Categories: OLD Media Moves

Dow Jones and News Corp. reach agreement on WSJ safeguards

Reuters is reporting that Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, and News Corp. have reached an agreement for editorial safeguards preventing News Corp. executives from meddling in the Journal’s journalism content.

The agreement should pave the way for News Corp. to now negotiate a deal to acquire the parent company of The Journal, Barron’s, Marketwatch and Dow Jones Newswires.

Reuters reported, “News Corp. and Dow Jones & Co. Inc.Â have ‘basically agreed’ to a structure to protect the editorial independence of the company’s news operations, including the Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones Newswires, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

“The source said Dow Jones’ controlling family, the Bancrofts, would be consulted on the agreement, which was reached late Monday evening.

“A separate source close to the situation said an agreement was close but there were still several open items left to be discussed, but did not elaborate.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.