Categories: OLD Media Moves

Tepid statement from WSJ publisher?

Simon Dumenco from Advertising Age responses to fictitious questions from readers in his latest column, and one of the questions concerns the statement last week from Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz after it was announced the paper had been sold to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

Here is the question, and the answer:

It strikes me that last week’s official statement from L. Gordon Crovitz, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and exec VP of Dow Jones & Co., sounds like something less than a full vote of confidence in Uncle Rupert. Like this part: “As part of News Corp., Journal growth could accelerate across print and online.” Could? “Journal reporters and editors will aim to do what they have for more than a century: Earn and keep the trust of the world’s most demanding readers by delivering the most essential news and analysis.” Aim?

Yeah, it did feel a bit hollow and boilerplate, didn’t it? I heard, though, that Bob Christie, director-public relations at Dow Jones, successfully persuaded Crovitz to leave out this line: “As an employee of News Corp. — and, therefore, a new corporate co-worker of both Bill O’Reilly and Homer Simpson — I might be able to hold onto a shred of my dignity. But if not, I’m lurching for the ripcord of my golden parachute first chance I get, suckas!”

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.