By: Vickie J. Rubinson
According to The Atlantic Monthly, people (reporters and writers) at The Wall Street Journal, are "running around frightened and confused," under the new ownership of tabloid king/ Aussie publisher Rupert Murdoch.
"The push is toward news, news, news. It feels like Murdoch wants to make us more like every other newspaper in the country," says one source at the paper. "Murdoch says he wants to turn it into something more like The New York Times, but I suspect it will end up looking more like USA Today," said the source.
Another longtime Journal reporter recalls that a former editor-in-chief, Paul Steiger, used to warn reporters who complained about the paper's hidebound ways, "It could be worse-we could be owned by Rupert Murdoch."
"The world is changing exponentially," said Murdoch in an interview. "While it's right to be respectful of the past, these days it is certaintly fatal to be bound by history. He who stands still will be overrun."
There are those reporters who are already making plans to leave, or know they will jump ship at the first decent opportunity. He called this group "the Extremists"; it included reporters like the Pulitzer winning Bandler who left for Fortune Magazine. Then there were those who knew that the takeover could spell disaster for the kind of journalism they loved, but were reluctant to believe that Murdoch would really dismantly something so admirable and successful. He called this group "the Hopefuls."
I worked for Murdoch, back in the early 90s at STAR magazine and it was one of the most fun, memorable jobs I've had. I interned at STAR and learned a great deal about the tabloid biz under Brian Haugh, a former editor who was a brilliant writer and humorist. Those were the glory days of the tabloids. Will Murdoch turn the Wall Street Journal into another STAR magazine? It remains to be seen, but I wouldn't doubt it.
According to The Atlantic Monthly, people (reporters and writers) at The Wall Street Journal, are "running around frightened and confused," under the new ownership of tabloid king/ Aussie publisher Rupert Murdoch.
"The push is toward news, news, news. It feels like Murdoch wants to make us more like every other newspaper in the country," says one source at the paper. "Murdoch says he wants to turn it into something more like The New York Times, but I suspect it will end up looking more like USA Today," said the source.
Another longtime Journal reporter recalls that a former editor-in-chief, Paul Steiger, used to warn reporters who complained about the paper's hidebound ways, "It could be worse-we could be owned by Rupert Murdoch."
"The world is changing exponentially," said Murdoch in an interview. "While it's right to be respectful of the past, these days it is certaintly fatal to be bound by history. He who stands still will be overrun."
There are those reporters who are already making plans to leave, or know they will jump ship at the first decent opportunity. He called this group "the Extremists"; it included reporters like the Pulitzer winning Bandler who left for Fortune Magazine. Then there were those who knew that the takeover could spell disaster for the kind of journalism they loved, but were reluctant to believe that Murdoch would really dismantly something so admirable and successful. He called this group "the Hopefuls."
I worked for Murdoch, back in the early 90s at STAR magazine and it was one of the most fun, memorable jobs I've had. I interned at STAR and learned a great deal about the tabloid biz under Brian Haugh, a former editor who was a brilliant writer and humorist. Those were the glory days of the tabloids. Will Murdoch turn the Wall Street Journal into another STAR magazine? It remains to be seen, but I wouldn't doubt it.
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