The Press: Mr. Expansion

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The fastest rising newspaper publisher in the U.S. is a stubby (5 ft. 3 in.) man who is unknown in most of the cities where his papers are published—and even in the city rooms of many of the papers themselves. He has never made a public speech in his life, he uses a briefcase for his main office, and he carries in his left-hand coat pocket a sheaf of memo paper, held together by a paperclip, showing the status of his papers' cash account. Although he is a registered Democrat, many of his eleven dailies—scattered across the U.S. from New York to Oregon—are pro-Republican. The publisher: Samuel I. (for Irving) Newhouse, 59, who in the past ten years has moved to the top ranks of U.S. publishing right behind Hearst and Scripps-Howard and, counting Sunday circulation, just ahead of Jack Knight. Last week, in a typically unorthodox manner, Publisher Newhouse took the biggest step in his fast-stepping career.

After a one-day visit to St. Louis, the first he had ever made to the city, Newhouse paid $6,250,000 in cash for the 103-year-old St. Louis Globe-Democrat (daily circ. 291,962, Sunday 354,354). With St. Louis' only morning paper Newhouse also got a 23% interest in radio-TV station KWK (whose $1,500,000 indebtedness he assumed). The seller was E. (for Edward) Lansing Ray, whose family has owned the daily for three generations. Publisher Ray sold out because he is 70, has no qualified heir to take over the paper.

With the Globe-Democrat, Newhouse's empire now includes:

Newark Star-Ledger (circ. 200,371) Long Island Press (217,040) Long Island Star-Journal (78,858) Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard (89,399) Syracuse Herald-Journal (133,704) Jersey City Jersey Journal (92,847)

Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance (41,761) Harrisburg (Pa.) News (82,044) Harrisburg Patriot (35,055) Portland (Ore.) Oregonian (236,289)

Unchained. The Globe-Democrat's Owner Ray wanted a buyer who would not change the pro-Republican paper radically and who would not sell it eventually to the thriving (daily circ. 387,398, Sunday 460,501) evening St. Louis Post-Dispatch, thereby giving the P-D a monopoly. Newhouse filled the bill. The day he took over, Newhouse announced that Ray would stay on as publisher. He also said there would be no major staff changes and that the paper's present editors, executives and 1,200 employees will continue to run the daily. But Newhouse expects to pep up the stodgy Globe-Democrat. Although it has made a small profit year after year (estimated at $250,000 after taxes last year), it has been hamstrung by a tight budget.

Publisher Newhouse expects to increase the editorial budget, give his editors a free rein to expand and improve the news coverage, and thus hopes to close the circulation gap on the Post-Dispatch. For Newhouse, the independence of his local editors is the keystone of his publishing theory. He has no use for chain operations that make papers look alike or speak with a common editorial voice. Says he: "Nobody knows better what to print in a local paper than the editors on the spot. The ideal chain is one in which there is no chaining whatsoever."