Stooping to Conquer in Boston

The struggling Herald American will keep going -- as a tabloid

The front-page announcement was brief: "Good morning. You'll be getting a new newspaper Sunday." Thus the Boston Herald American (circ. 209,128 and falling) last week ended speculation that it was about to fold. Despite heavy pressure from the bulging Boston Globe (circ. 502,920), the Herald American is optimistically pushing on. Says Publisher James Dorris: "We're giving the people of Boston and New England something they want, a compact, easy-reading, lively newspaper for the '80s."

Translation: the Hearst-owned daily had run out of options. The Herald American was formed in 1972 when Hearst's racy Boston tabloid, the Record American, absorbed the city's staid, 125-year-old blue-blood bible, the Herald Traveler. The new paper never caught on. Combining the mismatched styles of the papers it subsumed, the Herald American alienated former readers of both by, for example, running weighty political analysis side by side with reports of steamy sex crimes. Circulation, at first 371,664, fell steadily; losses are now estimated to be $10 million a year. The Globe commands more than two-thirds of the city's daily newspaper readership and three-quarters of its advertising. Indeed, in recent months the entire Sunday Herald American was often outweighed by the Globe's classified ad section alone.

Hearst's return to the tabloid format is a desperate, but plausible, effort to survive. The tabloid style, first practiced successfully in the U.S. by the New York Daily News (founded in 1919) and currently being carried to its irrational extreme by the New York Post under Rupert Murdoch, was modeled on Fleet Street's screaming dailies. The main features: short, punchy stories, heavy illustration, emphasis on sex, crime and gossip, and a smaller size for the harried, hurried commuter.

The form has matured, and among the two dozen or so surviving U.S. daily tabloids are some solid journalistic entries. Long Island's Newsday (circ. 503,336) provides a well-rounded package of original reporting and features to a large, densely populated suburban area. In Chicago, the Sun-Times (circ. 661, 531) is known for investigative reporting: last week it broke the Cardinal Cody story. Two recent entries indicate there may be life in the old format yet. In Philadelphia, the Journal (circ. 109,622), founded in 1977, is gaining a foothold with a sprightly mix of sports and gossip. Near by, the 106-year-old Delaware County Times converted itself last June 15 from a 25-c- afternoon broadsheet (circ. 39,000) to a 10-c- morning tabloid. In just ten weeks, circulation has risen to 49,000 and advertising linage has increased an estimated 10-c- over last year.

None of these examples was lost on the Herald American's managers, who reportedly considered the tabloid option for a year before choosing it. If the Globe, one of the nation's best newspapers, can thrive by providing first-rate coverage, the Herald American hopes to prove there is a down-scale market for something less serious and more entertaining. Predicts Dorris: "We're going to produce a paper that is a pleasure to read, not a chore." Adds Editor Donald Forst: "The new Herald American is going to be a reader's paper, with one overriding goal: to give people something they'll want to read."

First glimpses of the new format--which was to begin appearing regularly this week--were greeted enthusiastically by advertisers, who rushed to take advantage of a half-rate introductory offer. "It sounds like a good paper," said Donald O'Brien, marketing vice president of the Jordan Marsh department store. "We're going to help promote it, and we're going to be in it heavily." Added Filene's sales vice president, Virginia Harris: "It's a smart move because it is so totally different from the Globe. I think they've got a good chance of making it."

Others were not so sure. Said Frank McCulloch, executive editor of McClatchy Newspapers: "Dominance, once achieved, is very hard to overcome. The Globe is so dominant, it does not make much difference what the Herald does." Worse, Boston's new tabloid may not have very long to make the formula work. Last, week the Boston Globe reported that Herald Advertising Director Robert Lange told the paper's advertisers in July that the Hearst Corp. will give the paper just 3 1/2 months to prove it can make it; otherwise it will be shut down. That report was followed by an even more discouraging silence: neither Hearst nor Herald American officials were willing to comment.

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