Politico’s Jack Shafer writes that Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker is unlikely to be ousted anytime soon despite the fact that the newsroom is unhappy with his style.
Shafer writes, “Baker, on the other hand, need not worry about expulsion. Staff rebellions mean nothing at a Murdoch property as long as the top editor maintains Murdoch’s confidence. I suspect if you held a newsroom vote today, the Journal staff would send Baker packing. But how do you imagine Murdoch responded when he read that Baker admonished his team to be ‘fair’ to Trump, banned the use of the word ‘lie’ and trimmed news analysis out from the Phoenix rally story? He probably issued Baker a bonus each time. If I were a bigger cynic, I’d accuse Baker of self-leaking all of the stories above to shore up his cred with Murdoch.
“In the newspaper life, you can assuage the journalism gods or Rupert Murdoch. You can pick only one.”
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