Categories: OLD Media Moves

Murdoch unlikely to micromanage WSJ

Bob Richter, the public editor at the San Antonio Express-News, writes Sunday that he doesn’t believe News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will micromanage The Wall Street Journal if he is successful in acquiring its parent, Dow Jones & Co.

Richter wrote, “I’m betting he won’t alter the journalism. Why, for example, would he alter its editorial page, which is more conservative than he is? I wrote editorials for the Express-News when Murdoch owned it, and he never directed us where we didn’t want to go.

“In 1992, we were set to endorse President George H.W. Bush for re-election. We backed him in 1988 and felt he’d done nothing to lose that support.

“However, sometime after the ’92 political conventions, either Larry Walker, then the Express-News publisher, or Sterlin Holmesly, the editorial director, heard that Murdoch had met Democratic challenger Bill Clinton at a Hollywood event, and was charmed by him.

“Holmesly asked Walker to ask Murdoch if he had a favorite, and Walker said he’d find out.”

Read more here. The paper never heard from Murdoch about an endorsement, and endorsed Bush.Â

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

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

1 day ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

1 day ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

1 day ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

1 day ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

1 day ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

1 day ago