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Some buyers still bullish on newspapers
Rupert Murdoch and others see potential in the industry's digital-age transformation.
from the June 28, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Indeed, the biggest criticism of Murdoch is that he has used his vast media empire to further his own business and political interests. He and his top executives have been accused of dropping the venerable BBC from his Star TV satellite operations in China because its reporting reportedly upset China's political leadership. Harper Collins, a News Corp. publishing company, has handed out lucrative book contracts to key legislators involved in vital regulatory control over the American media.
Murdoch and his executives contend the BBC was simply too expensive for Star TV, and they say other decisions were business based, not politically motivated. "It isn't so much that his politics are far right," says media analyst Mark Crispin Miller of New York University. "It's that his business interests come first."
That's led him to support such notably different politicians as Sen. Hillary Clinton and President Bush, as well as the Chinese Communist leadership, Professor Miller notes. And Murdoch isn't shy about using his company to curry favor with them, Miller says.
Other analysts agree, in general, but say there are exceptions. Ken Auletta of The New Yorker notes that while The Times of London is not as good a paper as it was prior to Murdoch buying it, it is still respectable. And so are several other Murdoch papers like The Australian.
"Has he at times been intrusive? Yes," says Mr. Auletta. "But is he as intrusive at those publications as he is at the New York Post? No, he's not. Or as intrusive as he was with Star TV in China, no."
Still, such concerns prompted the Bancroft family, which holds the controlling interest in Dow Jones & Co., to insist that a separate framework be set up to ensure the editorial independence and integrity of the Journal and Dow Jones' other publications. "Everybody who wants integrity means that we want to do as neutral, unbiased coverage as possible," says Mr. Bailon. "That's something that would certainly be under a microscope [if Murdoch does buy Dow Jones.]"
There's also concern about News Corp.'s tabloid brand of journalism. On Wednesday, when the news of a preliminary agreement between Murdoch and the Dow Jones board was noted on the front page of the Journal, Murdoch's New York Post focused on Paris Hilton.
"It isn't like he's going to turn the Journal into something as ostentatiously tacky as the Post. He knows enough not to do that," says Miller. "The danger is subtler than that. The Journal will look the same, but careful readers of the paper may well notice some troubling differences."
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