It was September 5, 2016, when Robert Pitt, the chief executive of Independent News & Media (INM) first learned that there was an opportunity in play to acquire Newstalk, the loss-making radio business that was part of the Communicorp media stable.  Pitt was briefed on the matter by Leslie Buckley, INM’s chairman and a long-time associate of Denis O’Brien, the tycoon who owned Communicorp and was the major shareholder in INM.  By November 24, 2016, the embryonic deal had collapsed. At an INM board meeting that day, Buckley informed his board that “INM management had a look at the potential…

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