Murdoch Readies New Bid for Post

Rupert Murdoch is ready to re-enter the New York tabloid wars by trying next week to regain control of the New York Post, the president of his News America Corp. said Thursday.

Murdoch agreed to step in after public officials, union leaders and employees of the Post asked him to help save the paper that had once been his North American flagship, said Patrick Purcell, president of News America.

“We want to preserve the New York Post and we want to preserve the jobs,” Purcell said.

In a conference call with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Francis Conrad, Publisher Abe Hirschfeld and his attorney, attorneys for Murdoch and newspaper executives discussed the finances of the struggling tabloid. Purcell said a proposal for a 60- to 90-day management agreement will be submitted to the judge Monday.

The agreement would give Murdoch time to work out a detailed offer for the Post and secure waivers needed to keep his New York television station, Purcell said.

Murdoch had to sell the Post five years ago because of federal regulations barring ownership of more than one media outlet in a city. He sold the paper rather than his Fox network television station.

He had been blocked from obtaining a waiver of the regulations then, but in recent days politicians concerned about the future of the Post have made it clear they would not try to stop Murdoch from buying back the paper and operating it along with WNYW-TV.

Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) said he had spoken with Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), his House counterpart, and said that both indicated they would not try to block a Murdoch offer.

D’Amato said he did not think Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who led the earlier effort to force Murdoch to give up the Post to keep Channel 5, would try to block a waiver of the cross-ownership rules this time.

In addition to Fox, Murdoch owns newspapers and magazines around the world.

The Post is now being run by Hirschfeld, who has been the subject of searing coverage in his own paper for his eccentric statements and actions. Most recently, he allowed a number of bills to go unpaid Wednesday.

Judge Conrad, who had already said Editor in Chief Pete Hamill was in charge of the Post’s editorial operations, decided Thursday that another executive would have to be given authority to sign checks to prevent bills from piling up.

It was not immediately known who that would be.

Murdoch owned the Post from 1976 to 1988, when he sold it to developer Peter Kalikow. Kalikow’s personal bankruptcy filing set up the recent crisis at the paper, the nation’s oldest daily.

The Post was controlled briefly by Steven Hoffenberg before a bankruptcy judge gave control to Hirschfeld.