To protect the paper’s editorial independence
Dean Starkman, Columbia Journalism Review, 24 April 2008
So much for the editorial side agreement that was supposed to protect The Wall Street Journal’s editorial independence from News Corp. meddling.
And so much for the five luminaries who make up the committee designed to enforce the agreement.
The rapid ejection of Marcus Brauchli as managing editor of the world’s leading financial publication—like a dead dugong blown from a didgeridoo—reveals the value of that particular bureaucracy.
Five Mr. Bill dolls molded with facial expressions of concern and dismay would have done as well. Oooh nooo! There goes Marcus. Oooh!