Murdoch on Owning The Wall Street Journal

MURDOCH ON OWNING THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Silkos & Andrew Ross Sorkin]
How might the Wall Street Journal change under Rupert Murdoch? Sorter articles, more political coverage in the news pages, a greater emphasis on Washington. He insists he won't meddle in the journalism or slash-and-burn the staff. “We’re not coming in with a bunch of cost-cutters,” he said, but added: “I'm not saying it’s going to be a holiday camp for everybody.” He sees himself as a lifelong newspaperman who learned journalism from his father in Australia, he also tried to say that his reputation as an interloper owner was overstated. He said he was not involved with the news operations of the higher-end newspapers, although he takes a closer role in tabloids like The Sun in London and The New York Post. And he said he would propose to the Bancrofts setting up a separate board for the newspaper, mandated with ensuring its editorial independence, as he has done since he acquired The Times and Sunday Times in 1981. He said the independent board works, recalling that “The Sunday Times came out loudly for the decapitation of Margaret Thatcher,” whom he had personally supported. He said, “I didn't know about it,” and then joked, “I pretended I hadn't read it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/media/04murdoch.html
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