With WSJ, Murdoch plans all-out media war

Forward Into Battle

With The Wall Street Journal and a new business network, Rupert Murdoch and Fox News chief Roger Ailes plan their next move: all-out war.

Aug. 13, 2007 issue - Rupert Murdoch, owner-in-waiting of The Wall Street Journal, is taking the high road. After a bitter three-month battle to win approval from enough bickering Bancrofts to buy their Dow Jones & Co., the mogul struck a gracious tone with the family, whose century of control he was now bringing to an end. "Given the Bancrofts' long and distinguished history as custodians of Dow Jones, we appreciate how difficult this decision was for some family members," Murdoch said in a statement issued in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, after receiving enough votes from family members to ensure his $5.6 billion purchase of the company. "I want to offer the Bancrofts my thanks, and an assurance that our company and my family will be equally strong custodians." With that, the great battle for Dow Jones came to a close.

But the war for the future of journalism is just beginning. When combined with News Corp. properties like Fox News and the soon-to-be-launched Fox Business Network, Murdoch's purchase of the Journal will create a juggernaut whose influence ranges far beyond the world of financial news and information. With plans to expand the Journal's political and international coverage, Murdoch is itching for a fight with the nation's presumed newspaper of record, The New York Times, as well as the Financial Times of London. "I want it to be more competitive with The New York Times," Murdoch told Times columnist Joseph Nocera on Saturday. Last week, after the deal was clinched, the Journal's editorial page, accusing Murdoch's critics of "commercial" and "ideological" motives, blasted the two Timeses for giving credence to concerns that Murdoch will turn the paper into a mouthpiece for his own right-wing political and business interests. The next day, Roger Ailes, Murdoch's TV news czar, quipped to NEWSWEEK that The New York Times "used to be the paper with all the news fit to put in the bottom of your dog kennel." Pause. "Now, when their owners leave, the dogs are calling up and canceling their subscriptions. It's a dying asset." Ouch.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20123487/site/newsweek/

I can't see how the media, including WSJ, could get any worse.

I'll be all-out unsubscribing to your faux financial "news"

"It's a dying asset." but it`s not the new york times roger

i think the financial times will gain readership because not everyone in the world worships at murdoch feet...