Richard Siklos of the New York Times writes Thursday about how News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch would run The Wall Street Journal if he is successful in acquiring its parent company, Dow Jones & Co.
Siklos wrote, “First, Mr. Murdoch does not mind losing money in the short term to satisfy his competitive goals. And despite overseeing a globe-spanning media conglomerate worth $67 billion, he still considers himself foremost a newspaperman and has an editor’s eye for what goes into print.
“In some cases over the years, Mr. Murdoch was known for calling in tips or tinkering with headlines, particularly at the tabloid newspapers he has owned. In 2004, Mr. Murdoch was even said by one New York Post employee to be the source for The Post’s erroneous headline ‘Dem Picks Gephardt as VP Candidate,’ although The Post’s editor denied that was the case.
“Mr. Murdoch’s notoriety as the force behind the politically barbed Fox News Channel, the racy Sun in London and the populist Post precedes him and is part of the reason for the opposition against him among the Bancroft family and some Journal employees.
“Perhaps to soften that image, Mr. Murdoch has portrayed himself in letters to the Bancroft family as a fellow owner of a family business who would be a steward for the newspaper and maintain its independence.”
Read more here. There is a discussion at the end of this story about Murdoch’s coverage in the Journal. Apparently the only story he hasn’t liked in the paper is one that discussed his third wife’s romantic history.
