James Barron and Campbell Robertson of The New York Times write Saturday that a growing scandal at the New York Post involving one of its former gossip writers may affect its owner, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, in his bid to acquire Dow Jones & Co., the owner of The Wall Street Journal.
Barron and Robertson wrote, “The tawdry details come as Mr. Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns The Post, has made a $5 billion bid to buy Dow Jones and its centerpiece, The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Murdoch has been trying to persuade the family that controls Dow Jones that he stands for the same kind of august journalism that it does, and that his journalists adhere to high standards.
“The harshest criticism of Mr. Murdoch from within Dow Jones has been that he is willing to contort his coverage of the news to suit his business needs, in particular that he has blocked reporting unflattering to the government of China. He has invested heavily in satellite television there and wants to remain in Beijing’s favor.
“Many of the charges have been reported before, but Mr. Spiegelman repeated them in his statement. He said that in 2001, he was ordered to kill an item on Page Six about a Chinese diplomat and a strip club because it would have ‘angered the Communist regime and endangered Murdoch’s broadcast privileges.'”
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