Categories: OLD Media Moves

Murdoch's gamble could backfire

Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York Business writes that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s plan to make The Wall Street Journal more mainstream to compete against The New York Times could backfire.

Flamm wrote, “Major news stories dominate the front page. The long, offbeat or investigative stories–formerly a page-one centerpiece–have grown scarce. Last week, Journal officials said the paper would add sports coverage and would leave downtown for News Corp.’s midtown offices.

“Die-hard readers are lamenting the changes. But the critical issue may be whether making the paper more like other ones is a good business strategy.

“‘He is going in the opposite direction from what has made the Journal distinctive and has made it perform better than the daily newspaper industry in general,’ says Ben Compaine, author of Who Owns the Media?”

Read more here.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.

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vinny says:
February 4, 2008 at 7:50 am
I'm usually a big fan of Murdoch's - but this is idiocy.
Sports in the WSJ? He is going to send legions of business readers to Investors Business Daily and the Financial Times.
What is the point of saying business is such a niche market segment that we're going to develop a TV channel around it - and then turning around in the same span of time and diluting the #1 business news brand out there?