Biased coverage in Dow Jones-Murdoch saga

TheStreet.com business media critic Marek Fuchs warns that much of the coverage about News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s offer to buy Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, has an inherent bias.

Fuchs wrote, “On the issue of bias, there is clearly one against Rupert Murdoch. For his tabloid ethics and rank boosterism of one political side over another, The Business Press Maven has plenty of his own issues with Rupert.

“But look at how bias against Murdoch has warped coverage of the Dow(n) Jones saga in the last day or two. Workers at Dow(n) Jones, who tend to think of Murdoch as one might a particularly bad plague, have approached supermarket magnate, leveraged buyout biggie and failed newspaper acquirer Ron Burkle about the possibility of aligning for some sort of counteroffer.

“It appears to be the introductory phase of talk that won’t go anywhere. With Dow(n) Jones’ interconnected assets, there’s little to sell off in order to finance a big leveraged buyout. In other words, unless the buyer is completely nuts, the company itself has to be used as leverage, a lost leader for other related products. And union rank and file will never risk their retirements on the long-term viability of a newspaper alone.

“About half the coverage reflects this. The Associated Press writes of how Burkle is helping the union ‘explore options’ in an appropriately perfunctory vein.

“But the thought of a collective of business journalists banning together to defeat Murdoch makes others lose their heads: ‘Investor Burkle eyes bid for Dow Jones: union,’ screams Reuters.

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