Weiss: Wall Street Journal not bound to hold story

Forbes.com columnist Gary Weiss wonders why Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger held the story of the paper’s parent company Dow Jones & Co. receiving an unsolicited $5 billion offer from News Corp. because he had received an e-mail from its CEO, Rupert Murdoch, alerting him of the offer. The disclosure that the story […]

Dow Jones/News Corp. coverage has jumped the shark

Old-timers who watched the “Happy Days” show in the 1970s will recognize the phrase “jumped the shark.” It’s in reference to the episode when Fonzie jumped a shark on the show — a signal that the show had lost all connection with reality. Dealbreaker.com’s John Carney believes the same thing has happened with the coverage […]

SEC says couple bought Dow Jones stock using inside info

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two Hong Kong residents with purchasing $15 million worth of Dow Jones & Co. stock using inside information before it was disclosed the company had received an offer to be bought for $5 billion by News Corp., according to an AP story. Larry Neumeister wrote, “The lawsuit in […]

WSJ ad sales fell 12% in April; Barron's ad sales up 45%

Dow Jones & Co. reported Tuesday morning that ad revenue fell 12.2 percent at The Wall Street Journal, but rose 45.5 percent at Barron’s. The release stated, “Advertising revenue at The Wall Street Journal decreased 12.2% in April on a 12.7% decrease in advertising volume, due to declines in technology, financial and general advertising partially […]

Journal's best reporters will defect if Murdoch buys paper

Slate’s Jack Schafer predicts that the best journalists at The Wall Street Journal paper will leave if News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is successful in buying its parent, Dow Jones & Co. Schafer wrote, “Of course, nobody should take Murdoch at his word. Whatever soothing music he sings about no meddling by the CEO and […]

Wall Street Journal held news of News Corp. offer for parent

Andrew Ross Sorkin and Richard Perez Pena of the New York Times write Tuesday that editors at the Wall Street Journal held the story that its parent company, Dow Jones & Co., had received a $5 billion offer from News Corp. for a week before the story was broken by CNBC. The players here are […]

Democrats itching to examine News Corp. offer for Dow Jones

Elana Schor of The Hill newspaper writes that Democrats in Congress want to use the News Corp. offer to purchase Dow Jones & Co. for $5 billion to examine media ownership laws, but they say their interest has nothing to do with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s conservative opinions. Schor wrote, “Murdoch’s offer is unlikely […]

Former Dow Jones CEO Kann writes letter to Bancrofts, saying thanks

Former Dow Jones & Co. CEO Peter Kann, who stepped down from that position at the beginning of 2006, wrote a letter to the Bancroft family that controls a majority of the voting stock in the company to thank them for their opposition to the proposed $5 billion acquisition by News Corp. Kann, who was […]

News Corp. acquiring Dow Jones would be dangerous to competitors

Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York Business looks at the proposed $5 billion acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. by News Corp. and comes up with a number of ways that the deal would hurt competitors in business journalism. Flamm wrote, “While CNBC has the exclusive use of Journal reporters on air until 2012, Mr. […]

Murdoch will bamboozle even WSJ's editorial page

Former Federal Communications Commission chairman Reed Hundt wrote on the TPM Cafe web site that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will affect even the Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial page if he is successful in buying parent company Dow Jones & Co. Hundt wrote, “As far as the Wall Street Journal editorial board is concerned, […]