Conrad Black Gobbles Up Canadian Newspapers

Conrad Black, whose newspaper empire stretches from Chicago to Jerusalem, is suddenly on the verge of controlling more than half of Canada’s daily papers.

His fast-paced acquisition moves have prompted demands for a government inquiry into newspaper ownership concentration and have raised fears that he may demand substantial cutbacks at The Canadian Press, the national news agency.

Black’s most dramatic move yet in Canada came Friday, when his company, Hollinger Inc., announced it was doubling its stake in Southam, Canada’s biggest-selling newspaper group, to 40 percent. That gave Black effective control of Southam, putting him in charge of 59 of Canada’s 104 daily newspapers.

Southam’s 20 newspapers, representing 28 percent of the daily circulation in Canada, include the Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald and Vancouver Sun. In all, Black’s Canadian papers will hold 42 percent of the national circulation.

Hollinger is removing six of Southam’s 15 directors who he considers uncooperative, and it has announced plans to bid for 100 percent of Southam’s shares within a year.

Cabinet ministers who watch over the mass media said they have no plans to challenge Black’s expansion. But some members of Parliament expressed concern.

“It’s just not good for the press to be in the hands of one person,” Mary Clancy, a Liberal Party legislator from Nova Scotia, told The Toronto Star. “This is a very frightening prospect because Canadians need a range of opinions.”

Tony Ianno, a Parliament member from Toronto, said he might ask the House of Commons industry committee to examine the issue.

“We need to have a broad look at how we are going to keep Canadians well-informed with a wide diversity of opinion,” he said.

In all, Hollinger controls more than 150 dailies and 350 weeklies in Canada, the United States, Britain, Israel and Australia. Its flagship papers are the The Daily Telegraph in London, the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.