WSJ should hire outside journalists to cover itself

Alan Mutter, a former journalist who is now managing partner of Tapit Partners in California, writes on his Reflections of a Newsosaur blog that the Wall Street Journal should hire outside reporters to cover the bid for Dow Jones & Co., its parent.

Mutter wrote, “When the Journal started reporting on the story after it was scooped by CNBC, much of the coverage of the unsolicited offer to buy Dow Jones was solid. But things went seriously south in today’s edition.

“Although the piece was topped by influential DJ director Chris Bancroft saying he doesn’t favor a sale to News Corp., the lead was buried three-quarters of the way into the story, as follows:

“‘Several members have complained that the family’s initial rejection of Mr. Murdoch’s offer was made over their heads,’ said the 13th paragraph of an 18-paragraph story. ‘The family as a whole wasn’t canvassed [for the widely reported vote that narrowly rejected a sale to Murdoch], and some weren’t notified at all of the offer.’

“Had this been a story about any other company and any other family, I daresay the Journal would have jumped all over this, likely making it the lead. But, inexplicably, it didn’t.”

Read more here.