Report Says Murdoch Buys Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal

Report Says Murdoch Buys Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal

by James Parks, Jul 6, 2007

The Business Online UK is reporting that Rupert Murdoch has succeeded in his $5 billion bid to buy Dow Jones, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal. The website says negotiations are now complete and a formal announcement is expected next week.

Last week, Wall Street Journal reporters staged a half-day “stay out” to protest the expected sale to Murdoch’s News Corp. and management’s push to limit pay and cut back health care in contract talks. In a statement, the reporters—members of Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees (IAPE) Local 1096, The Newspaper Guild-CWA—said they chose not to show up to work on June 28 for two reasons:

First, The Wall Street Journal’s long tradition of independence, which has been the hallmark of our news coverage for decades, is threatened today. We…want to demonstrate our conviction that the Journal’s editorial integrity depends on an owner committed to journalistic independence.

Second…Dow Jones currently is in contract negotiations with its primary union, seeking severe cutbacks in our health benefits and limits on our pay. At a time when Dow Jones is finding the resources to award golden parachutes to 135 top executives, it should not be seeking to eviscerate employees’ health benefits and impose salary adjustments that amount to a pay cut.