Left’s new conniption fit (Updated)
This afternoon Rupert Murdoch made a $5 billion bid for the Dow Jones Company which owns the Wall Street Journal. The Dow Jones Co. Â stock shot up from $35/share to $55 in about two minutes after the bid. In fact before this bid, the stock had languished between $32 and $40 for years.
Just as quickly as the stock spiked higher, Bernie Sanders (Communist-VT) shot to the nearest CNBC microphone to tell Larry Kudlow that Murdoch’s owning the Wall Street Journal would violate the Fairness Doctrine that Sanders is trying to get reinstituted into law. I think that’s a stretch.
Murdoch owns local newspapers, a broadcast TV network and a cable news channel – no national newspapers like the Wall Street Journal. One of the Leftists on Kudlow’s show claimed that Murdoch would ruin the WSJ like he did with the Times of London (his words not mine – I have no idea how good or bad the Times does it’s business).
Murdoch would be a fool to tinker with the internals of the extremely successful WSJ – besides it’s editorial and commentary pages are already fairly conservative. What could Murdoch do to make it moreso that frightens the Left so much?
The Bancroft family, which holds a slim majority of the stock that controls the Dow Jones Company, have said they won’t sell, so the whole deal may fall through, but Murdoch is a pretty tenacious little Aussie. He probably wants the WSJ to bolster his planned Fox Business Channel venture and to cripple CNBC which has a colaborative agreement with the WSJ and it’s accompanying journalists.
The Wall Street Journal is probably the most successful news organization in the country and their internet presence is unmatched – despite the fact that they’re one of the few who successfully charge a subscription fee. I’ve been a subscriber for years because, as a source, they are unimpeachable and they just have news and commentary not available anywhere else.
I just about spit my chocolate milk out when Bill Press, on Kudlow and Company blurted out that Murdoch wanted WSJ so he could compete with the New York Times. Who wants to compete with that fat whale? That’d be like buying the Baltimore Ravens to compete with the Washington Redskins.
But Press went on to condemn Murdoch and his News Corp. empire as a vast right wing conspiracy (oblivious, apparently to the Leftist media in this country).
Now I don’t know if Murdoch’s latest acquisition is legal or ethical, I just know that if it gets the Left (especially Press and Sanders)Â in a lather, it must be good for the country. To quote Montgomery Burns on Rupert Murdoch, “He’s one beautiful man.”
UPDATE: CNBC is totally freaking out this (Wednesday) morning over this story. Carlos Quintanilla began his “Squawk Box” show (ostensibly about the markets) by calling the bid “Rupert Murdoch’s lastest bid for world conquest” with a backdrop of the scene from Star Wars of Darth Vader light-saber fencing with Luke Skywalker. He’s apparently convinced that the WSJ will become a right-wing newspaper. What the Hell is the Wall Street Journal now? Leftwing? F’pete’s sake.
I do some work with the NAB, and Sen. Sanders concern seems to stem more from his own perception of Mr. Murdoch’s politics than any concern for media consolidation or fairness. Regardless, the so-called Fairness Doctrine addresses content, not ownership, so the only thing Sanders accomplishes by invoking it is exposing his own ignorance, distrust of the free market, and apparently low opinion of the American public.
Ed. Note: Welcome and thanks for your comment. Of course you’re correct – Democrats/Leftists oppose Murdoch’s bid just because he’s Murdoch and one of their countless boogeymen.