Fortune Magazine Spotlights Murdoch's Move into Financial News

By Jennifer Hopfinger
October 29, 2007 07:35 PM

In his quest for domination of world media, Rupert Murdoch is now looking to conquer financial journalism. On the heels of buying The Wall Street Journal, Murdoch launched Fox Business Network in October, and Fortune Magazine cover story, “Rupert’s bigtime TV gamble,” looks at how the new network is planning to challenge CNBC by bringing “Wall Street to Main Street.”

Murdoch’s News Corp. announced the purchase of The Wall Street Journal for $5 billion in August -- a deal which is expected to be completed before the end of the year. In the interim, he launched Fox Business Network, a “red-state alternative to CNBC,” according to Fortune writer Tim Arango. Murdoch plans to spend $300 million on the network over the next three years.

According to the article, Murdoch believes the time is ripe for a business channel with programming geared toward small business owners, entrepreneurs, small-time investors and average folks with average financial concerns. But a CNBC executive is quoted in the article as saying he doesn’t believe Fox’s populist personal finance coverage will fly and that market-focused programming for a wealthy audience is the way to go. That educated, affluent viewership is gold for CNBC, which earns $250 million a year in advertising revenue. Ratings at CNBC aren’t what they once were during the dot-com days, but they’re still strong, making the channel a formidable competitor for Fox’s network, which is launching in only about a third of the number of homes CNBC reaches.

Whether there’s an audience for Fox Business News remains to be seen, but what the network aims to be is clear. The article quotes a top Fox exec: “We don’t feel guilty about getting rich or being capitalists. I think many people in journalism do -- or pretend they do. What I’ve learned about journalists is that they are all capitalists when they negotiate their own contracts and on payday. Other than that, they’re suspicious of corporations, profits, capitalism, and generally democracy.”

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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism