Keep the Street clear
NEWS that the Bancroft family has agreed to sit down with Rupert Murdoch and discuss his offer to purchase the Wall Street Journal has transformed an ominous situation into an alarming possibility.
How alarming?
Well, probably not quite as frightening as the day we learned Kim Jong Il has the bomb, but close
The consolations of black humor aside, there's reason for genuine anxiety and serious collective introspection here.
The nearly 40 adult Bancrofts who own a controlling interest in the Journal's publisher, the 125-year-old Dow Jones Co., previously had declined any discussion of Murdoch's offer to buy their stock in the publicly traded company, even though he's offered a premium of nearly 67% on its closing price the day before he made his bid. The company's stock price has continued to rise since then, though Dow Jones' competitive prospects as a purveyor of international financial news and information have been complicated by the recent merger of Reuters Group and Thomson Corp. Many believe that the Journal, already one of America's most widely circulated quality newspapers, must find a readership abroad for its journalism and financial information to prosper further. The need for capital to finance that expansion is one factor that may have led the Bancrofts to decide to hear Murdoch out.
The Australian-born creator of News Corp. long has coveted the Wall Street Journal, which is not simply one of America's best newspapers but also the publication that sets the standards for international reporting on investments and markets. "Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal are basically the Coca-Cola of global financial journalism," newspaper analyst John Morton told Editor & Publisher on Friday. "There's a huge amount of value in those brand names."
England's Financial Times is a formidable and distinguished newspaper, but in their field, the Journal is the acknowledged front-runner for reasons we need not belabor. Murdoch, moreover, is preparing to launch his own financial news channel on cable television to compete with CNBC, and, though the Journal has a contractual link with that network for a few more years, the paper could one day provide both the substance and the cachet that a new, money-oriented channel will require. The Journal's editorial page, which is rigidly segregated from its news columns, also is one of this country's leading organs of conservative opinion and, as the guy who bankrolls the Weekly Standard, Murdoch may find the prospect of controlling the paper's opinion columns an attractive prospect.
