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.
“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.”
Read more here.
Ken Brown of The Wall Street Journal is leaving the news organization. He is an…
Dow Jones News Fund President Brent W. Jones announced at the nonprofit journalism training organization’s…
Jillian Ward, managing editor for U.S. technology at Bloomberg News, sent the following note to…
Rick Berke, a co-founded and executive editor of STAT News, writes about the importance of…
Thomas Maxwell has joined Gizmodo as a tech reporter. He previously was at Business Insider covering…
Banking Times has acquired the domain name "The New Fiver" for an undisclosed amount, aiming…
View Comments