By Kevin McCauley
The Wall Street Journal editorial oversight board says it "found nothing to even hint that the sort of misdeeds alleged in London have somehow crept into Dow Jones," according to its report published today in the newspaper.
The five-member board chaired by Tom Bray, former Detroit News editorial page director, was formed to oversee editorial integrity of Dow Jones & Co. after it was acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
The board admits that WSJ has "changed in focus, style and content since coming under News Corp ownership," but it believes there has been no "political, ideological or commercial pressure" applied by senior management on reporters and editors to influence their news judgment.
The committee faults the WSJ for being slow in pursuing the phone hacking scandal that led to the shutdown of News International’s News of the World earlier this month.
The Journal, however, "is doing much better now with aggressive coverage, fitting placement in the paper, and unflinching headlines."
The committee knocks a July 14 WSJ report of an interview of Murdoch by Bruce Orwall, in which the News Corp. chief claimed the crisis was being handled "extremely well in every way possible." Murdoch admitted to making just "minor mistakes," and said he was "getting annoyed with the coverage, but will get over it."
The committee feels that piece allowed Murdoch to "get his side of the story on the record without tougher questioning." It has discussed the story with involved editors.
As the scandal unfolded, the committee has had "candid, useful meetings" with editor-in-chief Robert Thomson and other senior editors. "We have found them open to suggestions about steps to be taken to make sure that no issue of journalistic integrity lurks hidden and that the standards of Dow Jones are reinforce."
The committee responded to a July 20 request from the Senate about whether it probed if now resigned Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton had any knowledge of the hacking situation.
The panel says that was beyond its mandate of assuring editorial integrity at the WSJ: "No journalist at Dow Jones has even whispered to us before or since Mr. Hinton’s resignation that he pressured him or her or condoned or promoted journalistic misconduct."
The committee promises to investigate even a suspicion of misconduct.
"We are not apologists for the owners, nor do we constitute a Committee Against Change. We are meant to be monitors of journalistic integrity on behalf of the staff and, importantly, on behalf of this newspaper’s readers," it said.
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