The Printer’s Devil

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After saying “a thousand times no,” the board of directors of Dow Jones agreed it would be a good idea to sell the Wall Street Journal, that paragon of the American corporate system, to Rupert Murdoch, that paragon of the American corporate system.

The Bancroft family, who controlled most of the shares of Dow Jones, also cracked this week after saying “a thousand times no.”

I suppose they figured that for a little extra money they don’t need they could sell their newspaper and their principles.

I have no doubt that for this week and next, there will be all sorts of blather about Murdoch’s latest purchase.

They’ll talk about how he’ll destroy the Wall Street Journal’s proud newsroom and fill it with toadies whose sole interest is to advance the cause of Rupert Murdoch.

They’ll talk about his shameless manipulation of his newspapers, cable channel, book channel and TV stations to further his own pocketbook and politics (basically, the same thing for Murdoch).

They’ll talk about his unblushing kowtowing, his shady ploys and blatant dispensing of bribes — oops, pardon me, campaign contributions — to obliging politicians to emasculate regulators who actually want to enforce laws concerning monopolies.

They’ll talk about his ruthless pursuit of more newspapers and television stations as he destroys independent thought in the national media and turns national discourse into a trivial and witless procession of nasty jingoism, hypocritical moral posturing and babes with big boobs.

They’ll talk about his predatory politics that pretend to advocate the cause of John Q. Average while stealing a fair share of the American economy from them and hoarding all the goodies for the super-wealthy especially himself.

They’ll talk about how his newspapers treat their readers as doofuses to be manipulated and misled.

And they’ll be right.

Given my politics and views about corporate piranhas like Murdoch. I wouldn’t work for Murdoch, and I doubt he would offer me a job any where in News Corp, his company.

But believe it or not, I actually like the guy.

He’s one the few genuinely honest publishers around these days. He’s honest about what he wants and he doesn’t try to fool others nor does he try to fool himself.

I remember him from many years ago, at a time when most publishers solemnly assured their employees that they had to be laid off or take pay cuts because newspapers “weren’t profitable.”

Murdoch sneered at such publishers back then — and he still does.

“A newspaper is a license to print money,” he replied with zest and he proved it.

Even now, “experts’ solemnly intone how the Wall Street Journal “wasn’t profitable,” Murdoch offered a premium for it.

Many of the publishers follow the same game plan as Murdoch — they shaft their employees, their readers and their communities they purport to serve; they relentlessly try to buy up or co-opt the opposition;t hey use their editorial pages to push their own agendas; they bowdlerize their newspapers with “human interest features” because it’s cheaper and doesn’t annoy advertisers as much (and much more profitable).

Then they wring their hands and tell us “newspapers aren’t profitable because of (fill in the blank),” “readers don’t want to read any more,” or “the Internet is making newspapers obsolete.” Etc., etc., etc.

It’s not News Corp but it’s CorpsNews and there’s no difference. And except for two things, there’s no difference between them and Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch is no incompetent. And Rupert Murdoch is no phony.