Don't sell my company to Rupert Murdoch

Steven Yount, the president of the union that represents business journalists at The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, Barron’s and Marketwatch, writes on Salon.com about why Dow Jones & Co. should not be sold to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

Yount wrote, “I’m a newscaster for the Wall Street Journal Radio Network and the president of the union local that represents 2,000 Dow Jones employees, including its rank-and-file journalists throughout North America. I believe our members’ interests are best served by adherence to the principle of editorial independence within a company whose only mission is reporting the news. As journalists and union members we see no upside in reducing Dow Jones to a tiny appendage of a global conglomerate with financial, political and regulatory interests alien to what we do.

“But this is not just a sentimental attachment to fearless and independent journalism. No one looks at business with clearer eyes than the reporters and editors at Dow Jones. Because many of us are shareholders too, we would even make some quick money off the sale. Yet we think the takeover is bad business. Not just bad for journalism, bad for readers, bad for advertisers, but bad for the long-term interest of shareholders, most of all the Bancrofts.”

Read more here.