WSJ reporter writes why he opposes Murdoch bid

Wall Street Journal reporter Ian Johnson, who is currently a Nieman fellow at Harvard University, writes on the Nieman Watchdog site about why he opposes News Corp. CEO Ruper Murdoch‘s bid to acquire the Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones & Co.

Johnson, who has covered China for the paper, wrote, “But what worries me as a long-time China correspondent is that Murdoch doesn’t separate his business interests from his newsgathering operations. Thus it’s quite conceivable, to me at least, that he’d ask senior editors to tone down the China coverage. We’ve won two Pulitzer prizes there in the past six years for our hard-hitting coverage. He could well view such work as a nuisance.

“Of course Mr. Murdoch is likely to say that he’ll guarantee our editorial independence–he’ll make a seemingly commonsensical argument that he doesn’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. The problem with this is Dow Jones does not lay golden eggs. The reason it is vulnerable to a takeover is that its profitability is not as high as investors want–this is why its stock price has lagged and the family might entertain an offer. Rather than wanting to adopt a laissez-faire attitude, Mr. Murdoch will have every incentive to try new revenue-enhancing schemes. Those could involve China. What would come first, the Journal’s news-gathering integrity or new sources of revenues for a costly but under-performing acquisition? No points for the right answer.

“That’s led me and others to try in our own modest—probably even feeble—ways to oppose the takeover. I and other Journal reporters have written the Bancroft family, which still owns Dow Jones, thanking them for not having yet sold. We hope to encourage them to continue to put up resistance to his advances. The Journal’s plight has also attracted the attention of other Nieman fellows. They’re also signing a letter asking the family to keep the paper and not sell to Murdoch.”

Read more here.