Categories: OLD Media Moves

WSJ journalists may stage walkout if Murdoch makes deal

James Robinson of The Observer newspaper in London writes Sunday that Wall Street Journal journalists are contemplating a walk-out if News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is successful in acquiring Dow Jones & Co., the paper’s parent company.
Robinson wrote, “‘The feeling on the shop floor is they hate the fact that Murdoch’s name and all the baggage that comes with it will be attached to their paper,’ said one senior newspaper executive in the US. ‘Their view is that the Rupert Murdoch name becomes an adjective that gets added to any media property he buys. Their fear is it will damage their credibility.'”
Later, Robinson quoted another as saying: “According to one senior newspaper executive: ‘It’s a very difficult situation for The Wall Street Journal. They just haven’t got the capital to expand in the way they should have done. They need Murdoch but they don’t want him.'”
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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.