A Pact to Guarantee Editorial Integrity?

Reuters reports that Dow Jones and News Corp. have "basically agreed" on a pact to guarantee Dow Jones's editorial integrity. If so, this means that Rupert Murdoch's takeover is pretty much a done deal.

I think any such agreements aren't worth the paper they're written on, but then again I'm cynical. Still, I wonder if there is even an attempt made to prevent the kind of layoffs that I see happening down the road. I'm sure Murdoch will try to pare down Dow Jones News Service, for instance, by requiring Wall Street Journal reporters to contribute to the wire. That would erode the intergrity of the Journal by simply giving Journal reporters a lot more work to do.

Hell, I've seen that happen at a number of news organizations without Rupert Murdoch or some other bogeyman trying to gain control. It just happens when you try to squeeze profits from the newspaper biz.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.

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