Categories: OLD Media Moves

Former Dow Jones employee believes Murdoch will change WSJ

Eric Conrad, theÂ executive editor of the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel in Maine, writes Monday that he believes that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will change The Wall Street Journal if he is successful in acquiring its parent company, Dow Jones & Co.

Conrad previously worked at one of the Dow Jones community newspapers.

He wrote, “Many analysts say that’s exactly why Murdoch is so interested in Dow Jones: He sees those pre-eminent business publications, Internet and television outlets as exactly what he needs to keep expanding News Corp.’s influence and advertiser appeal.

“So, even if Murdoch agrees not to meddle in daily news operations, and even if he agrees to keep top editors and executives on board, he can change so many larger things that every Dow Jones employee, from the top on down, will feel a profound difference.

“Will they like Murdoch’s changes? Maybe. Will they stick around or be kept on if they don’t like where the new company is heading? Probably not.”

Read more here.

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.