he now owns broadcasting stations in Washington, D.C., and Jacksonville. Fla., two art magazines, Portfolio and Art News, and his share of a growing news service, which combines the editorial forces of Graham's Post and the Los Angeles Times, and has signed up 33 U.S. dailies. By the end of the year, says Graham, two British papers, the London Sunday Times and the Manchester Guardian, will join the service; another British paper, the London Observer, will come in next summer.

Does all this mean that Phil Graham is setting out to become a press lord? Not at all, said Graham. But he has just bought a private airplane and a second home in Virginia. And. come to think of it, "I'm looking for another TV station or two—and maybe a pulp mill."