Making the Journal work for Murdoch

Ron Grover of BusinessWeek writes how The Wall Street Journal is being used for News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s purposes.

Grover writes, “Take one look at the pages of The Wall Street Journal, and it’s clear that the Rupert Murdoch era is under way. The day after General Motors announced a stunning $15.5 billion quarterly loss, the Journal, which Murdoch has controlled for a year, led instead with the more tantalizing story of a federal scientist’s suicide while under investigation in the anthrax case. On another recent day, the newspaper led off with a story about Iraqi clerics, pushing farther down the page a more traditional Journal piece on the rancorous dispute between oil giant BP and its partners in a Russian oil field.

“O.K., so these aren’t the Page Three beauties who transformed Murdoch’s London paper, The Sun, into a populist moneymaker. But months after it formally came under Murdoch’s sharp eye and equally pointy editor’s pencil, the Journal is clearly aiming at The New York Times in both business and nonbusiness news.

“That may not turn the Journal into a big moneymaker anytime soon, but Murdoch is already claiming victories on his way to a turnaround.”

Read more here.