Could Rupert Murdoch bring Newsday back into New York as a way to bludgeon Mort Zuckerman's Daily News? That's a theory advanced by Lauren Rich Fine, a veteran former Merrill Lynch newspaper and internet stock analyst who now is at Kent State University’s College of Communication and Information.
Fine writes, in paidcontent.org, about Murdoch's current hyperactive run of newspaper hunting in the New York market. She said there could be advantages in joint production of his various papers and even in television cross-promotion. But she has worries: "I would have concern about his using the power of the press to promote his own agenda. I think the FCC will have a hard time accepting this but question whether they can withstand any potential pressure to push it through to save another newspaper."
Fine's other worry is about News Corp. shareholders and whether they'd be well served by all this money being spent on newspapers.
--Noel Rubinton