Call me a sentimentalist, but when Rupert Murdoch gave a speech here last week telling News Corporation to go carbon-neutral, and to inspire its many millions of viewers and readers to do likewise, I couldn’t help thinking that he must have been affected by the spectacle of human frailty revealed to him in his current efforts to take over Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal.
To bring the Journal into his portfolio, Mr Murdoch needs to win over the extended Bancroft family, descendants of a swash-buckling newspaperman called Clarence Barron who bought control of Dow Jones in 1902. Three generations later, Barron’s stake has been scattered among so many far-flung descendants that they have become absentee landlords — a good arrangement for editorial independence, a bad one for quality of management.
The Journal remains a fine newspaper, but Dow Jones has fallen well behind its big media rivals in the past couple of decades by investing badly or not at all.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in