The Atlantic on Rupert Murdoch

July 1, 2008 3:30am by

We looked at what Murdoch was altering at the WSJ not too long ago in Murdoch’s WSJ Changes Creates Opening for NYT, FT.

Rupert Murdoch: The Last Hope for Journalism?

Part I: Murdoch’s Methods

Parts II & III after the jump.


Previously:
Murdoch’s WSJ Changes Creates Opening for NYT, FT (April 2008)   
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/04/murdochs-wsj-cr.html

Source:
Mr. Murdoch Goes to War    
Mark Bowden 
Atlantic, July/August 2008      
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/murdoch

Part II: Golden Age of Journalism

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Part III: Long Form Journalism

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What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. VennData commented on Jul 1

    I kinda liked the colored Disney characters dancing above the name plate in this most recent Weekend Journal.

    If the new FCC regs on product placements shouldn’t apply to hedge fund managers et al talking their book in Mr. Murdock’s national treasure, nor should they apply to Fortune 500 companies …nor any other such Nomenklatura.

  2. Matt in HB commented on Jul 1

    Last week, I was staying at my brother’s house and took a look at the WSJ every morning. One day I noticed a story about tractor racing (front page, below the fold) and shook my head. WTF is tractor racing doing on the front page of the WSJ? Will Foxifying the journal totally undercut it’s position as the leading business daily? I guess we’ll see.

  3. me commented on Jul 1

    From mediabistro:

    “Jackie Calmes Leaves The WSJ For NYT”

    In The Revolving Door

    Big, big news: FishbowlDC has learned that Wall Street Journal Chief Political Reporter Jackie Calmes is leaving the paper to cover national economic policy for the New York Times.

    To say that this is a blow to the Wall Street Journal would be an understatement. Calmes won the the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Reporting on the Presidency in 2005 and has been a crucial ingredient on the paper’s political coverage. Further, she’s been a regular and steady presence at the bureau, having joined the WSJ in Washington in 1990. And finally, to lose Calmes during a heated presidential campaign proves additionally heart-breaking for the paper.

    In the past few months, the paper’s DC bureau has lost its bureau chief Jerry Seib (who does still pen a column and contribute to the political coverage), John Harwood (whom Calmes replaced when he left the Journal for the NYTimes), top economic reporter Greg Ip (who recently joined the Economist and was rumored to speak directly to Fed chairmen) and dean of congressional coverage David Rogers (left for Politico). All told? That’s about a century of institutional knowledge that’s been lost. Seib is the only person left in the bureau who was also there in 2000.

    http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/the_revolving_door/jackie_calmes_leaves_the_wsj_for_nyt_88282.asp

  4. Greg Feirman commented on Jul 1

    I don’t know. I love the Journal for its commitment to going deeper and I haven’t really seen the quality drop off since Murdoch took over.

    I see that he’s trying to keep some stories just on the front page. That caught my eye.

    But the guy isn’t an idiot. The Journal is successful because of its depth. If he makes it like USA Today, as one former editor claims in the article, it’s terrible from a financial standpoint.

    I think this is all a lot of smoke and mirrors without much basis in truth.

    I guess we’ll know whose right in a few years.

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