Categories: OLD Media Moves

How long will ferocious WSJ reporting last?

David Carr of The New York Times wonders how long the aggressive reporting by The Wall Street Journal that documented the sale of its parent company to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will last under Murdoch’s ownership.

Carr wrote, “In the near term, or at least until the shareholders’ annual meeting, Murdoch will need to make nice with the company he just bought and run his new prize in a way that demonstrates that he plans to live up to the editorial independence deal he struck with the Bancroft family.

“But he’ll be challenged early by the Journal staff in the form of a hard-hitting story about one of his many business interests. Murdoch is probably too smart to take the bait.

“In the long run, it will be outside scrutiny from readers that will be more likely to keep him from interfering in the paper’s news pages, not an editorial independence committee.”

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.

View Comments

  • It will last so long as News Corp executives believes it helps grow audience and make money.

    Nothing wrong with that.

    Especially, since I'm betting that it will.

    Shouldn't business journalists be overjoyed at News Corp acquiring WSJ? It's going mean a lot more business reporting jobs at the most prestigious news organization in the world.

  • @ Howard Owens
    I agree with you. It will last for as long as any other journal. There is nothing wrong with it.

    My concern is - how long will the print media last! Will people have the time or habit of reading the print media in 2050? :smile:

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