Categories: OLD Media Moves

How the WSJ newsroom has changed under Murdoch

Michael Levin interviewed Sarah Ellison, author of “War at The Wall Street Journal,” for the Huffington Post about how the business newspaper has changed since it was acquired by Rupert Murdoch in late 2007.

Here is an excerpt:

Michael: Is it a divided newsroom — those who worked under the Bancrofts and those who arrived with or after Murdoch?
Sarah: It’s not a divided newsroom, but the bloodlines of the Wall Street Journal are still very clear. People there under the old regime feel separate from the people who came to the paper either with Murdoch or after Murdoch. Even though the paper has changed significantly since that acquisition, and a lot of new people have come, the bloodlines are clear. You know the people who were working there under Bancroft family ownership and the people who weren’t.

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.

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BizNewsReader says:
August 3, 2015 at 5:35 pm
Totally agree with this: The bloodlines of the Wall Street Journal are still very clear. People there under the old regime feel separate from the people who came to the paper either with Murdoch or after Murdoch. ... The Bancroft staffers tend to be more highly paid and seem entitled. They weren't required to embrace new media, so some seem hopelessly outdated. They're slowly leaving the paper. Some people think working at the WSJ means huge pay, but that's not the case for many there. The salaries are shockingly low, and the company should be ashamed. Of course, there are no problems filling the positions, so why pay more?