Murdoch, Journal To Set Up Editorial Board

Report: New Panel Will Serve As Editorial Buffer And Have Say In Hiring And Firing Of Top Editors

(CBS/AP)  As part of the deal package that cemented Rupert Murdoch's longstanding effort to acquire Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., the two sides agreed to create an editorial board that would act as a buffer between the media mogul and the newspaper, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The board, which will appoint new members when existing ones leave, will help determine who serves as the paper's top editors, the Post reported.

The initial board members, according to the report, will be former AP head Louis Boccardi; columnist Thomas Bray; former Republican House member Jennifer Dunn; former Tribune Co. president Jack Fuller; and Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT's Media Lab.

Word spread late Tuesday that Murdoch had succeeded in his bid to buy the 125-year-old purveyor of financial wisdom, despite critics who have doubted whether Murdoch — king of the tabloid format, the mind behind Fox News, and owner of properties including The Times of London, Twentieth Century Fox and MySpace — is the right steward for Dow's flagship property, the Wall Street Journal.

The $5 billion deal, which still requires shareholder approval, got the nod Tuesday from the boards of both Dow Jones and Murdoch's News Corp., which waited until early Wednesday to make an official announcement.

The companies said a member of the Bancroft family or another mutually acceptable person would be appointed to News Corp.'s board of directors as part of the agreement.

The Bancroft family, descended over several generations from an early owner of Dow Jones, Clarence Barron, clashed long and hard over whether to sell to Murdoch, with several members saying they feared the quality and independence of the paper would suffer under his watch.

In a statement released early Wednesday morning, a family spokesman said: "It is our most fervent hope that in the years to come, The Wall Street Journal will continue to enjoy, and deserve, the universal admiration and respect in which it is held all over the world."

The Bancroft family initially rebuffed Murdoch in early May, but then agreed to reconsider. Last week, family members heard exhaustive presentations on Murdoch's plans but remained divided.

Wrangling continued past a Monday deadline for them to signal their intentions; the break came Tuesday when a holdout trust agreed to support the deal — apparently after Dow Jones agreed to pay the family's advisers' fees, the Journal reported.

For Murdoch, it was a long, hard courtship, but he ultimately got the Bancroft family — which holds a controlling interest in Dow Jones — to line up 37 percent of the company's overall voting stock in favor of the takeover by the 76-year-old media tycoon.

Not everyone was won over. As the Journal reported the deal on its Web site, it also delivered the news that one member of the Bancroft family, Leslie Hill, is resigning the Dow Jones board in protest of the sale.

Murdoch will be landing one of the great trophies of U.S. journalism and a newspaper that is considered required daily reading among the business and power elite.

The planned sale comes as newspapers across the country face a deepening crisis of slumping revenues as readers flock to the Internet for information and entertainment, and advertising dollars chase them there.

Murdoch had long been interested in owning Dow Jones, but it was widely assumed that the Bancroft family wouldn't sell. In the end, his price of $60 per share — 65 percent over the level of Dow Jones' shares before his offer became public — proved too rich to turn down.

[jmurrieta1]

"The Bancroft family has been deeply divided over whether to sell to Murdoch, largely over concerns that his management style could affect the papers' coverage. "

While the WFJ editorials are already approaching the depths of fascistic neocondom, the news articles have some authenticity. Once Murdoch takes over, all we'll get the Aussie BS. Prepare for a once well regarded newspaper to head for the fish-wrap level.

[usayesterday]

Prepare for a once well regarded newspaper to head for the fish-wrap level.
Posted by jmurrieta1 at 07:49 AM : Jul 31, 2007
.............

I was thinking along the lines of bird cage liner, but it's all the same level.

[king77shaw]

more neo-con Zionist extremism coming to you via Rupert Murdoch - stop buying the WSJ and cancel your cable subscription - dis-empower the media elite by refusing to buy their propaganda...

[BlueInWI]

Re: "stop buying the WSJ and cancel your cable subscription - dis-empower the media elite by refusing to buy their propaganda... "

I am just as concerned as you. I have a hard time purchasing the WSJ because its Editorial page is distorted. OK if it was just right wing, but right-wing with bogus data, distortions, and in some cases lies. I am a subscriber now because I am getting a mid-life MBA and may keep my subscription IF the rest of the paper stays as factual and balanced as it is.

