What A Murdoch-Owned WSJ Would Look Like
Like any close reader of The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch has his opinions.“I’m sometimes frustrated by the long stories,” he said, adding that he rarely gets around to finishing some articles.
The editorial pages? He likes them but would like to see more political coverage in the news pages. “I might put more emphasis on Washington,” he said.
Oy. And Murdoch seems intent on getting it:
The [Bancroft] family, which owns 64 percent of the voting shares, has said that 52 percent of those voting shares oppose Mr. Murdoch’s offer. They have not answered any of his invitations to meet with him and his sons, James and Lachlan, and a daughter, Elisabeth. “My real intention is to try to get a meeting, not to impress them with my charm — if I have any — but to impress them with the intentions and feelings of my adult children,” Mr. Murdoch said, trying to assuage concerns about succession at the News Corporation as he leaned back on his taupe sofa.. .. With many other shareholders in favor of his bid, Mr. Murdoch might only have to persuade a handful of family members.
. . . Mr. Murdoch needs to win over not only the Bancroft family but members of The Journal’s newsroom, many of whom hope to fend off his bid. Jesse Drucker, a Wall Street Journal reporter and representative of the paper’s union, has written an e-mail message to his colleagues, asking them to write short letters to three members of the Bancroft family: Leslie Hill, Christopher Bancroft and Elizabeth Steele.
“I am urging you to take part in this,” he wrote. “The Bancrofts are under tremendous pressure to accept News Corp.’s offer, and that pressure will only become greater in the likely event that Murdoch raises his bid.”
Oy.
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