Murdoch pledges to spend hundreds of millions on WSJ

Johnnie Roberts of Newsweek reports that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch plans to spend a lot of money on expanding his new property, The Wall Street Journal.

Roberts wrote, “But it is Murdoch, a maverick and master of asymmetrical assaults on existing media segments, who has escalated the stakes most dramatically. Murdoch’s promised expansion of the Journal will total ‘hundreds of millions of dollars,’ a confidant tells NEWSWEEK on condition of remaining nameless because he’s unauthorized to speak on the matter.

“Murdoch declined to comment. But during his campaign to woo the Bancrofts, he said he would expand the Journal both geographically and in terms of content. He wants to build the paper’s presence in Europe, India and other parts of Asia. He’s pledged to enlarge the Journal’s Washington bureau. He’s considering increasing the size of the paper by four pages.

“If the ranks of Journal reporters recoiled at the notion of a meddlesome Murdoch as their owner, the Journal’s hierarchy has grown enthusiastic. ‘Having access to [Murdoch’s] satellite, cable, digital and television networks, and especially to his presence overseas, will accelerate getting our journalism distributed more broadly,’ publisher Gordon Crovitz told NEWSWEEK. If the newspaper had ‘resources to expand into general news,’ he said, ‘our readers would value that.'”

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