Murdoch

Over decades, The Wall Street Journal built itself into the world's most influential newspaper, said Jack Shafer in Slate.com. Now let's see how quickly Rupert Murdoch can trash it. The Australian media mogul last week bought the Journal and its parent company, Dow Jones, for some $5 billion. What he may not have realized, however, is that unlike the other jewels in his media crown'”Fox television, the New York Post, and that paragon of sleazy journalism, Britain's Sun'”the Journal's readers value it for its sophisticated, objective reporting. Murdoch, conversely, has a history of using his news outlets to further his business interests and conservative political agenda'”and it's only a matter of time before he succumbs to the temptation to start telling the Journal's editors what to do. When he does, it will 'œshatter the trust relationship the paper has with its readers,' and one of the world's great papers will be 'œpermanently crippled.'

Murdoch knows that as well as anyone, said Mark Jurkowitz in Newsday. No barbarian, he's a savvy businessman who has always been 'œmore flexible and sophisticated than his critics allow.' He paid $5 billion for the Journal's credibility, and he's not going to damage such a valuable asset. One wonders if those criticizing this deal have ever read the Journal, said Claudia Rosett in The Philadelphia Inquirer. If they had, they might have grasped the basic economic principle that in the world of 'œfree men and free markets,' Murdoch can't change the Journal in ways that the readers don't like. If he does, they'll stop buying it, and his investment will turn to ashes.

Besides, the Journal is already not what it used to be, said David Ignatius in The Washington Post. For those of us who worked at the newspaper in its golden age of the mid-1980s, 'œthe past decade has been like watching a car wreck in slow motion.' The coverage of the business world is still first-rate, but The Wall Street Journal used to be about much more than business. The paper covered everything'”from politics to foreign wars to crime'”with unmatched vigor and intelligence, and the front page sparkled with superbly written stories about lady weight lifters, massage parlor receptionists, and professional disco dancers. But all that quirkiness, panache, and ambition is gone, replaced by 'œthumpingly ordinary' business news and the eternal, right-wing shrieking of the editorial page. Whatever Murdoch does with the Journal, he'll be accused of 'œkilling a great newspaper.' The sad truth is that it 'œwas already dying.'

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