The Murdoch Way of Reporting Bad Business News
You are looking at a Wall Street Journal headline from yesterday's newspaper. What you might not get from the headline is that instead of posting a $8.86 billion loss, Wachovia will post a $9.11 billion loss. Pennies, right? But there's a reason you didn't get a sense of peril — we're talking a $250 million difference — from the headline: the Journal didn't want you to. When Rupert Murdoch launched the Fox Business Network last year, he promised a "more business friendly" (than CNBC) financial network. And having gobbled up the Journal, it appears Murdoch might be spreading that policy to newsprint. Otherwise, this headline might've read the less wordy, less vague, "Wachovia Admits to Even Wider Loss." [Naked Shorts]
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Editorial Director
Murdoch is such a hack. The WSJ articles and editorials used to be quite lengthy and weave in a complete history for each news item. Under Murdoch they've halved most articles and dropped any detail reporting that would help give context to the story. Yesterday I read an article that was TWO paragraphs. Two paragraphs equals an indepth news article worth $60 per year? I think not Mr. Murdoch. Guess it's the Financial Times from now on.
Anybody with a dog in the Wachovia fight understood what was being said, and they appreciated the precision of the WSJ headline. Murdoch's headline was more accurate than you hysterical "the sky is falling" wider-loss phrasing. Leave the financial reporting to the professionals who understand the difference between "downward revisions" and "wide losses."
More business-friendly? What the hell does that mean? That's not journalism, and the headline, editing and reporting on the Wachovia story was unprofessional, biased–and just bad journalism. No one, anywhere, least of all Murdoch, should be anything-friendly, business-friendly, or whatever. No one. Anywhere. Journalism is journalism–if there is a problem, then you report it, for gawd's sake. Murdoch is a hack. It's a damn shame that the Dow Jones wimps folded under and sold out this once-great newspaper to Murdoch, who will ruin it. A damn shame.