But, if Murdoch buys the WSJ I don't see any way it won't become polluted like Faux Spews and the other Mainstream Corporate Industrial Media Complex members (yep - even CBS).

Funny thing is Murdoch won't help the WSJ. I have heard business professionals my age and especially a little younger - that already don't subscribe because of its fascist editorial page. Murdoch is only going to make this situation worse...

[juwboy]

According to king77shaw, there will be "more neo-con Zionist extremism coming to you via Rupert Murdoch".

In the first place, Rupert Murdoch isn't a Jew, although he's often misrepresented as one and, in any case, as everybody knows...

...the news industry is controlled by liberal, commie, pinko, Trotskyite, Marxist-Leninist, left-wing Jews with a pro-gay, pro-abortion agenda...

...so king77shaw cannot be right.

No, wait a minute, everybody knows that America is under the control of...

...right-wing, crypto-Nazi, Fascist, Zionist, neo-con, land-stealing, international-banking, capitalist, market-controlling, money-grabbing, hook-nosed Jews who all think alike.

Furthermore, Rupert Murdoch really is a Jew who lies about his ancestry.

So, we should all pay attention to what king77shaw has to say.

I'M SO CONFUSED!!!!!!

:-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)

[tcoleman12]

I bet you doosh bags would be all over Ted Turner making this purchase. You want to talk about a paper swinging in one direction. Complete one-sided coverage under Turner's watch...editorial control via Jane.

[jmurrieta1]

Murdoch--although Australian, judging from his name has Scottish ancestry.

So that proves it--it's the White Anglo Saxon Protestants who cause all the trouble! Not Jews. Christians. And their Muslim soul-brothers.

Muslims and Christians have a lot in common--both religions have pesky flocks of sky pilots who go around telling everybody else what to do and what to believe. A pox on them all--and on Rupert Murdoch.

So where are all the blubbering righties about how the left controls the MSM?

[gunownerdan]

YAY!!
Now the mass media in America can be controlled by even fewer billionaires!
Isn't that just great???

[perception5]

Murdoch needs to purchase one of the three big corrupt liberal news networks. (CBS,NBC, or ABC.

I vote that he purchases CBS (Corrupt Broadcasting Station) and implement ASAP "affirmative action" programs to include NOT EXCLUDE "moderates" and "conservatives".

CBS (Crush Bush Station) needs a diverse "staff" in the worse way and it doesn't appear that Rick Kaplan is interested in a "diverse staff" since he is close pals with the Clintons, having slept at the White House twice. The last time in April 2000.

It must make Hillary Rotten-Clinton happy to know that Rick is "heading up" the CBS News division............ but it's really a "gross conflict of interest" that exists at other corrupt liberal news outlets.

[processor2]

What about Ted Turner's media empire spreading left-wing views???

Hmmmmmmm???

...

[processor2]

What about Ted Turner's media empire spreading left-wing views???

Hmmmmmmm???

...

[feelfree1]

Many top WWII Nazis were sentenced and hung for war crimes and for waging war of aggression, at the Nuremberg trials.

Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Rupert Murdoch's equivalent, committed suicide prior to the trials.

[zykracosmos]

Anyone who thinks this is good for anybody but Murdoch and really big business is an idiot. This is the biggest event in the history of this country in clinching the power of mega-corporations over the disbursement of information to the American people. As Jefferson said, a democracy is dependent on the education of the masses. We have just seen one more step in the cessation of our representative power to the dictatorial authority of corporations. The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones were always pro-business, but now the whole structure will be ultra-right wing, slanted more than ever towards the biggest multinational corporations and the military industrial complex endorsed by the neocons. You will never be able to believe a word you hear from the mass media again. It is hilarious to see the comments of the propagandized fools in this blog, who have become the unwitting puppets of Murdoch and his manipulators. May we live to see the day when Big Oil, the Pharmaceutical companies, and the neocons' military industries have squeezed the last dollar out of their redneck wallets.

[briannorwood]

And how long will it take Rupert to turn "The Wall Street Journal" into "The Wall Street Urinal"?

[rushlimpdrug]

perception5 -how about you go get a job with murdoch?

