The New York Times is an Imperfect Model for the Murdochs
The Financial Times’ Lex column gets into the nitty gritty of the business side of News Corp and the New York Times with a piece on the hedge fund Starboard Value’s urging
the company to do away with its dual-class voting structure, which is also in place at the Times. That setup allows the Murdoch family to control 41% of the vote with only 14% of the economics.
Starboard argues that a change would boost Dow Jones’ valuation multiple, perhaps to rival that of the Times. That’s due to News Corp’s “grab bag” of holdings, from Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones to book publishing and Australian real estate holdings making the setup unfeasible. Lex speculates that the Murdochs may have a strong attachment to some of those business, or “simply like being in control for perpetuity.”
One interesting wrinkle is that the Times maintains its dual-class structure specifically to maintain editorial integrity. What would a change auger for that integrity at the Journal and other publications? The recommendation also comes at a moment of intense strife in the House of Murdoch over the post-Rupert future of the conglomerate.
They’re Eating the Dogs!
Donald Trump’s accusation, broadcast to 71 million US viewers, that Haitian migrants are eating the cats and dogs of Springfield, Ohio residents is the moment people will remember of the (barring extraordinary circumstances) sole 2024 presidential. It sent meme creators into overdrive and was rightly, quickly dismissed as a “disgusting,” racist lie, writes Andrew Sullivan on Substack.
“But the way in which the troubles of Springfield, Ohio have been discussed this past week is a near perfect example of our political dysfunction,” he continues.
Sullivan argues that the arrival of 20,000 “cultural aliens” to a town of 58,000 people over the past few years was bound to cause problems, and criticizes those on the left who chalk up any opposition to unfettered immigration as racism.
“The problem is not migrant crime, as Trump despicably claims,” he writes. “The problem is the scale and the pace of the mass migration that Harris and Biden allowed…But the Democrats have thinly veiled contempt for the [working class Springfield] natives, and Trump demonizes the migrants. That’s where we are in this debate. We have to do better.”
New York Times Tech Workers Strike
The 622-person NYT Tech Guild voted to authorize a strike last week, and Axios breaks down how that could pose a big problem for the Paper or Record with the election right around the corner. The guild was formed in 2022 and has been fighting for a contract covering wages and workplace policies, including remote work rights, ever since.
Guild leaders called out Times management for an unacceptable amount of feet-dragging over the course of negotiations. Most members agreed, with 89% participating in the strike authorization. That management is “rattled,” writes Max Tani in Semafor, as an early November walkout of software engineers and other members of the country’s biggest tech union, at its preeminent newspaper, could imperil coverage, including the popular election needle, of an event that always brings a huge, critical surge in web traffic.
