Television
Two tycoons
Alexander Chancellor
What is good about BBC2's Forty Minutes series is not only its usually in- teresting choice of subject but also its practice of letting stories tell themselves through pictures and dialogue with a mini- mum of intrusion by the reporter. In a journalistic world in which reporters usual- ly feel compelled to draw fatuous conclu- sions of the 'One thing is certain, nothing will be the same again' variety, Forty Minutes tends to eschew both comment and interpretation. Sometimes, of course, it is rather unscrupulous in its editing the most famous example being its pro- gramme on The Fishing Party about four Hooray Henrys on a deep-sea-fishing ex- pedition. Were they not such show-offs in any case, they might have reason to feel they had been traduced. But in general, of the programmes I have seen, such criti- cisms cannot be made.
Last week's programme was about the birth of Eddie Shah's newspaper Today. It was filmed over six months up to the printing of the first issue and made very entertaining viewing. As tycoons go, Mr Shah is unusually sympathetic. Perhaps this is because he does not seem to be a tycoon but a rather simple man with a mission. The fact that the purpose of his endeavours is to create a rather dim, down-market daily newspaper does not prevent him seeming rather noble. The programme well conveyed all the agonies and frustrations — as well as the excite- ments — of trying to produce a new newspaper with unfamiliar techniques.
Even the presence of a camera crew was not inhibiting enough to stop people losing their tempers on occasion. Mr Shah, however, never really lost his, though he appeared on the point of doing so with a young American with a moustache repre- senting the computer company on which everything depended. He complained forcefully about the apparent idleness and incompetence of the Americans hanging around his office. But he was restrained even then, informing the nervous Amer- ican that he was not yet 'wound up'. For most of the time, Mr Shah appeared more concerned to soothe the nerves of his staff and boost their morale.
The most striking thing about the offices of Today is the amount of cigarette- smoking that goes on in them. All the senior editors seem to be chain-smokers. Whether they have always been so addicted or have been driven to smoking by the pressures of their jobs I do not know. But peering through the clouds of smoke on the screen, I was comforted by the thought that if the pressures against smoking everywhere else were to become intolerable, there would still be a haven for me somewhere if Today would agree to give me a job. There is, however, the question of whether Today will still be around if and when that moment arrives. It was a little frustrating that the programme, transmitted some weeks after the newspap- er started, ended abruptly with the printing of its first issue and offered no assessment of progress since. There was a reference after the closing titles to a 'wavering' circulation, but that was all. Mr Shah might like to know that in Blythe Road, Ham- mersmith, where I live, no copies of his newspaper have yet been delivered. My local newsagent says he has repeatedly asked for copies but never received them. Things cannot be running perfectly yet.
Lord King, who was the subject of a profile, King's Flight, on ITV last Tuesday, is much more of a heavyweight tycoon than Mr Shah. He reminds me slightly of a Koala bear — cosy and cuddly to look at, but liable to turn nasty and dangerous. The programme, containing extensive inter- views not only with Lord King but also with other airline chiefs and Sir Freddie Laker, looking sleazy in retirement by some tropical swimming pool, was fun to watch. It was not only about the personal- ity of Lord King but about the whole complex issue of the privatisation of British Airways. It pointed up the conflict be- tween the Government's belief in free competition and its desire to make as much money as possible from the sale, which means favouritising the national airline at the expense of its competitors. British Caledonian is understandably bitter about this.
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