Above all, Murdoch is a businessman

JON FRIEDMAN'S MEDIA WEB
Above all, Murdoch is a businessman
Commentary: He's acquiring Web strength greater than that of rival CNBC
By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid={904608CD-B8D4-42AA-AE68-BF9688243E01}&siteid=nbc



NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- If you follow media news at all, by now you know by rote that journalists think News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, whose company agreed to buy Dow Jones & Co. for $5.6 billion last week, is a marauder, evil genius, meddler, peddler to lowbrows and in the most offensive management crime of all, an opportunist.
All of those things may be true. Now let's get serious: Before anything else, Murdoch sees himself as a businessman. Who says so? Dow Jones uote data
Chief Executive Rich Zannino does.

Zannino made that point one morning last week. Sporting a blue shirt but no necktie, he stood in the center of the ninth floor newsroom at Dow Jones headquarters and spent an hour answering employees' questions about the future of The Wall Street Journal.

I'll tell you where I've stood on this deal from day one: Murdoch is acquiring Dow Jones primarily as a way to provide respected content for his new cable-television venture, the Fox Business Network. If he has long harbored the desire to buy the Journal to inflict his personal and political views on unsuspecting readers, that would be a secondary goal (if at all).
At the Dow Jones meeting, nerves were running so high that I'm not sure staffers weighed Zannino's words at the moment. He sought to assure them that Murdoch's top priority had nothing to do with editing their copy or setting agendas for the news division.

At one point, Zannino said, neatly summarizing Murdoch's operating philosophy: "If it doesn't make business sense, it won't get done."

Unpopular
In the aftermath of the negotiations, it's unpopular to portray Murdoch as anything but a villain. Readers who love The Wall Street Journal and its vaunted pursuit of excellence are appalled that Murdoch will soon have an opportunity to put his stamp on their beloved paper.

It's easy to see why. The media suffocated us with endless anecdotes about Murdoch's meddling, his pursuit of profits over fair and balanced reporting, his reluctance to criticize his business allies and his eagerness to dumb down properties to make them more commercially appealing around the world.
I suspect that Murdoch will want to use the Journal as a missile to top the New York Times New York Times Company at home. I'd look for Murdoch to unleash a two-pronged attack on these fantastic brand names.

By aligning with himself with Dow Jones, Murdoch seems to be gaining instant credibility in the United States -- something that has escaped him during his stewardship of the New York Post and Fox News, his most prominent American assets.
In the emotional aftermath of the negotiations, it's unpopular to portray Rupert Murdoch as anything but a villain.
Some observers see the New York Times Co.'s International Herald Tribune as being vulnerable to a rival that can offer comparable content and deliver it in unique ways on the Internet. In the United States, readers cherish the Gray Lady's predictable style. But overseas, readers probably would welcome some pizzazz.

Privately, many Fox News executives make no secret of their contempt for CNBC, regarding it as everything from dull and Wall Street-centric to patronizing and out of touch with ordinary investors.

CNBC, for its part, is hoping to attract young viewers with Dylan Ratigan's "Fast Money MBA Challenge," which will air over four consecutive Wednesday nights in August. Jim Cramer's back-to-school tours also have generated enthusiasm.

Web
CNBC insiders fret that they are most vulnerable to News Corp.

on the Web.
You know what? They're right.
CNBC could afford to coast on the Web for a long time. It can't any longer; CNBC's Web operations look to be overmatched by Murdoch's assets.
News Corp. will soon have WSJ.com, which carries all of the Journal's content and has 983,000 paying subscribers. Dow Jones also owns MarketWatch (the publisher of this column), a free site that offers real-time news stories and commentaries, among other resources.

Skeptics keep on blathering speculation that Murdoch will do this and that with the Journal. Me? I'm interested in following the battle of News Corp. and CNBC on the Web.
That's going to be the battleground.