An ugly struggle for dominance of the newspaper market

TWO right-wing ideologues, Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black, have set about destroying the quality newspaper market. We here at the Independent must deal with the consequences, but it is worth briefly recalling how it started.

The first phase in the assault on the market came last August when Mr Murdoch cut the price of the Times from 45p to 30p. As the Times was already losing large sums of money, that action amounted to predatory pricing. At the time we were not able to persuade the Office of Fair Tradingto call a halt.

Mr Murdoch should have understood there are rarely any winners in price wars. Of course the initiator does well for some months, at least in terms of sales volumes. But sooner or later a second phase comes in which rivals who have been damaged follow suit. For a short period the consumer appears to benefit. This is the point to which Mr Black has brought us this week.

However, a final and disastrous phase for the industry and its customers often follows. Price becomes the only issue. Loyalty to newspapers because of their values or journalistic qualities is eroded. The competition for readers is based only on a willingness or ability to take losses. It is the business equivalent of trench warfare.

The stock market realised straight away that a catastrophe was in the making. Newspaper shares dropped sharply. The rational stock market had understood the industry was being driven by frenzy, as the Times' latest price cut confirmed.

What we are witnessing is a return to the industry's ugly past, dominated by proprietors inebriated with the power that newspaper ownership is thought to bring. Men like Mr Murdoch and Mr Black want control. They care nothing for plurality of opinion, nothing for liberal values. They want their way, and they are determined to get it. Mr Black's contempt for his shareholders is in character. The existence of the Independent is and will remain a challenge to their cynical vision of the role and purpose of newspapers.