(4 of 4)
Nonetheless, newspaper-industry experts remain cautious about USA Today's long-term strength. If circulation does not rise substantially over the next two years, the paper will not be able to charge the higher advertising rates that are needed to break into the black. (A full-page, four-color ad now costs $31,000, compared with $75,000 for a black-and-white page in the Wall Street Journal.) "The challenge facing USA Today is to get the circulation to 2 million or above," says John Morton, a newspaper analyst at Lynch, Jones & Ryan, a securities firm in Washington. "Gannett has established there is a market for the paper. Now the question is, is it going to be a market that is profitable?"
Neuharth, of course, is asking himself the same question, but he is determined to see it through. USA Today, after all, is Neuharth's dream. During the paper's first six months, the indefatigable onetime sportswriter for the Mitchell, S.D. Republic stayed every night in the newsroom until 1 or 2 a.m., editing stories and dashing off headlines. Once, when he found a story "too damn long-winded," he banged out a new version on his typewriter.
Though Neuharth no longer haunts the newsroom, he still speaks with Editor Quinn half a dozen times a week. He has enough confidence in the paper to plan the opening of four printing plants by year's end, which will bring the nationwide total to 30. He launched an international edition of USA Today last year (15,000 copies sold a day, in Europe and the Middle East) and plans to increase the newspaper's maximum length from 48 pages to 56 in November. Perhaps most important of all, despite USA Today's substantial losses the Gannett Co. chalked up its 71 st straight quarterly rise in profits last month. Its net profit for 1984 was $224 million.
Even criticism about the paper's approach to the news no longer seems to rankle Neuharth. "Editors who like to write or edit long stories don't like this paper," he says with equanimity. "Notice I didn't say 'like to read' long stories." Ask Neuharth if USA Today is here to stay, and he barely pauses. "If I had to bet the rent money," he says, "I'd bet it." --By James Kelly. Reported by Lawrence Mondi/New York, with other bureaus