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FROM THE FRONTLINES :: STEVE COHN
Historical Analysis on Murdoch (min + min's b2b exclusive)
 Historical Analysis (min + min's b2b exclusive) In the late 70s, Murdoch bought The Village Voice, New York magazine, and The New York Post in separate deals. These three purchases can be seen as a case study of how Murdoch operates. What happened when Murdoch bought The Village Voice? "Nothing, as far as I can remember," says Steve Cohn, editor-in-chief of min and expert on all things media history. "The Voice didn't become a right-wing-ban-marijuana-on-the-streets magazine--The Voice stayed The Voice. Because it was profitable." The same thing happened with the magazine that takes the city as its namesake. "New York magazine stayed New York magazine," says Cohn. But the story at The Post is, famously, different. "The New York Post did not stay the same, because it was not successful. It was a left-wing paper under the Schiff family. The matriarch that ran the paper was very old by the late 70s, and it wasn't run very well. It was a very pro-New Deal, pro-Democratic Party. It was very weak. The Times, on the other hand, was strong, and had the same editorial position; and The Daily News was the newspaper for blue collar New York. What Murdoch did was add sex with Page Six [the highly popular gossip column], and turned it right-wing to counter The Times. It was more than to just showcase his political views," says Cohn. When Murdoch was forced to sell The New York Post in 1988 when he bought Fox (due to media ownership regulations), the paper started to fail again. "The only good thing David Dinkins did as mayor was to urge Murdoch to buy The Post back and then got Congress to give him an exemption to do it," says Cohn. If you read Ken Auletta's profile on Murdoch for the July 2 issue of The New Yorker, you probably think that he's trying to take over the world. Not so with New York and The Village Voice. But, The WSJ is a much higher stakes game. In the opinion of Cohn, the number one minsider, Murdoch will only seek to make The WSJ stronger in whatever way he can. There's even been talk of taking The WSJ editorial page a little bit to the left. A student of Murdoch's history wouldn't be surprised: whatever it takes. More Steve Cohn
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