Warhorse Murdoch pitches for New York

NEW YORK - It might be the last great American newspaper war. And Rupert Murdoch intends to win it.

He has made a career of grabbing readers and advertisers from competing newspapers, and now he is racheting up the challenge his Wall Street Journal poses to the New York Times.

Yesterday, the Journal launched a metro section - Greater New York - that will vie for readers and advertisers on the Times' turf.

Monday's debut of the metro section had 16 pages, two of them bought out by Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. The stories included coverage of a terrorist plot, exploding state budget and a rat problem on the Upper East Side.

The Times returned fire on Monday with a little humour.

In a statement, Times executives offered some "helpful hints" about the city to the Journal: "The Dodgers now play in Los Angeles, SoHo is the acronym for South of Houston, Fashion Week has moved to Lincoln Centre, Idlewild is now JFK and Cats is no longer playing on Broadway."

In a party to celebrate the section's launch in midtown Manhattan on Monday night, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that "in the media capital of the world, the more competition the better".

He also joked: "Never bet against the man who brought us American Idol." Bloomberg is the founder of his own media company, Bloomberg LP.

Although the new section will be available only in the New York City area, collateral damage could spread around the country.

Both newspapers are jostling with each other, USA Today and regional dailies for readers. By dramatically lowering advertising rates in New York to undercut the Times, Murdoch's assault could leave both newspapers with fewer resources for other expansion plans.

"The Times has a lot of readers and a lot of them are very loyal, long-standing folks. It's not going to be easy to peel off the Times' core constituency," said Dean Starkman, a former Journal reporter who writes for the Columbia Journalism Review.

"As a business proposition, I think I'm with the majority of sceptics who think that this could ultimately damage both papers."

Luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman, a longtime prominent advertiser in the Times, plans to advertise in the new Journal section.

"We're going to try it and see," spokeswoman Ginger Reeder says. "We always look for new ways to reach our customers." It's not yet clear whether Bergdorf will reduce its advertising in the Times.

Times President and General Manager Scott Heekin-Canedy said several prominent advertisers have assured him that their promotions in the Journal's new section will not come at the expense of the Times.

"We won't get in a pricing war."

Murdoch, 79, has been open about his goal of using his media properties to challenge what he considers a left-leaning news establishment in the US.

And he took a swipe at the Times in a speech to New York real estate executives last month.

"We believe that in its pursuit of journalism prizes and a national reputation, a certain other New York daily has essentially stopped covering the city the way it once did," he said.

Times Co CEO Janet Robinson fired back: "When you're the lead dog, people are constantly going to go after you," she told financial analysts. But she argued that the Times has a better case to make with advertisers.

"They are aware of the fact certainly that we have a larger female audience. They are aware of the fact that there's more time spent with our newspaper and website than the Wall Street Journal," she said.

- AP