Sarah Ellison

Sarah Ellison worked as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal when it was bought out by Rupert Murdoch in 2007. I thought this book was a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the workings of the paper, the traditional values of the staff, and the effect that the infamous media mogul's acquisition had on the paper.

The first half of the book is devoted to the Bancroft family of Boston who had owned the paper as part of the Dow Jones company for 105 years. The intention of the elders of the family was to hold the paper perpetually and to stay resolutely out of editorial policy. That worked fairly well until the internet came along and created problems for print newspapers worldwide. The book allows us to watch the dynamics in the family as they grew up and apart. As happens often in extended families, the branches found themselves at odds with different ideas for the company. These schisms were exploited by investment bankers, CEOs and Rupert Murdoch resulting in the sale.

I found the second half of the book, after the sale, the most riveting. While the WSJ and Murdoch were both on the conservative side of the political spectrum, they differed greatly in their vision for the paper. The Journal was known for its in-depth analysis of news and events. Murdoch was primarily concerned with profits and circulation statistics. The two different goals had to clash. The struggle of the editors and reporters at the paper to hold on to the paper's traditional values against the pressure from Murdoch and his team made for riveting reading. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the news media and how we reached the point at which we find ourselves today.
… (meer)

Everything I always wanted to know about Rupert Murdoch's (News Corp.) purchase of Dow Jones & Co. and the Wall Street Journal. If you don't know all of the myriad characters, it's a bit difficult to keep track of the action because Ellison names dozens of people on every page. The basic story is the disgusting inability of the extended Bancroft family to actually exercise the prudent guardianship of the Journal which most of them claim to feel as a birthrate and sacred obligation. Instead, this pack of very wealthy and somewhat dissipated family heirs finally ended up just going for the gold (Rupert overpaid big time for the Journal). It's also fascinating and unavoidable to see the lethargy, ineptitude and arrogance of the pampered editorial staff of the Journal; they just didn't see The Fall coming and they were clueless about how to deal with the changing marketplace. Sic semper.… (meer)

You know a book is really good when... you are on an express subway train and you don't realize you've passed your stop until it pulls out of the station. And you don't even mind that it's going to take you an extra 40 minutes to get home, because that will give you more time to dig into the book...

That's the test that Sarah Ellison's gracefully-written and impeccably-researched chronicle of the battle for the control of and the soul of the Wall Street Journal passed with flying colors this past weekend. True, I had a vested interest in the subject, given that I spent the better part of 14 years toiling at the same newspaper (leaving 8 years ago) and knowing many of the characters involved. Ultimately, this book is a tribute to the "old" Wall Street Journal -- a detailed, careful saga that avoids getting bogged down in arcane details about family trusts and the newspaper's history and instead "shows" rather than "telling" the reader how a dysfunctional family, an ambitious media mogul and perhaps willfully blind newspaper editors collided, producing a dramatic change in the nature of a century-old American institution, The Wall Street Journal. Ellison presents everything from inside glimpses of the 'morning meeting' at the paper (complete with the posturing and game-playing of ambitious bureau chiefs and editors) to an inside glimpse of Rupert Murdoch's life, from slavish bellboys to the interior of his private plane. It's business journalism at its best; a worthy heir to books such as Barbarians at the Gate and Den of Thieves.

Ellison is a former Journal reporter who had longstanding relationships with many of the key players in the drama; she also got access to the Murdoch family and to Robert Thomson, Murdoch's new lieutenant at the helm of the Journal, as well as to key members of the Bancroft family. The result is a well-rounded narrative that doesn't skip over any twist or turn in the story of how the Wall Street Journal went from being a "public trust" in the hands of the Bancrofts to a feather in the cap of Rupert Murdoch, who had long coveted it. At its heart, the story is one of an impossible conundrum that now faces every newspaper in America: how to remain profitable in the Internet era. Under the Bancrofts, the Journal may have retained its cherished independence, but without the resources to undertake the projects that made it famous. Under Murdoch, the future remains murky; the resources are there, but is there a vision? One of the best features of this book is that Ellison lays out the evidence and allows readers to judge for themselves.

Even if you're not enamored of business books, this could be the one to change your mind. The portraits in words of the various players, from JP Morgan Chase dealmaker Jimmy Lee, with his slicked-backed hair and his suspenders, to the haggard-looking Marcus Brauchli, ousted WSJ managing editor, are impeccable.

Very highly recommended.

Full disclosure: Ellison was a colleague, although we never worked together. Neither she nor her publisher provided me with a copy of this book, nor did they solicit a review, positive or otherwise.… (meer)