The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

Then, as serendipity often will, I was reading Dumbing Down : Culture, Politics and the Mass Media and Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought (St. Andrews Studies in Philosophy & Public Affairs) so I figured "what the heck..."

KMM provided some questions for its bloggers to answer. Here goes, from the perspective of the texts above and related readings.

The Bancroft family & critics had been worried about protecting the reputation of the WSJ-- will Murdoch's takeover negatively affect the Wall Street Journal's reputation and quality?

The term "negatively" needs to be defined. Reputation is perpetually at stake. Quality? The WSJ's format has changed several times over the past several years, each time the question of reputation and quality has come up. Readers will be ultimate decision makers, and today's Journal readers may not be tomorrow's Journal readers. The demographic has shifted (something The Journal itself has been aware of for a while) and The Journal is in that balancing act of deciding which market is more profitable (I know, The Journal having to decide which market is more profitable. The irony is wonderful, yes?). Murdoch can only help this process. His help has its own pricetag.

What does this say about the future of traditional newspapers? The future of online media?

Define "traditional". More and more newspapers are rebranding and reselling their content to regional weeklies in order to keep their circulation numbers up. Online media will suffer the same problems at some point. Therefore the big news is that things will change because they must. Nature doesn't allow for stagnation. Even "stangnant" pools are really breeding grounds for things that eventually must be dealt with.

In this age of online media, why would Murdoch want the Wall Street Journal?

Which presence is stronger, USA Today print edition or USAToday.com? Fox-TV or Fox.com? Groups thinking either/or are missing an important element in communications today, one that deals with cross channel marketing. What matters is how many times the consumer is touched by information in a given time period, not necessarily the way they are touched.

What plans might Murdoch have for the WSJ and Dow Jones?

Based on past methods, my guess would be he'll figure out who the market really is then put a bullseye on its back. At that point he'll be relentless about getting their attention where he wants it, on his properties.

Does this make financial sense for both Murdoch and the Bancroft family?

People playing in that league tend not to fail. The bar set by that same league has a self-interest in insuring that all who get past that bar don't fall out of it.