Left Flank

I just don't understand leftists in America!

Not only has Rupert Murdoch relieved the party of disaster of the Wall Street Journal, but he's tied a noose around his own neck. I'm despondent over the destruction of a worthy interlocutor, a national daily and one of three standard-bearers of the American brand of journalism, but I'm hopeful another publication will rise from ashes somewhere. If not from Wall Street, then perhaps from the leftie blogosphere? Could the red half of the 'Sphere do better on the Journal's former turf? Put up, or shut up, Huffington Post! You won, you incredible jackasses!

Again, two (or more) ideological sides are good; one know-it-all tyrant, bad!

Rupert Murdoch's pilfering of the Wall Street Journal is also another opportunity to sink the Australian mogul. Acquiring the Journal is like running the Statue of Liberty: the Australian has earned himself a long period of scrutiny and never-ending criticism from all ends of the ideological spectrum. And, if highbrow interest is not enough, how about dealing with the philistines who just like the drivel and soap operas? Who wouldn't bet against a successful run? But, has any courageous soul started to fit Murdoch's coffin? What treasure was so cowardly relinquished?

The sight of left-wing activists rallying to defend the Journal is amusing. But Mr Murdoch has also received criticism from an unfamiliar quarter: his fellow conservatives. Conservatives have long celebrated Mr Murdoch as a kindred spirit and business buccaneer. But some of them worry that his acquisition of the Journal's op-ed pages?the Bible of American conservatism?will give him too much power over the movement.

Paleocons and populists dislike his enthusiasm for immigration. Neocons dislike his penchant for doing business with China. Social conservatives disapprove of his tabloid smut. They all worry about his weakness for pragmatism. The Washington Times ran an op-ed piece lambasting him for holding a fund-raising breakfast for Hillary Clinton, ?the scariest spectral [sic] of conservative nightmares?.

The reason for all this fuss lies in the nature of the two beasts involved?the Journal and the mogul. The Journal is as good as it gets in terms of high-quality journalism. It is also one of only three national newspapers. Mr Murdoch is a tabloid king who has a reputation for taking everything he buys downmarket. The Journal is the gold standard of business reporting. Mr Murdoch is one of the biggest beasts in the business jungle, constantly on the prowl for synergies and acquisitions. Isn't there a problem in one of the players owning the scorecard that everybody uses? The Journal is not really one newspaper but two?a newspaper and a highly opinionated conservative magazine. Hitherto it has succeeded in drawing a line between them. Will Mr Murdoch resist allowing his own conservative opinions to blur that line?

For many, Mr Murdoch is a threat to the whole American journalistic tradition. Jim Ottaway, a former vice-president of Dow Jones, argues that there is a sharp difference between the Anglo-Australian model of media ownership and the American one. Anglo-Australian bosses are in the habit of expressing their various biases through their newspapers and TV channels. The American journalistic tradition depends on a ?strict separation between political opinions expressed vigorously on editorial pages and news reported with as much factual objectivity as possible.? Mr Murdoch is a barbarian at the gates indeed.

How much truth is there in all this? The best American newspapers are certainly superior to their Anglo-Australian counterparts in terms of depth and seriousness. But this may have more to do with the size and structure of the market and the American penchant for professionalism than with ownership. If Mr Murdoch degrades the Journal, he will be destroying the very thing for which he is paying such a premium?the paper's reputation.

I think The Economist's sad hope that Murdoch will go lightly on the Journal to salvage its marquee value for his empire is foolish. I want Murdoch to make a hash of running the Journal, send the industry into a coronary, and deliver an opening for the blogosphere, through which it can do better.

But, fine, Huff, keep attacking with the personal assaults, trying to coddle the Journal's desiccating corpse like the economic idiots you are!