United States

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has clinched a deal to buy Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co for $5 billion ending a century of family ownership. The companies said Wednesday that they signed a definitive agreement after the deal won sufficient support to pass from a deeply divided Bancroft family, which has controlled the storied newspaper publisher for generations, the Associated Press (AP...

Jane Cox MacElree, an influential member of the family that has controlled The Wall Street Journal for more than a century, forced back tears as she invoked the memory of a murdered Journal reporter. At a family gathering Monday, the 77-year-old Ms. MacElree cited Daniel Pearl's death at the hands of kidnappers in 2002 in voicing her opposition to a bid by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to buy Dow...

The hype about MySpace, YouTube, and Internet campaigning is turning out to be just that — hype. Social networking, blogs and political parties' websites are affecting voter opinion in the United States far less than the recent buzz would suggest. Few people use them for political information, and even fewer trust them. According to a recent Nucleus survey, traditional print media is far more...

Dieter von Holtzbrinck, an heir to a German publishing empire, resigned from Dow Jones & Co.’s board of directors to protest the board’s decision to endorse a $5 billion offer from News Corp. “Although I’m convinced that News Corp. offer is very generous in financial terms,” he wrote in a letter to directors Thursday, “I’m very worried that Dow Jones unique journalistic values will long-term...

On May 14, more than 100 reporters, editors and executives clustered in The Wall Street Journal’s main newsroom to mark the retirement of Peter R. Kann, the longtime leader of their corporate parent, Dow Jones & Company. Mr. Kann, in rolled-up shirtsleeves, was typically self-effacing about his own contributions to the company. But the celebration of the past was muted by worry about The Journal’s...

The 118-year-old Wall Street Journal newspaper is the big prize in Rupert Murdoch’s attempted acquisition of the Dow Jones group. The world’s most prestigious financial publication has 2.6m print and online subscribers and the second highest circulation of any newspaper in the US. The Journal is considered the newspaper of record for the business world. Founded in 1889 by Charles Dow, Edward Jones...

NEW YORK: Although Cincinnati Post staffers were expecting today's announcement that the paper would cease publication at the end of the year, several newsroom employees admitted the final blow is not easy to take. Members of the 52-person news staff said they were not surprised at the decision by E.W. Scripps Company to fold the paper when the joint operating agreement with Gannett Co. Inc...

NEW YORK: The St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press is seeking to cut some 30 positions in news, classified advertising, and production through a series of buyouts, the paper announced today. The offer comes just seven months after a previous buyout reduced staff by 29 employees, including 22 in the newsroom. In a statement released this afternoon, the paper revealed that it would seek 30 volunteers...

NEW YORK — A news site that has allowed its users to write and submit their own articles is shutting down, citing unspecified "business issues." Backfence Inc. had "hyperlocal" sites serving 13 communities in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago areas. Residents were allowed to write on any topic, including event announcements and neighborhood traffic congestion, without the meddling of...

A Chicago television reporter left her job after she was caught on video in a swimsuit at the home of a man whose wife disappeared two months ago — a story she was assigned to cover — raising ethical questions about her conduct. The video, posted on a rival station's Web site, shows veteran WMAQ-TV reporter Amy Jacobson wearing a halter bikini top and towel near the pool at Craig Stebic's suburban...