Mogul's Interest In Journal Is No Passing Fancy

Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones may have seemed to come out of nowhere, but the Australian media mogul has had his eye on the Wall Street Journal for years. In three decades in the States, Murdoch has made his mark in news, entertainment, and, of course, politics. The Times takes the measure of an impressive set of tentacles.

Perhaps the most pertinent situation in Murdoch's checkered history of media acquisition concerns the Times of London, which he bought in 1981. An agreement to keep him from influencing news coverage quickly fell by the wayside, thanks in no small part to a hiring policy encapsulated by a former editor: "He puts people in who will do his bidding." (More Rupert Murdoch stories.)