paidContent.org| Wall Street Journal | Politico.com
The Wall Street Journal editorial that everyone will be talking about today “doesn’t use the term ‘shut the f* up’ or quote Cee Lo Green,” writes Staci Kramer, “but the 1,046 carefully chosen words are written for the choir and aimed squarely at News Corp. critics.” The “remarkable editorial portrays News Corp. as a victim of a media pile-on led by liberal politicians and media competition in the U.K. and the U.S.,” notes Reid Epstein. From Kramer’s piece:
The gist: Don’t blame us; the Journal is better off out of the hands of the Bancrofts; not investigating hacking is worse than hacking; fear media regulation; the BBC; the Guardian and liberal politicians have their own agendas; and anyone who backs Wikileaks should look in the mirror.
It is a masterpiece as far as defensive editorials go – and the Journal and its journalists would be better off if it had been spiked.
On Twitter, Jay Rosen called it “deluded dishonest whining victimology,” while Dan Gillmor said it was “the utter depths.” Keith Olbermann tweeted to his 305,142 followers: “If you’d like to read Arrogant Whistling Past The Graveyard: Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal Pile of Editorial Bullshit.”
The Washington Post said in a Sunday editorial headlined “Don’t let the response to News of the World go too far” that the “contemptible” excesses by tabloids are hardly new, “but because News of the World forms part of the multinational media empire headed by Rupert Murdoch, the affair has touched off a larger backlash against what is regarded as the excessive power of his News Corp.” The paper says suggestions that Britain should replace the newspaper industry’s self-regulatory body with official regulation “are misguided and dangerous.”
> Greenslade: How Murdoch’s philosophy created a climate of misbehavior
> Jarvis: Buh-bye Murdochs? It’s now quite conceivable
> Niles: All journalists should be rooting for News Corp. to fail
> Auletta: Murdoch doesn’t have enough fingers to stop the gushing water
> Hoyt: In a strange way, Murdoch has done newspapers a large favor
> Carr: Murdoch has been in deep trouble before and survived — even prospered
> Farhi: NPR, NYT enthusiastically pursue story while Fox downplays it
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