Ponovno predvajanje ponedeljek, 1. april 1996

Covering Tobacco: A Cautionary Tale

Date: 02 April 1996

By Walter Goodman

Walter Goodman

In recent weeks television news and magazine programs have become warriors in the resurgent anticigarette wars, in alliance with whistle-blowers, government officials and legislators, plaintiffs against tobacco companies and antismokers at large. The wholesome-looking tobacco-company front men and women who used to blow smoke at the cameras have become as rare as puffers in a courtroom. Instead, the industry's image is that famous 1994 lineup of seven chief executives swearing to Congress -- one after the other in a scene that defies parody -- that they do not believe nicotine is addictive. Exhibited whenever the subject is treated, it must seem to company defenders the sort of endlessly repeated nightmare that sends people to psychiatrists.

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Murdoch May Seek Satellite Deal With TCI

Date: 02 April 1996

By Bloomberg Business News

Bloomberg News

The chairman of the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, said yesterday that he was prepared to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a joint venture with Tele-Communications Inc. and John C. Malone, its chief executive, to provide satellite television in the United States. Joining Tele-Communications would allow Mr. Murdoch and the MCI Communications Corporation, with which the News Corporation has a satellite-television joint venture, to compete more quickly with DirecTV, the industry leader with 1.3 subscribers. That is because Tele-Communications, or TCI, is a member of another satellite broadcasting group, Primestar Partners, which has 1.1 million subscribers.

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 02 April 1996

International A3-10

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 01 April 1996

International A3-11

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Contract Is Expiring for 350 at CBS News

Date: 01 April 1996

By Lawrie Mifflin

Lawrie Mifflin

The first labor negotiation at CBS News since the Westinghouse Electric Company bought CBS Inc. earlier this year reaches a pivotal moment tonight at midnight, when the company's contract with the Writers Guild of America at CBS's three biggest television and radio stations expires. The union's members have voted to authorize a strike. The contract covers about 350 people at WCBS in New York, KCBS in Los Angeles, WBBM in Chicago, as well as the CBS all-news radio stations in each city and the CBS radio network and a 12-member Washington news bureau. The employees are news writers, editors, some producers, graphic artists, desk assistants and promotion writers.

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World News Briefs;Revival of Warsaw Pact No Joke in East Europe

Date: 02 April 1996

AP

A Russian news agency found out today that jokes about the old Soviet Union are not so funny to the people of Eastern Europe, even on April Fools' Day. Itar-Tass, which traditionally runs a few gag items on April 1, reported today that Russia's Parliament was considering a revival of the Warsaw Pact, the old Soviet military alliance that once included Eastern European countries.

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COMPANY NEWS;BENNETT FUNDING FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION

Date: 02 April 1996

Bloomberg Business News

Bloomberg News

The Bennett Funding Group Inc. and three affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday and have suspended payments to investors, a lawyer for the company said yesterday. The office-equipment leasing company was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday for reportedly defrauding investors. The S.E.C. said the Syracuse-based Bennett Funding ran a "massive Ponzi scheme" involving $570 million of securities. The company and its chief financial officer, Patrick Bennett, have denied the charges. Mr. Bennett also faces criminal charges of securities fraud and perjury. The company is owned by Mr. Bennett's parents, Edmund and Kathleen Bennett, who were not named in the suit.

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COMPANY NEWS;WEYERHAEUSER DROPS PRICE OF LEADING GRADE OF PULP

Date: 02 April 1996

Bloomberg Business News

Bloomberg News

The Weyerhaeuser Company of Tacoma, Wash., cut the price of its benchmark grade of pulp by 13 percent yesterday, reflecting weaker demand for the processed wood fiber used to make paper. Weyerhaeuser, the world's largest pulp producer, cut the price for northern bleached softwood kraft market pulp to $520 a metric ton, from $600 in March, said Chip Dillon, a forest products analyst at Salomon Brothers Inc. That means the price of pulp has dropped 48 percent from a high of $1,000 a metric ton, reached in the third quarter of last year.

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COMPANY NEWS;HORIZON/CMS AND PACIFIC REHABILITATION END MERGER

Date: 02 April 1996

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

The Horizon/CMS Healthcare Corporation and Pacific Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Inc. have agreed to end their merger agreement, Horizon/CMS said yesterday. Details were not disclosed. Horizon/CMS, an operator of nursing homes that is based in Albuquerque, N.M., agreed in November to merge with Pacific Rehabilitation, an operator of outpatient rehabilitation centers that is based in Vancouver, Wash., in a stock swap valued at $62 million. Horizon/CMS shares fell $1 yesterday, to $13.25, on the New York Stock Exchange.

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COMPANY NEWS;WOOLWORTH TO CLOSE REMAINING RX PLACE DRUGSTORES

Date: 02 April 1996

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

The Woolworth Corporation said yesterday that it planned to close its 14 remaining Rx Place Drug Mart stores, all in the New York area, by mid-June, completing the company's exit from the drugstore business. In the last year, the New York-based retailer sold 24 of its larger Rx Place drugstores to the Pharmhouse Corporation, sold its Kids Mart-Little Folks children's apparel chain and shut down two specialty apparel chains in Canada. In February, Woolworth started selling off the smaller Rx Place Drug Mart chain.

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