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This is an archive article published on March 8, 1998

Murdoch admits gaffe on Patten memoirs

LONDON, March 7: In a humiliating public climbdown, Rupert Murdoch's publishing company, Harper Collins, issued an ``unreserved apology'' to...

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LONDON, March 7: In a humiliating public climbdown, Rupert Murdoch’s publishing company, Harper Collins, issued an “unreserved apology” to former British Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten whose memoirs, East and West: The Last Governor of Hong Kong, they backed out of publishing because it was “too boring”.

Harper Collins had insisted that the book, for which they had paid a six-figure part advance, was just not good enough. However, internal Harper Collins correspondence revealed that the decision had been driven by Murdoch. Critics said that this was because publishing Chris Patten’s book may have upset the Chinese government, with whom Murdoch has a deal for his Star TV network and who intensely disliked Patten. Patten, whose book is now to be published by Macmillan, sued for breach of contract.

Harper Collins’ has also agreed to pay the remaining 100,000 pounds or so that remained of the advance that Patten received from them to write the book. A statement issue by the lawyers representing bothsides stated that “Harper Collins have unreservedly apologised for and withdrawn any suggestion that Chris Patten’s book, East West, was rejected for not being up to proper professional standards or being too `boring’. They accept these allegations are untrue and ought never to have been made.”

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Earlier in the week, Rupert Murdoch publicly said that the executives at Harper Collins had “screwed it up” leaving him in a “completely inexcusable position”. Murdoch said that he disliked Patten, not because of China but because he had undermined Mrs Thatcher, and that his executives should simply have withdrawn from the agreement to publish offering to make good all loses. The feeling was that heads would roll at Collins, as they usually do when the chairman of News International is crossed. But, the media tycoon was forced to accept at least some responsibility for the fiasco. In another statement of retreat Murdoch said “there are no winner or losers in the current controversy; mistakes have been made andwe all share the responsibility.” He also stressed that all people involved had his “total confidence”.

While the controversy has given the non-Murdoch media another chance to question News Internationals methods, it would appear that Murdoch will remain unassailable. Despite the bluster of outrage at his “suppression” of the freedom of expression, Harper Collins has not lost many of its best selling authors. So far only two popular writers including historian Peter Hennesey and journalists-biographer Simon Heffer have announced that they will no longer publish under hat imprint. Murdoch, however was unperturbed by this saying that Collins published over 1000 titles each year.

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