❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now

Murdoch’s empire grows

Stephen Beard Aug 1, 2007
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Murdoch’s empire grows

Stephen Beard Aug 1, 2007
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Scott Jagow: Rupert Murdoch and Dow Jones made it official this morning. Murdoch’s News Corp will buy Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal for $5.6 billion. Murdoch adds the Journal to his media portfolio of Fox News, MySpace, HarperCollins, the Times of London. But it didn’t come easy, especially for the Bancroft family. They were deeply divided over giving up a newspaper that’s been in the family for generations. And this deal has prompted reaction around the world. Stephen Beard has more from London.


Stephen Beard: Murdoch pulled off this coup with a last-minute maneuver.

He won support of enough members of the Bancroft family which controls Dow Jones. He apparently offered to pick up the tab for their legal fees, some $30 million. That reportedly swung some key members of the family into the Murdoch camp.

The Bancrofts have been deeply divided over the deal. Some fear the tycoon could interfere with the Journal’s editorial independence.

But that fear is unfounded claims Adrian Monck, a former Murdoch employee, now a professor of journalism at the City University in London.

Adrian Monck: He appreciates what’s important about business news and what’s important about business news is its trust and reliability and those factors mean the independence is valuable. So he understands that.

Nevertheless one member of the Bancroft family, Leslie Hill, resigned from the Dow board in protest yesterday.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.