"...and money is answer for all things": The News Corp.–Dow Jones Merger and the Separation of Editorial and Business Practices

Abstract

The recent merger of News Corp. and Dow Jones highlights the latest threat to the integrity of business news in the United States and beyond. We argue that this threat comes from the mingling of journalistic and commercially motivated speech, and especially, from the latter masquerading as the former. Using the “speech transparency theory” framework, we recommend separating institutionally or editorially commercial and journalistic speech to create a more transparent environment for the consumption of business news. We also propose harnessing online tools to enhance the transparency of business news for the reading/viewing public.