fly-on-the-wall

Dow Jones Bigs Call A Meeting: "Murdoch Will Not Meddle"

Doree Shafrir · 08/01/07 01:01PM

At 11:15 this morning, Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli, Dow Jones CEO Rich Zannino, WSJ publisher Gordon Crovitz and a couple other bigwigs gathered the Journal employees for a 45-minute sit-down. Each of them gave assurances that Rupert Murdoch would not meddle in the paper. Zannino, says a source who was at the meeting, was particularly insistent that there were no down sides to the deal, invoking a quote by former DJ CEO Peter Kann: "News Corp. wouldn't tarnish the trophy they've been coveting for years." That's awfully libertarian of them! But just in case it turns out Murdoch doesn't, in fact, have the paper's best interests at heart, there are a bunch of safeguards in place (like this editorial agreement!) to make sure he doesn't stick his vengeful little paws into the Journal's editorial integrity. Not that the reporters were buying it.