The Kicker
Murdoch, China, and the WSJ
By Paul McLeary Wed 8 Aug 2007 01:53 PMAn AP piece this morning reported that Paul Steiger, The Wall Street Journal’s former managing editor, thinks that Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of Dow Jones won’t affect the Journal’s coverage of China: “My expectation is that there will be no change in our China coverage…Coverage of China is an extremely important priority for The Wall Street Journal …and we don’t expect there to be any change in that.”
As Steiger well knows, expectations don’t always work out the way we want them to. Fact is, if the past is any indication, no one should be surprised if the Journal’s China coverage does change under the new regime. Let’s take a quick jog down memory lane and see what Rupe’s history with China has been.
In May, Jack Shafer outlined a number of reasons to be skeptical of Murdoch’s role in using his media properties to curry favor with the Chinese leadership. In 1993, Shafer recalls, News Corp. acquired Star TV, which transmits into China, as well as elsewhere in Asia: “At the time, Star TV carried the BBC’s World Service, which displeased Chinese authorities because they disliked its news coverage of China. After they complained to Murdoch, he dropped the BBC from Star.”
Then, in 1998, a book by former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, East and West: China, Power, and the Future of Asia caused quite a bit of controversy when its publisher, Murdoch-owned HarperCollins, cancelled its publication once company bigwigs figured out that it was going to be critical of the Chinese leadership. The book was subsequently picked up by another publisher, and went on to be a critical and financial success.
Steiger can hope and pray all he wants that Murdoch won’t do the same with the Journal, but he might just be kidding himself.
CJR
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