WSJ staffers skeptical of oversight board candidates

Wall Street Journal reporters are skeptical about the people being considered for the editorial oversight board that would protect the paper from interference from News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch if he is successful in acquiring the parent company, Dow Jones & Co.

Those being considered for the board include attorney Theodore Olson, who had served in the Reagan administration and later in the George W. Bush administration (after successfully representing him in Bush v. Gore). Also being considered are the conservative writer Thomas Bray, former Tribune president Jack Fuller, and current M.I.T. president Susan Hockfield.

Michael Calderone and Felix Gillette of the New York Observer write, “‘I have no indication that any of them would know what goes into Page 1,’ said one Journal staffer, who added the board should have included ‘people who really understand news coverage.’

“‘To put Ted Olson on the board,’ said another Journal staffer, ‘everyone in the newsroom was like, ‘What the fuck!'”

Calderone and Gillette later quoted another Journal staff as saying: “What these names show is how from the instant this board takes effect, it will be a meaningless, impotent institution. Even before it gets started, you can corrupt it by putting the wrong people on it.'”

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