Former Dow Jones CEO writes sad defense of himself

Forbes.com columnist Gary Weiss writes on his blog that former Dow Jones & Co. CEO Warren Phillips’ letter to the New York Times criticizing business section columnist Joe Nocera for his analysis of the company’s management is laughable and sad.

Weiss wrote, “Phillips made the basic, P.R. 101 mistake of attacking a small portion of an article, rather than making any effort to deal with its overall point, which was really irrefutable. He was not only unconvincing, but he came across defensive and thin-skinned. He also sort of confirmed the point of the article, by showing that management can’t even write a convincing letter to the editor.

“I mean, the stock has been in the toilet for seven years, for heaven’s sake. That’s what made the company vulnerable to a takeover in the first place. Not a word about that.”

Later, Weiss noted, “While I’m sympathetic to the company’s fight for independence, lets not kid ourselves that this was a well-managed company from a financial standpoint. That is why it is a shame that this is a public company, as I pointed out in my Salon article.”

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