I just finished reading Sarah Ellison’s narrative account of how Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp Inc. took over one of the last independent newspapers left in the country, The Wall Street Journal and its parent company, Dow Jones & Company. To be honest, I almost wish that I had never started to read “War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle to Control an American Business Empire,” because by the end of the book, I was beginning to look back on the Journal I remember Mustafa reading when I was a child and compare it to the one I read regularly.
I now find myself missing the iconic front page with its six columns, the “What’s News” and legendary investigative stories for which the paper won numerous Pulitzer prizes. I guess I was too young and dumb back in 2007 to notice any differences aside from the fact that the Weekend edition suddenly dropped the weekly articles on power restaurants in cities across the country and where the power players sat at each one. I found it fascinating and miss it to this day.
On the bus back from Florence this afternoon, I remembered that I still have a copy of the Journal from September 12th, 2001. That was only the second time in the paper’s history that there was a headline that spread across the entire width of the first page; the other being December 8th, 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The paper was a full three inches wider back then and had largely black and white photos, with none appearing on the front page. I miss the old size (but understand why it was cut down) and the old front page, and I now seem to feel that the Journal no longer stands out in the crowd of newspapers; the only one that still stands out today is the Financial Times and that’s only because it’s printed on salamon-colored paper.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love Rupert Murdoch. Justin and I refer to him as “Uncle Rupie,” even though neither of us has ever met the man. After all, he owns the New York Post, which has the infamous “Page Six” gossip section that I read daily (I love stupid news, I’m sorry). Plus, I love Murdoch’s determination to go after what he wants with a vengeance. That said, his purchase of the Wall Street Journal has only brought about one positive change in my opinion and that is the paper’s still relatively new New York Section.
“War at the Wall Street Journal” was without question a good read that was captivating and even shocking at times because you get to see just how divided the Bancroft family, which had owned/controlled the Journal‘s parent company, Dow Jones since its founding, was over selling out to Murdoch, despite his overly generous $60 a share offer. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading rather juicy narrative accounts or simply loves the old Journal before the Murdoch revamp that turned it into just another paper with no real personality. I also found it informative, because I, for instance, always thought that Murdoch had been the one who initiated the fee to see the Journal‘s website, but it turns out that the site already charged a fee to view content when Murdoch purchased it and he wanted to make it free, only to return to charging after realizing that it was profitable. In all fairness, I should point out that I think it is absolutely paramount that news organizations charge for their online content because it’s not right that people who read the print edition have to pay for a subscription when people who read it online do so for free.
The book, however, has left me questioning whether or not I want to read the Journal anymore and while I’m sure I probably will since back home, it’s either that or our absolutely worthless local paper, The Virginian Pilot six days a week. The Times only comes on Sundays because Mustafa decided that he didn’t have time to read three papers a day and has spent the last decade or so reducing the number of days we get the Times from seven days a week to three, to two, and eventually leaving us with just the Sunday edition. At the same time, I find the Journal‘s iPod App to be slightly better than the Times‘s app because it’s not as complicated as the Times’s revamped app. Plus, it lets me put the sections I want to read the most at the bottom of the app; the Times‘s app doesn’t allow this, instead making me “Favorite” a section which is then listed not in order of preference, but instead in alphabetical order on a separate page, which I find to be too complicated and extremely annoying.
I thought that by writing this post, I’d be able to reach a conclusion as to where I stand on the Journal now, but I still don’t know. I guess only time will help me decide what I really think about this. Until next time…
-JD
The Yapper 