GOODY TWO SHOES: Bancrofts Want To Hold Murdoch To A Higher Editorial Standard Than Dow Jones Employees: Part II
Citing anonymous sources, The New York Times reports that Rupert Murdoch has tentatively agreed to the formation of "an independent committee [that] would have the power to approve or reject the hiring and firing of top editors" to be comprised of five members jointly chosen by News Corporation and Dow Jones & Company. Meant to safeguard The Wall Street Journal’s editorial independence, the committee would have the authority to block News Corporation’s personnel selections. Several members of the Bancroft family, which owns a controlling stake in Dow Jones’s voting stock, "sought stricter limitations on Mr. Murdoch’s ability to shape The Journal’s content."
Too bad this committee isn’t already in place – to vet The Wall Street Journal’s personnel choices. Dow Jones announced Friday that Los Angeles Times managing editor Douglas Frantz, 57, will become Middle East bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, and that he will be based in Istanbul, Turkey, where he had lived for several years before relocating to Los Angeles.
The Journal announcement left out several salient details about Frantz’s tumultuous professional history.
In its article about Frantz’s departure, the Los Angeles Times notes:
Frantz recently was embroiled in an emotionally charged personnel issue. A group of Armenian Americans called for Frantz's ouster after he blocked the publication of an article on the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century. Frantz said the story's author, Times reporter Mark Arax, who is of Armenian descent, could not be objective about the topic. Arax objected and resigned this month.
During the dust-up at the Los Angeles Times, Frantz and Arax traded charges and countercharges of conflict of interest. While Arax had never before been accused of bias – or had his work reviewed by his superiors after allegations of same - Frantz cannot claim a similarly unblemished reportorial record:
[T]here’s the matter of Frantz’s coverage of the Armenian genocide while [an Istanbul-based correspondent] at The New York Times. In January 2001 the paper ran a correction on Frantz's reporting, for downplaying the genocide. A month later, the Armenian National Committee of America put out an action alert again accusing Frantz of downplaying the genocide and casting it as merely an Armenian allegation.
Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Marcus Brauchli said Frantz was offered the job after top executives reviewed his handling of [Arax’s] Armenian story. Translation: He will fit in nicely in our stable of Turkish apologists and Armenian Genocide deniers (third item, The Daily Blade).
The Stiletto thinks the Bancrofts doth protest too much about The Wall Street Journal’s editorial purity. Until the deal is consummated, Murdoch should insist on a personnel freeze – retroactive to the day before Franz was hired. Once this independent committee is constituted, its first order of business should be to determine whether Frantz has any biases or conflicts of interest that interfere with his ability to assume the responsibilities of Middle East bureau chief – and to rescind the offer of the position if there is any question regarding his objectivity.
Additionally, before the deal goes through, Journal deputy managing editor Alix Freedman (who is supposed to be keeping a watchful eye on quality and ethics standards) should take a closer look at staffers who may have conflicts of interest or hidden agendas that violate the Dow Jones Code of Conduct, so as to be able to give assurances to Murdoch that corrective action is being taken on breaches of the Code that have been tolerated under the Bancrofts’ stewardship of the Company.
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