The Post Page #4

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are paying for play.

Great, let's do

a story about that.

-Yeah, let's--

-Judith should crash again.

I didn't crash Julie's wedding.

What would you call it, Judith?

Well, I would call it

depth reportage.

All right, come on,

come on, everybody.

How are we gonna cover

this Nixon-Cox wedding?

Uh, who else is gonna be there?

-Oh, here.

-Judith's got the guest list.

No, I mean the other press?

Well, The Times, The Sun, The Globe,

all the international papers.

All right.

So, we-we-we call them,

we call all of them and uh,

we say Nixon has shut us out

and then we ask them

for their notes.

Ben, there's no way in hell

anyone's gonna give me a fill.

No, they'll...i-it'll be an

act of solidarity--

they'll be defending

the first amendment.

We'll tell them that the only way

to protect the right to publish

is to publish.

I don't understand, you said

we'd set the price at $27.

No, we said there was a range.

and the demand on the

road show us soft.

Why not set it at $26?

Or 25 even?

Well, Paul, we feel that

setting the price at

24.50 would be

more prudent.

It's just a couple of bucks.

It's not just a couple of bucks,

it's 1.35 million shares...

so, it is...

Th-Three million.

Over three million dollars

less--that's a lot to a newspaper.

I mean, how many

reporters is that?

-It's-It's twenty-five--

-Let's not get bogged down...

-It has to be quite a few.

-At least a dozen. Fritz?

It's uh, twenty-five reporters--

Twenty-five reporters?

Twenty-five reporters.

Gentlemen, we know it's not ideal,

but a few of our investors balked

at the nature of the company.

They don't like newspapers?

They like Gannett

and Knight and Ridder

but...frankly they're

concerned about

your ability to turn

a serious profit.

Gannett and Knight and Ridder

own monopoly papers

in smaller markets

-that's why they're more profitable.

-Mmm.

The whole point of the

offering is to grow--

while investing in the

quality of the paper.

Kay and I have talked

a great deal about this.

And we believe that

improving quality

will naturally lead

to greater profitability.

-Unfortunate.

-More than unfortunate.

Does this happen all the time?

Bankers lowering the price

for their institutional investors?

Fritz, isn't this what we discussed?

I think the family should

consider giving up some control--

maybe another board seat.

Absolutely not.

This isn't a surprise, Fritz--

ever since Phil's accident.

Arthur.

No offense, Kay,

it's unfortunate but...

The buyers are obviously skittish

about having a woman in charge

and it's-it's not like

it's an easy sell--

it's a local paper with modest

margins, modest ambitions.

I think Mr. Bradlee would take

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