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For Dow Jones, A Ticket to Take On the World
News Corp.'s resources give the Wall Street Journal a chance to expand online and globally.
(By Jonathan Fickies -- Bloomberg News)
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Expect more color in the Journal, in photographs, graphics and advertising.
Expect more promotion of the Journal around the world.
In India, News Corp. owns Star TV, which dominates swaths of the viewing audience. Suppose during an Indian news broadcast, an announcer would say, "For more on this story, go to WSJ.com."
"That will raise [the Journal's] profile to an extent unimaginable if you use conventional digital or marketing means," a source said.
Dow Jones will be a small part of a very large News Corp. that may become the world's largest media company, eclipsing Time Warner in value.
In 2006, for instance, all of Dow Jones booked $1.8 billion in revenue. In fiscal 2006, Fox Television alone reported $5.3 billion in revenue. News Corp. as a whole had $25 billion in revenue.
Nonetheless, Dow Jones and the Journal represent something Murdoch does not have and has wanted for some time: sellable financial news.
An obvious use for Journal content and the skills of 750 of the industry's best financial reporters is to feed the Fox Business Network (FBN), the cable television business channel scheduled for an October launch, a direct competitor to CNBC.
Viewers likely will see Journal reporters and editors on FBN, and the Journal may use FBN to help break news stories, much the way that The Washington Post's partnership with NBC News allows some Post stories to break on television.
The deal between News Corp. and Dow Jones was sealed after midnight Tuesday, the companies said yesterday.
The deal is not expected to face regulatory hurdles, but Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps, a foe of media consolidation, said yesterday that his agency should look into the buyout, which should not be considered a "slam dunk." FCC rules prohibit one company from owning a television station and a local newspaper in the same city -- News Corp. has a New York TV station -- but the Journal is considered a national newspaper. Gannett, with headquarters in McLean, owns USA Today, a national paper, and Washington's WUSA (Channel 9).
The companies also announced yesterday that they have settled on the composition of a five-member editorial board designed to act as a buffer between Murdoch and the Journal newsroom, meant to prevent him from meddling in news coverage. It also would have oversight on the hiring and firing top Journal editors.
The initial members of the editorial board will be Louis Boccardi, a Gannett director and former head of the Associated Press; columnist Thomas Bray; former Republican House member Jennifer Dunn; former Tribune Co. president Jack Fuller; and Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT's Media Lab. The board will be self-perpetuating, appointing new members when existing ones drop off.
