Americas

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 resumption of broadcasting by Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) on cable and satellite on 16 July 2007 has been followed by an announcement by information and communication minister William Lara that the law will amended to oblige pay-TV cable and satellite broadcasters to carry the same occasional government programming that terrestrial broadcasters are already obliged to transmit. The system...

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...

Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its call for Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) to be allowed to resume free terrestrial broadcasting after learning that the privately-owned broadcaster will resume transmission by cable and satellite to paying subscribers on 16 July. The government refused to renew RCTV’s terrestrial broadcast licence a month and a half ago. “Since losing its terrestrial...

SALEM, Ore. — The nation’s first law to help protect Oregon high school and college journalists from censorship by school administrations will be signed Friday by Gov. Ted Kulongoski The Oregon law makes student journalists responsible for determining the content of school-sponsored media, and gives them the right to sue schools if they feel free-press rights have been violated. It is the country...

Senior executives at the Wall Street Journal have given cautious backing to a deal between parent company Dow Jones and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation over preserving editorial independence, according to reports. But in a statement that paves the way for a potential $5bn (£2.5bn) takeover of Dow Jones by News Corp, the executives issued a veiled warning to Mr Murdoch not to meddle with the...

If Rupert Murdoch succeeds in buying Dow Jones & Co., he would be able to hire and fire top editors of The Wall Street Journal under the editorial independence agreement reached with the company, The New York Times reported Thursday. “That is a far cry from the demands made by the Bancroft family, owners of a controlling interest in Dow Jones, and it remains to be seen how the Bancrofts — most of...