Newspapers: Letting Go of a Legacy

After his father's death in 1942, Walter Annenberg pledged on the front page of his most prized legacy, the Philadelphia Inquirer, to live the rest of his life in the City of Brotherly Love and to uphold "the great traditions" of the newspaper. Annenberg stopped living in Philadelphia this past April when his long friendship with Richard Nixon got him a new address in London as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. Last week he announced he was also giving up the Inquirer. He sold both the morning Inquirer and its sister paper, the afternoon Daily News, to Knight Newspapers for about $55 million.

The sale surprised the staffs of both papers, who recalled another statement by Annenberg in the Inquirer last February that despite rumors, neither paper was on the market. It also surprised Knight Newspapers, whose president, Lee Hills, emphasized: "Annenberg came to us. But why he did so and what was on his mind, I cannot say." The only explanation Annenberg offered came in a prepared statement: "With the passing of my only son, there is no likely possibility of family transference, and hence my desire to ensure a future ownership in which I have confidence." This posed more questions than it answered. For one thing, Annenberg's son died in 1962. Why wait so long to sell?

Near Monopoly. One possible factor: Annenberg may have feared trouble with the Federal Communications Commission. His Triangle Publications company owns several television and radio stations, as well as TV Guide, Seventeen magazine, the Morning Telegraph and the Daily Racing Form. Renewal of Triangle's license to operate WFIL-TV in Philadelphia has been opposed by a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania, Milton Shapp. He claimed last July that Triangle exercised "a near news monopoly in the Philadelphia area," and that under Annenberg's direction, news had been "censored, omitted, twisted, distorted and used for personal vengeance." Triangle denied the charges, but Shapp insisted upon public hearings. To date, no hearings have been scheduled—but neither has the license been renewed.