[starleo146]

My,MY, MY, Look what money can do once again. That is what it is all about isn't it? MONEY-MONEY--MONEY
the root of all evil. Now a reputable paper will be turned into a Faux Nooz Propaganda report

[starleo146]

Murdoch needs to purchase one of the three big corrupt liberal news networks. (CBS,NBC, or ABC.

I vote that he purchases CBS (Corrupt Broadcasting Station) and implement ASAP "affirmative action" programs to include NOT EXCLUDE "moderates" and "conservatives".

CBS (Crush Bush Station) needs a diverse "staff" in the worse way and it doesn't appear that Rick Kaplan is interested in a "diverse staff" since he is close pals with the Clintons, having slept at the White House twice. The last time in April 2000.

It must make Hillary Rotten-Clinton happy to know that Rick is "heading up" the CBS News division............ but it's really a "gross conflict of interest" that exists at other corrupt liberal news outlets.
Posted by perception5 at 12:54 PM : Jul 31, 2007
So why are you on this cbs post you talk out of both sides of your mouth stay away from cbs corruption as you call it we will not miss you

[gunownerdan]

The "DUMBING-DOWN OF AMERICA" is almost complete!!!!!!!

[jmurrieta1]

"Murdoch says any concerns about corporate meddling in the Journal's news coverage are unwarranted. News Corp. has agreed to create a committee that would have to sign off on any decision to hire or fire top editors at the paper."

Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limpbaugh.

Bye bye WSJ, Hello *** News on Paper--TP that is.

[williamfold]

while they're at it, they should go ahead and rename it to The Wall Street Urinal. that would be much more fitting, don't you think?

[cdfoxtrot]

The good news is that there won't be a need to make any changes whatsoever among the people who write the editorial page. WSJ editorials are so nuttily right-wing already, Murdoch won't have to do a blessed thing.

I really don't care about this. I don't read it and frankly it is all SPIN. If at all anything, I'll probably wipe my a$$ with it if there is no toilet paper available. Other than that I have no need for it.

This should send the right message to Ruppert Murdoch and the Wall St Journal.

[mcvet]

It must make Hillary Rotten-Clinton happy to know that Rick is "heading up" the CBS News division............ but it's really a "gross conflict of interest" that exists at other corrupt liberal news outlets.
Posted by perception5 at 12:54 PM : Jul 31, 2007

Didn't you clowns try this in Germany in the 30's... then again in the 50's. It doesn't work Swastika Breath. You will NEVER stop us form stating our opinions and reading what we want. What is it with you clowns? You have so many Reich Propaganda Rags now why come here an bug us? Why try to control what we hear, see and read? You have been trying to do that since 1776 and have done everything in your power to trash the free press and it just come's back stronger. I mean how many times do you losers have to get your brains kicked in to get the message? Sieg Heil Bush!! Come on you fascit wacko help me out here.. it'll make you feel so much better! SIEG HEIL!! Now be sure to click your boots together... maybe even dig out the KKK Hood! SIEG HEIL!! Now doesn't that make you feel so good? ROFLMAO What an IDIOT!!

[down-ndirty]

I bet you doosh bags would be all over Ted Turner making this purchase. You want to talk about a paper swinging in one direction. Complete one-sided coverage under Turner's watch...editorial control via Jane.
Posted by tcoleman12 at 10:43 AM : Jul 31, 2007
______________________

So what's your point? You can talk "IF" all day long. Turner didn't buy it, and "Jane" hasn't been with him for several years now. LOL!!!

[tnichlsn]

What kind of moron is still investing in printed news?

[oleander8]

This is unfortunate. Murdoch already owns or controls more of our media than God.

[down-ndirty]

During the invasion, all 175 newspapers owned by Murdoch reflected his aggressive opinion in favor of the war in their daily editorials. He was even bold enough to explicitly say what was defying for the Bush administration itself to say out loud : that it was all about the oil. "The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy%u2026would be $20 a barrel for oil%u201D
Source: Guardian, 2/17/2003
___________________

If this is any indication of his ability to prophisize then the WSJ is doomed.

Murdock (Faux Noise) and Bush can manipulate the minds of the world because of two factors: the short memory of the public and the media's ability to re-direct public attention whenever the need arises.

