Dear Rupert: Don't buy it, build it

Jerry Bowyer writes on the TCS Daily web site that the Bancroft family has donw News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch a favor by refusing to sell him Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch.

That’s because Murdoch can now go out and build the best business news organization in the world, Bowyer said.

He wrote that Journal “reporters win most of their Pulitzers exposing bad businesses, not understanding good ones. Besides, the WSJ Ed page isn’t a business page anymore, it’s mostly politics now.

“So what should you do? Build from scratch the way you did with the Fox News Channel. You didn’t teach a dinosaur to dance, you started with a mammal and it worked. You’ve shown that TV reporters can do every bit as well as print guys in business news. Even over at CNBC, the on-air people easily have the intellectual heft of their print correspondents. Kudlow’s the best of them – grab him if you can.

“As large sections of the newspaper industry shuffle off into oblivion, lots of print talent is going to hit the street looking for work. You can buy teachable news-gatherers at a discount, or you can buy a recalcitrant news bureaucracy at a premium.

“Ah, there’s still the brand thing. Dow Jones is a powerful brand, but, you’ve got a powerful brand already – Fox. If you want a more business-specific brand, you can build one. If you still want to buy an established brand, buy Forbes.”

Read more here.