Monday, June 11, 2007 | Regarding the partisan and nepotistic Bob Page editorial on Rupert Murdoch, the first thing I would say is the man has no critical distance from his master and that puff pieces like this one have little local value except when compared to local news organizations, and the comparison was so little at the end it didn’t really matter. If, however, it was designed to inspire bidding up the DOW stock price in a far away wealthy region, then it may have succeeded even on this Left Coast. But really, the heart of the matter is Page’s comment that “One might expect more from the leftists who dominate American’s newsrooms than for them to be throwing darts at the one man who continues to express confidence in the American newspaper.” This is a ridiculous slander against what is now a mostly a conservative (but not conservative enough for Page) writers’ corps. How dare he call them liberal, I’m sure more than half of them are outraged! Further, he complains these journalists are the ones holding back the Murdoch-taking of the only international newspaper still boasting “rights” to be a virgin.
Murdoch wants to control the Wall Street Journal for his family’s profit, legacy and world-wide editorial control of financial markets regardless of the side-effect: he will deflower the WSJ and be the first one to pluck the petals. And the Bancroft Family is looking at their “13 year-old girl” as a victim of ruthless Capitalist venture in a way they have never had to before — good-time, old-school Republicans fighting against imperialistic Neo-Con Republicans. And who said the paper has to grow up? Notwithstanding the need to evolve, the WSJ already has a great CEO who can handle that change regardless of who the owner-family is, Bancroft or Murdoch. Lastly, I think this Page piece is filled with personal invective not becoming of the voiceofsandiego.org, how dare he say this: “The mainstream media elites and their cadre of other brain dead leftists are in panic over the thought of Murdoch owning the Wall Street Journal.” This is uncalled for and wholly inappropriate, brain dead indeed! Page should apologize for such a crude public statement offending half the U.S. population. Furthermore, buying the DOW is not a partisan issue, and that he tries to make it one about left v. right is unethical, misleading and negligent use of his professional editorial position as a newspaper professional. It is about old-school Republican right versus new-school neo-con wrong.