[coffeehead-2009]

We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order."
David Rockefeller

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries."
David Rockefeller... Baden-Baden, Germany 1991

[CBSTV]

This is very disappointing news. Murdoch's media empire is a scourge upon society. I held out hope that the Bancroft family would do the right thing. But once again, the smell of cash has won out over good.

[down-ndirty]

Murdoch needs to purchase one of the three big corrupt liberal news networks. (CBS,NBC, or ABC.
Posted by perception5 at 12:54 PM : Jul 31, 2007
_______________________

If they were as liberal as your little mind would like to think they are, we wouldn't be suffering through a second term of Bush.

If the "liberal" media had done its job in 2000, we wouldn't have had a Bush first term either.

The "liberal" media, as you call it, has been very kind to Bush and his war-mongering cronies.

[talkingham]

Might as well replace the Stars and Stripes with the stars and bars of Australia since he owns that country too.

[greybeardvet]

Not sure this transfer of power will make any difference to anyone except the immediate staff. After all, Murdoch's right-wing philosophy can't be any worse than that expressed daily on the Journal's editorial page.

[ki8911]

Perception5, question: if you believe that CBS News is such a liberal, anti-Amercian media, why is it I see your comments all over the place? Every day? If CBS is so offensive, why don't you stick to media formats that are more in tune with your "perception" of the world.

[nyckate]

Well, there goes the neighborhood in Financial Area!!

Let's face it - Murdoch for all his promises will of course be gearing the articles to get what he wants - the financial news from WSJ will no longer be reliable - his Faux Follies regularily spins and slant political and even financial news - so of course he will do it with WSJ. WHo's going to be able to read an article on an investment there now without wondering if its been slanted or even falsified or filled with factoids instead of facts or if facts have been omitted on purpose?

It's a terrible shame to see such a great paper be flushed down the toilet.

[nyckate]

perception5 - Good Lord hon - these are owned by COMPANIES - are you SUCH a moron that you think large corporate conglomorates are liberals?? LOL - stop being SUCH a dope!

It is fact that Faux Follies covered Iraq 2/3 LESS than any other news agency. It is also fact that it's coverage is slanted, biased and filled with factoids not facts.

As Bush's ratings plummeted so did Faux' -- because those who used to get their news from Faux learned that Murdoch was filling them with ***** not news.

[nyckate]

greybeardvet - actually many who rely on WSJ for financial news have been clear about their dual pesonality of the WSJ news articles and their editorials - their financial news has not once been questioned - that will change with Murdoch taking over - he's influenced every single news media he's ever owned - no reason to believe him when he says he'll be different now.

[searingtruth]

Well, I'm not too concerned about Murdoch.

And here's why.

Of course he's lying about not trying to influence the Journal, just as he's always lied in the past when he promised he wouldn't try to interfere with the other media organizations he's turned into simple propaganda outlets for Dictator Bush.

But here's the catch, and it's one that no amount of money can change.

Nobody takes his newspapers or television stations seriously.

The Wall Street Journal will, almost instantly, become a sad joke, just like "FOX News". Very few will read it, and no one will believe it. Except of course for those who have already rejected our Constitution and embraced fascism, who are lost to America anyway.

So it is indeed a sad day for the Journal, but their stockholders decided to trade credibility and honesty for a few extra coins. It was their choice, and now they get to live with the consequences.

Yes indeed, the Wall Street Journal will soon become just as respected and credible as "FOX News".

Yikes!!!
ST


"Republicans are in a unique historical position. They are the first group of people raised on this land, who call themselves Americans, that openly proclaim the virtues of torture, secret prisons, extra judicial abduction, universal surveillance, and dictatorial government."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[king77shaw]

more neo-con Zionist extremism coming to you via Rupert Murdoch - stop buying the WSJ and cancel your cable subscription - dis-empower the media elite by refusing to buy their propaganda...

[irishmail42]

Now that Murdoch's taking over The Wall Street Journal, I wonder how long it will be before The Journal's reporters start showing up on FOX NEWS as "talking heads?"

