Steiger doesn't have a clue how Murdoch operates

Slate.com media critic Jack Shafer responds to comments made by former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger that the paper’s new owner, Rupert Murdoch, hasn’t hurt it yet are just an indication that he’s unaware of how Murdoch subtly gets what he wants.

Shafer writes, “Murdoch would no more make a policy of twisting Wall Street Journal coverage to News Corp.’s benefit than he would of publishing women in the buff on its Page 3. As anybody who has read a profile or biography of the genocidal tyrant knows, he can be either subtle or obvious in the way he flexes his publications’ power.

“In a May 2007 Portfolio.com piece, Felix Salmon described Murdoch’s modus operandi perfectly: ‘[W]here editorial independence is valuable, Murdoch values it. Where it isn’t, he doesn’t.’

“To expand on Salmon’s observation, Murdoch values the Journal‘s editorial independence because he knows it is the paper’s primary asset. Without the reader trust that editorial independence has created, the paper would go bust in a year. Salmon explains that Murdoch is free to muck about with Fox News, the New York Post, the Sun, and other less prestigious appendages in his media domain because their regular readers and viewers don’t care. These outlets are stink-proof.”

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