Sign In
SHARE
Steiger on New 'WSJ': No Sign of 'Bad Rupert' Yet
The last managing editor of The Wall Street Journal not to work for Rupert Murdoch has nothing but nice things to say about what the News Corp. chief has done with the paper in the eight months since he bought it. Well, almost nothing but nice things.
"I think, as a reader, that the Journal is doing a terrific job," said Paul Steiger, who was responding to a question from the audience during last night's panel discussion on nonprofit journalism, hosted by Northwestern University's Medill Club.
"I see no evidence, nor do my friends there report any evidence, of the bad Rupert showing up, trying to move the coverage in a way that advances his business interests. So, to me, my fears haven't been realized."
In fact, Steiger saluted Murdoch for reaching into his pocket to expand the newshole and make other costly investments. "I know something about the economics of that paper. It is not making money. He is pouring money into that paper to try and upgrade it."
Steiger wasn't completely without criticisms to offer, saying, "Page one is a work in progress. They're still figuring out what sort of mix they want it to be."
But he followed that up by praising the paper's return to a six-column front, blaming himself for "stupidly" getting rid of the format in a 2007 redesign. "Five columns -- that was wrong."
I'll have more on the panel in a subsequent post, including Steiger's comments on ProPublica, his nonprofit investigative journalism start-up.
Loading...
Thank you for registering as a Portfolio.com Insider. Your comment has been added.
Create Your Public Profile
- Conde Nast Closing 'Portfolio'
- Apr 27 2009 10:02AM EDT
- Newspaper Circ: 'WSJ' Gains as 'NY Post' Tumbles
- Apr 27 2009 9:32AM EDT
- Idle Chatter: The Prognosis for Newspapers, more
- Apr 27 2009 8:55AM EDT
- Late Breaks: MySpace, NYT, 'New York'
- Apr 24 2009 4:01PM EDT
- Nostalgia, Entitlement and Murdoch's 'Journal'
- Apr 24 2009 4:00PM EDT
- Huffpo's Lerer on the 'New and Better' Journalism
- Apr 24 2009 12:44PM EDT
- Ailes Heats Up Cold Spring with Newspaper War
- Apr 24 2009 12:33PM EDT
- Happy Friday. Now Watch This.
- Apr 24 2009 10:24AM EDT
- Idle Chatter: NPR Cutbacks, Jon Meacham, more
- Apr 24 2009 8:50AM EDT
- Late Breaks: Twitter and the 'Times,' more
- Apr 23 2009 5:59PM EDT
- CNN Partner's Polling Finds CNN Fair, Balanced
- Apr 23 2009 4:10PM EDT
- 'Scientific American' Editor Out in Reorg
- Apr 23 2009 3:19PM EDT
- Idle Chatter: MySpace, Nerve, 'Millionaire,' more
- Apr 23 2009 8:20AM EDT
- Late Breaks: 'Observer' Editor Resigns, more
- Apr 22 2009 4:15PM EDT
- One Marriage, One Memoir, Two Opinions
- Apr 22 2009 2:31PM EDT
Archive
Categories
Links
- Contact Me
- News After Newspapers
- Romenesko
- Gawker
- Ad Age
- WWD's Memo Pad
- Keith Kelly
- NYT Media
- Jon Fine
- TVNewser
- Magazine Death Pool
- HuffPo Media
- Galleycat
- News Hounds
- Newsbusters
- Jezebel
- Editor & Publisher
- Hollywood Wiretap
- The Media Pundit
- FAIR
- I Want Media
- Viral Video
- Nikki Finke
- MediaFile
- The Business Insider
- Paid Content
- Valleywag
- Cover Awards
- Talking Biz News
- SI.com - Richard Deitsch
- Gapper Blog - Media
- Jon Friedman
- Nieman Journalism Lab
- NY Observer media page
- Media Shift
- Tyndall Report
- Media Nation
