Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s recent acquisition of The Wall Street Journal to his media empire has elicited strong reactions from people around the country. Nearly every major newspaper and online news source led with the story of Murdoch’s new media outlet, but it’s not just people in faraway places who have an opinion on Murdoch’s new addition.
Ali Al Zmall, a freshman electrical engineering major, said students shouldn’t care about who owns media outlets because students are “just looking for the news. [They’re] not looking at the owner.”
“I worry about the [editorial] independence,” said Jasmine Yur-Austin, a finance professor. “They want the name of The Wall Street Journal to help Fox News.”
Larry Martinez, an associate political science professor, said Murdoch will use content from The Wall Street Journal to fill up the Fox Business Channel, which may aim to compete with CNN.
“He’s going to appeal to the next generation of news consumers through MySpace.com,” Martinez said. “Links from MySpace.com to The Wall Street Journal will be there. Consolidation of media ownership is going on through traditional media. Online users are fragmented; they go on several websites for news. They don’t watch TV news.”
Christopher Burnett, an assistant journalism professor, said people “are lamenting the demise of a traditional journalism that doesn’t exist anymore. [There are] too many competing outlets.”
Regarding the business merger, Yur-Austin said there is no way of predicting whether or not it will be beneficial for Murdoch. “You never know what you’re going to end up with. About nine years ago, Chrysler thought it would be a good idea to buy Daimler-Benz. They wanted to establish a better business. Look what happened to them. They ended up selling at a loss.”
“Give it a one to three years to see if the [current] editors stay or leave” and if the company succeeds or fails with the new ownership, Yur-Austin said.
Vertical integration explains when a person or company owns a product from conception to consumption. According to Martinez, “Murdoch is vertically integrated. He owns the entire link, from the reporters who report the news to the satellites that deliver the news.”
Journalism professors Burnett and Lee Brown both said they believe Murdoch’s business move is indicative of recent patterns in the media.
Brown called the move a “trend of consolidation – media in the hands of fewer and fewer players.” This in turn “takes away from the diversity of voices at the helm of major media. The Wall Street Journal was a bastion of quality journalism.”
Martinez said the acquisition “is not a good thing if it limits choice. What I think we’re going to see is a dumbing down” of the writing, causing the content to be “less long-range in perspective and reporting,” Martinez said. “The Bancrofts believe in quality instead of profits. Murdoch can’t keep his hands off [editorial content].”