Panel says no evidence of wrongdoing at Dow Jones

The independent committee charged with monitoring editorial integrity at The Wall Street Journal said Saturday it is not aware of any wrongdoing at the Journal or its parent company, Dow Jones & Co., writes Sandy Shore of the Associated Press.

Shore writes, “Thomas Bray, chairman of the committee, said the group did not conduct an independent investigation to come to its conclusion.

“‘All we can testify to is what has or has not come to our attention,’ Bray said when reached Saturday. ‘That’s our function. We’re not a police force.’

“Even so, Bray said the committee knows a number of staff members at the Journal well enough that if there were a systemic problem like phone-hacking or other illegal activities at the paper, he is ‘pretty sure we would have known about it.’

“‘Obviously, (there are) no flat guarantees about this sort of thing,’ Bray said.

“The Dow Jones Special Committee was formed in 2007 as a condition of News Corp.’s $5.7 billion purchase of Dow Jones. The acquisition was seen as ‘the cherry on top of the cake in terms of respectability,’ for News Corp.’s chief executive Rupert Murdoch, says newspaper analyst Ken Doctor.”

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