New Yorker.com
Many former Journal reporters tell Ken Auletta that the paper now has a Murdochian conservative bias, but no one offered specific instances of Murdoch and managing editor Robert Thomson pushing a politically biased story. “What occurs is a form of anticipatory censorship,” writes Auletta. “If readers are offended, it’s not apparent in the numbers. In the six months ending in September, 2010, the Journal’s average weekday circulation was up two per cent. Excerpts from the subscription-required story are after the jump.
Many at the Journal and at News Corp. speculate that Thomson, who is fifty, is a surrogate son to Murdoch. But two people who know Murdoch very well call this assessment simplistic. One of them observes that Thomson and Murdoch “have a complete mind-meld,” but he continues, “They are not like father and son. Robert has never struck me as obedient. He’s too wry and sardonic.”
According to internal documents, Bloomberg has hired a hundred and six journalists from Dow Jones since since Murdoch’s bid [to guy the company] became public. Matthew Winkler, a former Journal reporter who left in 1990 to establish Bloomberg News, where he is editor-in-chief, says, “The Journal I came from, which focussed on in-depth reporting, is no more.”
To its credit, the new Journal has been transparent about many of the activities of its corporate parent. It reported News Corp.’s campaign contributions to Republicans and the failings of MySpace, which Murdoch acquired in 2005. To its discredit, the paper has avoided some News Corp. scandals. Much of the British press and the New York Times have written extensively about how Murdoch’s News of the World, a London tabloid, hacked into the voice-mail messages of celebrities. …The Journal has published three small stories, all deep inside the front section.
Auletta assessment of the Murdoch/Thomson Journal:
The paper is livelier, the photographs are more vivid, and the book reviews are more acute. And although there are fewer investigative reports, the Journal has done some exemplary in-depth work on the BP oil spill, the Pakistani origins of the terrorist massacre in Mumbai, and the threats to privacy posed by digital companies that track users and tantalize advertisers.
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