On The Media Horizon: "We Invest, You Decide"

Predictably, some critics have decried the current efforts by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to buy the Dow Jones company, which publishes The Wall Street Journal. But let's imagine the dynamics that might come into view if Murdoch gains control of that newspaper.

Like viewers of his Fox News Channel, readers of The Wall Street Journal under Murdoch could look forward to jaw-dropping claims along the lines of "We invest, you decide."

The Wall Street Journal would need to make some changes in order to be in sync with Murdoch-brand journalism. The Journal's recent design make-over could provide a tidy framework for spreading the content of the editorial page to the rest of the newsprint pages.

But executives at News Corp. would swiftly face a dilemma. Investors and money managers — prime demographic targets of The Wall Street Journal — are apt to be intolerant of news reporting that's unduly screened through an ideological mesh.

Slanted journalism may not be a big problem for commercial media enterprises when news consumers merely base their votes on outlooks largely shaped by news media. But investors and others who move large amounts of money are apt to be less forgiving when political agendas have trumped accuracy in journalism.

Many times each day, investors seek very accurate news as the basis for money-related decisions. On Wall Street, they can recognize when an editorial page is spinning and grinding ideological axes. But investors will quickly stop relying on news pages — providing information that figures into countless investment decisions and other business choices — if those pages are more dedicated to a political agenda than a well-founded portrayal of reality.

In other words, if a newspaper is just distorting reality to the detriment of voter understanding and democratic discourse, the most powerful corporations may not mind at all. In fact, corporate elites are likely to appreciate any storyline that helps them to consolidate power over the nation's political system.

But if a business-oriented newspaper claims to be reporting the news and keeps skewing the news, many investors and business leaders are likely to turn away in disgust.

It's one thing to bamboozle the general public — but quite another to undermine financial movers and shakers of our nation.

Right now, the editorials of The Wall Street Journal are the rough equivalent of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh (with an occasional dose of Ann Coulter thrown in). The grasp of right-wing ideology is notable, but the grip on reality is problematic.

At times, we all find ourselves wishing that the world were different than it is. But on the job, at least in theory, reporters can't allow themselves the luxury of turning wishful daydreams into straight-faced news accounts.

However, like those who call the shots at Fox News Channel, the Dow Jones employees in charge of the editorial page at the Journal are unstinting in their fantasies: The Iraq war remains a noble enterprise. Global warming is a liberal fraud. There is no widening gap between the rich and poor in America. And so on, and so on, and scooby-dooby-doo.

It's all well and good to mislead voters and cover up for an administration in Washington that often seems more like a massive criminal enterprise than a legitimate executive branch. But if press ideologues serving as apologists for the Bush presidency try to blend their contempt for reality-based views with purported financial news, the media result could prove less than satisfactory for the nation's upper-crust money movers.

If his current media properties are any indication, Rupert Murdoch would turn The Wall Street Journal into a news operation engaged in a dizzying routine of spin and distortion. For several decades, he has enjoyed notable success in marketing right-wing political fantasias to the general public. Whether the nation's financial elites would be such easy marks is another matter.

Norman Solomon's latest book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death," is now available in paperback. To find out more about Norman Solomon and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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