news down, although it is a price reduction that may never filter through to Bermuda readers.

But the jockeying for market position has also cut deeply into share prices of British newspaper companies.

The best-selling broadsheet, The Daily Telegraph, yesterday slashed the weekday cover price by 30 percent. Today, the cover price is 30 pence (46 cents), down from 48 pence (73 cents). In Bermuda, the Telegraph retails for $2.75.

The English papers are imported exclusively for, and sold by, the Phoenix Stores. And president, Mr. Reid Young, when informed by The Royal Gazette of the price war and the move by the Telegraph, undertook to fire a fax off to London to ask if there would be a price reduction for overseas markets.

The domestic price for the Telegraph now matches that of rival newspaper, The Times, owned by Mr. Rupert Murdoch, which last September cut their daily edition's price by a third from 45 pence. It retails here for $2.95 and in Toronto for Cdn$2.75.

Mr. Young said of that reduction: "The Times told us at that time that they would not lower their price to us. They had lowered the domestic price, but would not extend any reductions to us.

"It is about time we went back to them to see if that position has changed.

If any of the papers lower their price to us, we will pass on the savings to the consumer.'' The price reduction by the The Telegraph, owned by Canadian businessman, Mr.

Conrad Black, was reported by the Reuters News Agency as the latest salvo in the bid to keep circulation buoyed in a dwindling market.

They quoted media industry analyst, Mr. Derek Terrington: "It's a bombshell for the price structure of the national newspaper industry.'' Analysts said that Telegraph's share price had been partly affected by market annoyance about the timing of the cut, just over a month after chairman Black's Hollinger Inc. sold a substantial chunk of shares at 587 pence each.

Telegraph shares closed yesterday at 349 pence.

Telegraph's shares were off 35 percent, and forecasts for profits were depressed by analysts by some 25 percent.

Stock in Mirror Group Newspapers Plc, which has a 20 percent stake in The Independent, dropped almost 19 percent. And stock in other newspapers that have made no move to even compete with the price slashing, have also dipped, some significantly.

Market sources said that the London Stock Exchange was investigating the dramatic fall in the Telegraph's share price, although the Exchange refused to say whether a probe was underway.