Murdoch not the answer for fixing WSJ's problems

BusinessWeek media writer Jon Fine writes that he’s not opposed to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, but he doesn’t think that Murdoch has what it takes to fix the problems at his latest acquisitions, The Wall Street Journal.

Fine wrote, “But ‘whither Murdoch’s legacy?’ isn’t the right question. The right one: ‘Is News Corp. the best candidate to rework what it means to be The Wall Street Journal today?’

“I’m not among those who believe Murdoch is a fanged beast who eats baby journalists for breakfast, but the answer is still simple: No. News Corp. is an excellent packager, and unmatched at divining the visceral reasons that make you buy a newspaper. Properly applied, the latter instinct will blow a few cobwebs out of the stuffier corners of the Journal‘s newsroom. But it does not answer what the Journal—indeed, what Dow Jones—needs to become.

“MURDOCH, MYSPACE OR NOT, IS AT HEART an old-school newspaper guy. He has shown tremendous patience with eight-figure losses at papers ranging from The Times of London to the New York Post. In some ways, this is good news. Patience is necessary for the Journal, which appears barely profitable, at best, these days. Murdoch’s history suggests that the layoffs that probably would have accompanied any other outcome will be staved off or avoided outright. But putting up with losses can come from aggressive investment in the future or from casually accepting a challenging status quo. The New York Post does not lose money because it’s pouring trillions into a bold new strategy to reinvent itself in a Digital Age. It loses money for reasons that have remained the same for years: There are not enough ads, and circulation gains aren’t enough to make up the difference when you’re selling lots of copies for a quarter.

“There’s talk about a new Journal strategy online, but none of Murdoch’s major papers has been reinvented for the Digital Age. It should irk Murdoch that the BBC, which he frequently blasts, has moved much faster than News Corp. to revamp its news operations in interesting ways.

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