Rupert Murdoch saw Reuters as a rival to the WSJ

Ken Auletta, in his Annals of Communications column in the 11 April issue, pictured, said that in March 2009 Robert Thomson, managing editor of the Journal and editor-in-chief of the Dow Jones New Wires, sent a letter to the staff that was dubbed the “Knackery Memo”.

“Thomson understood that he was competing not just against newspapers such as the Times but against electronic services including the A.P., Reuters, and Bloomberg. He wrote that the old system of trying to quickly disseminate Journal news to Dow Jones wires – a reform labelled ‘the Speedy’ – wasn’t working.

“A headstart of a few seconds is priceless for a commodities trader or a bond dealer…” Auletta quoted from Thomson’s memo. “Henceforth all Journal reporters will be judged, in significant part, by whether they break news for the Newswires. With these objectives in mind, we are sending Speedy to the knackery and saddling up a successor.”

Members of the newsroom looked up the meaning of “knackery”, said Auletta, and found “any premises where livestock are slaughtered when they are worn out and useless. Reporters moaned that they were being asked to become wire-service reporters. Investigative reporting, which takes time and had not been a priority at Murdoch’s newspapers, was headed to the knackery. They thought that Thomson was dismissive of the Journal and its gloried past.”

Many of the Journal’s most talented reporters and editors left for the Times, CNBC, Fortune, The Economist, or Bloomberg, Auletta wrote. “According to internal documents, Bloomberg has hired a hundred and six journalists from Dow Jones since Murdoch’s bid became public. Matthew Winkler, a former Journal reporter who left in 1990 to establish Bloomberg News, where he is editor-in-chief, says, “The Journal I came from, which focussed on in-depth reporting, is no more.” ■