The Bancroft’s are considering accepting an offer from News Corp.
Interesting to see Eric Savitz - an employee, shareholder and union member opposed to the deal - chime in on his blog over at Barron’s, WSJ owns Barron’s and soon, News Corp. might own WSJ.
I’ve added my two cents previously here (I was an News Corp. employee briefly from Sept. to Dec. 2005), I’ll repost now:
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I’ve voiced my concern about a few things Mr. Murdoch has done, like:
- offer Tony Blair a job at his company while Mr. Blair was running the UK, and mainly,
- saying something so revealing about his intentions and allegiance in a Guardian article, dated February 17 2003, a month before the disastrous sojourn in Iraq began. In it, Mr. Murdoch said:
Most revealing of all was Murdoch’s reference to the rationale for going to war, blatantly using the o-word. Politicians in the United States and Britain have strenuously denied the significance of oil, but Murdoch wasn’t so reticent. He believes that deposing the Iraqi leader would lead to cheaper oil. “The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy…would be $20 a barrel for oil. That’s bigger than any tax cut in any country.”
He went even further down this road in an interview the week before with America’s Fortune magazine by forecasting a postwar economic boom. “Once it [Iraq] is behind us, the whole world will benefit from cheaper oil which will be a bigger stimulus than anything else.”
Last time I checked, Mr. Murdoch, the war hasn’t gone too well. And oil, assuming it should matter in the decision, is at record prices, because people like you led the country into it. So not only did “the greatest thing” not materialize, but the worst did.
One the one hand, if the Bancroft’s turn down a 66% premium, I’d say shame on them. But then, in the greater context of matters, shame on the Bancroft’s if they accept Murdoch’s blood-stained offer.
In the most recent issue of Business Week, there’s an interesting article on Murdoch, called Crazy Like a Fox, In it, the authors say:
Then there are the personal reasons. Murdoch mostly owns low- and middle-brow media properties—from the New York Post to Fox News. How satisfying to have in his hands the most respected business newspaper in America, whose editorial page meshes neatly with his own world view. What’s more, Murdoch believes he and his organization have a role to play in shaping the debate on the world’s pressing issues. He has strong views on taxes, war, domestic and foreign policy, and more. Murdoch has built his empire, in part, by assiduously courting the powerful. The Journal could be an invaluable tool of influence.
Maybe I’m too idealistic or naive, but if those are the stakes, then the Bancroft’s need to secure a restraining order against Mr. Murdoch’s ambitions for the world will be a worst place.
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Anyway, this deal looks like it’s all but a fait accompli, which is a shame, because you have to wonder if someone like Murdoch needs more control over media, and in turn, politics. Some people might think my objection to this stems from my tenure and fallout from my days at News Corp. and that is simply untrue.
I just put money behind principles and everytime someone blows up in Iraq or a dead American soldier’s body comes home, yes, I personally blame folks like Murdoch who drummed up the war machine. To me, Murdoch is no different than Cheney. Would you want Dick Cheney running WSJ?
But this notion that a Chinese Wall will be erected between Murdoch’s personal views and business interests (such as editorial independence and integrity) is probably untrue.
Murdoch is saying all of the right things now, but I think that Eric Savitz is 100% accurate in his prognosis: that DJ is on the Knight Ridder path to oblivion.
It’s interesting that the company that was founded 105 years ago:
Dow Jones was founded by Charles Henry Dow, Edward Davis Jones and Charles Milford Bergstresser in 1882 and produced daily handwritten news bulletins called “flimsies” delivered by messenger to subscribers in the Wall Street area. The Bancroft family is descended from Jessie Waldron, the wife of Clarence Barron, who bought Dow Jones for $130,000 in 1902, largely with his wife’s money. The couple passed their shares on to Jessie Waldron’s two daughters; eventually the shares were transferred to a set of trusts.
might serve as News Corp. trampoline into Business TV. How odd is that?
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