Rupert, Sam and A Future of American Journalism

Last week, I talked to a veteran reporter wondering -- of course -- who might buy his struggling metro paper. We went through the possible names and then arrived at Murdoch. "At least, he's a newspaperman," the reporter hopefully offered.

That's what we're down to -- guessing games and choosing the least worst of evils. None of the above applies neither in newspaper ownership nor politics in the US.

Zell selling Newsday, after saying he wanted to keep the Tribune empire alive. No surprise.

Murdoch buying Newsday. No surprise there either. Zell and Murdoch are now tied at the hip, fellow newspaper titans and lately on the AP board. Rupert Murdoch can do a lot more for Sam Zell than Mort Zuckerman, owner of the Daily News, could.

Well, Murdoch is a newspaperman. The question is what kind?

We'll ask Marcus Brauchli, soon as he's free, which with today's news looks like it will be soon. The WSJ managing editor replaced by a hand-picked Murdoch editor. Of course. You'd like to laugh when you recall all the hand-wringing and speculation last year within and without the Bancroft family about what Murdoch ownership would mean. Would he "interfere"? Recall the board that's set up to maintain the paper's integrity, and how mushy that seemed to some of us. Well, now it's deciding if it has any say in who the new m.e. is.

Please, Murdoch owns the paper. He'll do with it what he pleases. Produce some great journalism, sure. Use it as weapon to bludgeon the Times, sure. Make resource decisions that determine the journalism and the fates of his friends, sure.

That's the way it is. The question will be how much of 21st century robber baron journalism comes to pervade the industry. Sam Zell's bought himself some time, for now, but those balloon payments and the effects of a  recession won't leave him much time to catch his breath. For the rest of us, it is lots of sighs and heavy breathing.