I find it fascinating there is not more hue and cry over this NYT report that senior WSJ editors knew about the proposed Murdoch bid in advance and chose not to cover the story. Here is the nut of it:
It was one of the biggest business news events of the year, the kind that The Journal would typically pursue aggressively. But Paul E. Steiger, the paper’s top editor who knew of Mr. Murdoch’s offer, decided not to publish any news of it, according to people inside of Dow Jones who were briefed on the situation.
As a result, The Journal was beaten on its own story when the bid was first reported last Tuesday on the financial news channel CNBC; The Journal posted its version soon after. That day, Dow Jones’s stock rose to $58.47, a gain of more than 50 percent.
Wow.Talk about conflict or potential conflict of interest.