Dow Jones can't have money and integrity with Murdoch

Los Angeles Times media critic Tim Rutten writes Saturday that the four-page Bancroft proposal to ensure the editorial integrity of The Wall Street Journal should the family decide to sell parent Dow Jones & Co. to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is an amazing document because the family wants Murdoch’s money, but they don’t want to give up the paper’s integrity.

Rutten wrote, “It is inconceivable that any American newspaper proprietor would demand what amounts to a professional loyalty oath from a colleague as the price of doing business … unless, of course, you’re proposing to do business with Rupert Murdoch.

“In that case, whatever you do, you’re bound to come off a bit like Faust — ‘Naw, don’t worry, I can handle the devil.’ Who can forget that this is the guy who stood next to Dorothy Schiff and promised that the editorial page of the New York Post would remain an organ of liberal opinion?

“The lawyers’ proposal would have charged a ‘Special Committee’ with ‘preserving and promoting’ the principles enumerated above. That committee would loom rather large in the Journal’s governance. It would be drawn from a new 12-member Dow Jones board of directors, seven of whose members would be named by Murdoch, two of whom would be chosen by the Bancrofts and three of whom would be ‘individuals who are independent and are recognized for their expertise in journalism or other relevant expertise.’ These so-called independents would be selected jointly by Murdoch and the Bancrofts.”

Read more here.