Now that Rupert Murdoch has apparently been successful in acquiring Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, travelers may well wonder if this will affect them — and if so, how?
That may seem like a strange question. After all, how could a newspaper acquisition influence an entire industry? But it really isn’t.
The Journal employs some of the best travel journalists in the world, and a new owner could change the way the industry is covered. And ultimately, that could affect the kind of news you read.
I’ll cite a recent example. Earlier this year, the Journal had the foresight to put a story about runway imprisonments on the front page (here’s a free copy of the article). It would have been easy to dismiss these passengers as complainers or to bury the news on an inside page.
The paper’s vision brought much-needed attention to a shameful airline practice and turned one of the stranding victims, Kate Hanni, into a celebrity.
There’s a long list of other stories that the Journal has written about first — and best. At the moment, I think the Journal is virtually unbeatable on business travel stories in general and airline stories in particular. (I think they’re still getting some competition in the leisure travel category, but that isn’t really its specialty.)
(Full disclosure: I used to work for Dow Jones. I spent two years at Dow Jones News Service, and regularly wrote for the Journal. But I’ve also been a regular contributor to two of its main competitors, so I’ve seen this story from both sides.)
As Murdoch moves in on Dow Jones, people must be wondering what happens when someone with a reputation for being right-leaning and pro-business takes over?
Will an airline or hotel company be more successful at influencing the way it is covered by the world’s most influential business daily? Will the Journal look the other way when a travel story threatens an important source of ad revenues?
If you’re talking about direct meddling with the news, I think that’s highly improbably. That’s just not the way it works.
It is far more likely that the star reporters who cover travel (no need to name them — they know who they are) will feel uncomfortable with today’s developments and take the next job offer that comes along.
If enough of the Journal’s travel reporters jump ship, that could leave a void that, in the short term at least, would affect how the travel industry is covered. And not just by the Journal, but by the entire press corps, which looks to the newspaper for leadership.
Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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