An Open Letter to the Bancroft Family: Please don’t Sell to Rupert Murdoch

The Dow Jones company will be deciding Monday whether or not it will accept the unsolicited $5 billion buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. This sale would transfer control of the Wall Street Journal, among other media assets, to a media empire most well-known for tabloid style journalism and sloppy reporting. It seems like a no-brainer for the company, but the high premium offered by Murdoch is making them take a second look. The bulk of this difficult decision rests with the Bancroft family, who collectively control 64% of the voting power within Dow Jones. It is time to let the Bancroft family know that we oppose the proposed sale.

Opposition is coming in from nearly all directions. Let’s pile on and tell Dow Jones and the Bancroft family where we stand. Please edit and send the letter below to Howard Hoffman in Corporate Communications. He can be reached via email at howard.hoffman@dowjones.com.

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Bancroft Family and other Controlling Interests in the Dow Jones Company:

It has come to our attention that you will be making a decision soon regarding the pending sale of your fine company to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. I am writing to express my strong opposition to this transaction, for the reasons outlined below.

As you are well aware, the Wall Street Journal has a strong record of integrity as one of the highest quality publications in the United States. In fact, the Pew Research Center recently listed The Journal as the single most trusted and non-partisan publication. For over 100 years your company has presented fact as fact and opinion as opinion, as it should be. News Corporation, as has been widely documented, has almost the exact opposite reputation. Whether you look at the sloppy mistakes or blatant bias it is clear that News Corporation does not uphold the standards that your company adheres to. Please keep in mind as you deliberate, this note from the Huffington Post:

When the rising mogul bought The Times, a major London daily, in 1981, he agreed to an independent oversight committee and guidelines to maintain editorial independence, much like he is doing now with owners of the Wall Street Journal. It took little time before Murdoch was forcing content deemed “tasteless” by Times editors, complaining that stories had too much of a liberal bent, and exclaiming that a Times reporter was “a Commie.” When pressed, he infamously said to then-editor Fred Emery, “I give instructions to my editors all around the world; why shouldn’t I in London?”

The original credo of the Journal was as follows: “The Wall Street Journal must stand for the best that is in Wall Street and reflect that which is best in United States finance. Its motto is: The Truth in its proper use.” Is it really worth sacrificing this honorable ideal, as well the legacy of the family business, for a few extra dollars?

In addition to the issue of journalistic integrity, please also consider the antitrust concerns over News Corp’s accumulation of media outlets. As of this writing, the company controls over 120 newspapers worldwide, as well as dozens of television stations, radio stations, publishing companies, movie studios and websites. Can that much power in so few hands really serve the public interests?

Last but not least, please take into account the opposition you have been seeing from both within your ranks, and elsewhere. I’ve compiled a small sampling of this opposition below.

Parish and Company:

Parish & Company strongly opposes Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to purchase the Dow Jones Corporation on anti-trust grounds, not only due to his existing media holdings and related controversies, including FOX News and its Iraq coverage, yet also the potential for abuse due to the impact on public companies by numerous related unregulated hedge and private equity funds.

China-based WSJ writers:

A group of reporters based in China for The Wall Street Journal wrote a letter last week to several members of the family that controls Dow Jones asking them to continue to resist News Corp.’s $5 billion takeover offer. In the letter, which was dated May 10 and signed by seven journalists, the group said it feared that News Corp’s acquisition of Dow Jones would threaten the paper’s integrity, credibility and high journalistic standards.

American reporters:

About 200 Wall Street Journal journalists did not show up for work Thursday morning to demonstrate their opposition to a potential takeover of the newspaper by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., the IAPE union said. The number of journalists who participated in the action represented about one-third of the prestigious business daily’s US staff.

Longtime Dow Jones director James Ottaway:

“To me, the first biggest issue is more media concentration in the hands of people who use their media power for personal, political and business interests, as Murdoch does so blatantly with the New York Post, Fox News network, Star TV in China, Phoenix TV in China. …. There’s no moral compass.”

Bancroft family member William Cox Jr

“If you give it to Rupert Murdoch, it’ll be ruined”.

Please, if you decide to sell the company, do not let it fall into the hands of Rupert Murdoch. You should do everything in your power to ensure that the Wall Street Journal is passed along to someone with a proven track record of doing business with the same type of integrity the founders of the company took pride in.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Josh Nelson