The Power and the Money: Inside the Wall Street Journal - Hardcover

Dealy, Francis X., Jr.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1559721189 ISBN 13: 9781559721189

Publisher: Birch Lane Pr, 1993

Synopsis

The inside story of the decline of the Wall Street Journal chronicles the internal power struggles and ineptitude that threaten to bring the newspaper down. By the author of Win at Any Cost: The Sellout of College Athletics. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

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Reviews

Despite some uneven analysis, awkward writing and the tendency to re-create conversations from decades past, this investigation raises serious questions about the recent history and current operations of one of America's most respected newspapers. Dealy ( Win at Any Cost: The Sellout of College Athletes ) sketches the Wall Street Journal 's history and growth from publisher Clarence Barron during the decade 1910-1920; to president Barney Kilgore who transformed the Journal from a financial to a general newspaper in the '40s; and on to publisher Warren Phillips who, Dealy argues convincingly, was responsible for a combination of bad business decisions and increased politicization in the '70s and '80s. He also skewers the paper for missing the savings and loan scandal; for devoting two-thirds of its editorial page one day in 1992 to an excerpt from a book by the page's editor; and for allowing Karen Elliott House, now a vice-president at the paper's parent, Dow Jones, and wife of company head Peter Kann, to write sympathetic articles about South Korea and especially Gen. Roh Tae-Woo who later helped the couple adopt a child. Dealy's conclusion, however, that the Journal "needs to be transformed" to survive is sketchily argued. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A gossipy, albeit unsparing, critique of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, from an erstwhile insider. Dealy (Win at Any Cost, 1990) first reviews the company's founding in the late 19th century and its rise to global prominence after WW II. Along the way, he pays graceful tribute to Clarence Barron, Barney Kilgore, and others whose vision and daring made the Journal an influential source of financial intelligence and an outspoken advocate of free enterprise. Getting down to business, the author (who once worked for Dow Jones) casts a cold eye on the increasingly serious problems faced by the parent organization and its flagship publication. He does so with evident relish, plus a sharp eye for dirty linen and in-house politics--recounting, for instance, how Journal competitors beat it to the punch on such major stories as the S&L scandal and Michael Milken's junk-bond follies. Covered as well are the unavailing, often disastrous, efforts of Dow Jones to diversify and to reduce its dependence on a single national newspaper whose advertising revenues, circulation, and profits have been slipping. In forthright fashion that would do credit to a Journal leader, Dealy blames the company's woes on the caretaker mentality and bad judgment of Warren Phillips (its recently retired CEO) and his successor, Peter Kann--a Pulitzer-winner who's yet to prove himself a capable executive. Also targeted for censure is Kann's wife, Karen Elliott House, a Dow Jones VP who's not loath to throw her weight around. Whether Dow Jones is on a down slope as steep as that coursed by, say, IBM remains an open question. But at the very least, Dealy's bare-knuckle audit (which should set media circles abuzz) suggests that the situation bears watching. (Sixteen pages of photos--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Birch Lane Pr
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1559721189
• ISBN 13: 9781559721189
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 374