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by king77shaw at 04:09 PM : Jul 31, 2007
+ report abuse

*********
what would help is getting more liberal media sources that are more credible and with more intellectual substance. Instead of putting your bet on Al Franken and all those no-talent people.

yes they do get yout attention long enough to make money then its all down hill from there, the attention span of a liberal is pretty much like a house fly.

[jarnod1]

Murdoch's pending purchase of the Wall Street Journal means were are officially living in Bif's World (from Back to the Future) where manipulation and greed will rule.

On the bright side, bloomberg.com will get a lot more web traffic now that the WSJ has been thrown into the gutter.

Jim Arnold
Germantown, TN

[xzavierbrown]

rest assure, the likes of john kerry would try to legislate a new bill to ban "freedom of expression and speech" just to even out the odds.

the liberals will save you even if it means killing you.

Most liberal news sources are just there for the 'quick buck'. Trying to pass information using jokes, cartoons, etc. etc. Its the inability to see 5 steps ahead of them. The cause and effect..just focused on whinning.
here is the biggest whine in history to date...
they hate the war on oil, they hate religion, they hate corporations BUT they HAVE NO PROBLEM PUMPING THAT OIL..THEY DONT HAVE A PROBLEM BEDDING WITH ISLAM AND THEY DONT HAVE A PROBLEM CASHING THAT PAYCHECK..

[aldewitt-2009]

Just what we need; Mr. "Fair and Balanced" running the business news.

Have the Dow Jones people lost their minds?

[pepperp1]

Will not buy it, will not rely on it, puff now.

[missingamerica]

If Faux News is any example, this will be bad for the competitiveness of American Business. The WSJ will begin telling them just what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear to stay in touch with the greater world.

[sharncedar]

WSJ is a lying rag that leads to excessive greed and chaos. What is the big deal. The rag that encouraged the buyout boom and destruction and offshoring of American industry is now getting the same treatment - look how they cry and complain. I expect to see the very reporters for that garbage to be asking for sympathy when they lose their jobs to a leveraged takeover, the same pathetic and uncapitalist financial technique that is ruining America and the WSJ was chief propaganda rag and cheerleader. Spit on the suckers in the streets. Hope some of them commit suicide.

Wait until the investment bankers start getting laid off, the inevitable conclusion of this cycle of destrcutive greed, and those sick pigs will be squealing too. Hope those WSJ reporters really, really suffer. I'll have a good laugh.

[jmurrieta1]

"rest assure, the likes of john kerry would try to legislate a new bill to ban "freedom of expression and speech" just to even out the odds."--Posted by xzavierbrown

The "likes of John Kerry" make the likes of your leaders, the coward George W. Bush and the menacing sociopath Dicky Cheney, look like a turdpile. No blossoms on it either.

And the *** News channel and their new Christo-fascist owner can be counted on to rival Pravda as a source of disinformation.

Clearly that might appeal to someone named "Xavier"

[perception5]

Murdoch needs to purchase one of the three big corrupt liberal news networks. (CBS,NBC, or ABC.

I vote that he purchases CBS (Corrupt Broadcasting Station) and implement ASAP "affirmative action" programs to include NOT EXCLUDE "moderates" and "conservatives".

CBS (Crush Bush Station) needs a diverse "staff" in the worse way and it doesn't appear that Rick Kaplan is interested in a "diverse staff" since he is close pals with the Clintons, having slept at the White House twice. The last time in April 2000.

It must make Hillary Rotten-Clinton happy to know that Rick is "heading up" the CBS News division............ but it's really a "gross conflict of interest" that exists at other corrupt liberal news outlets.

[condumism]

perception5, a Southern Neocon Fascist posted:

the most useless posts that these boards have ever seen. YOu girl are clearly one of those 24%er's, an ignorant Southern bigot so full of dissinformation and hate for America, that your nose is brown. Get a life girly, and a brain!

[down-ndirty]

what would help is getting more liberal media sources that are more credible and with more intellectual substance. Instead of putting your bet on Al Franken and all those no-talent people. Posted by xzavierbrown at 04:14 PM : Jul 31, 2007
_______________________

ROFLMMFAO!!!!!

You are a really 'up to date' dude!!! LOL!!!

Franken hasn't been involved in the media or on the radio since last February. LOL!!!

Up to date!!!!!!!!!!