Sorry, Terry

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is apparently about to acquire Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, one of the great newspapers whether you agree with the political stance of its editorial page or not. (You can guess where I stand on that.) I note that the news reportage is superb and often (ahem) surprisingly liberal in its slant.

Murdoch's influence and effects on newspapers he has purchased previously is well documented. We can expect major changes, and not for the better, at the WSJ.

It's funny - some politicians and economists like to claim that deregulation is good for competition. In some areas they're right - note the plethora of phone services that have become available since the breakup of the Bell monopoly. But in media, deregulation has meant the concentration of newspapers and radio stations in the hands of fewer and fewer owners, resulting in less competition and far less diversity of format and opinion in those media. I say, go back to regulations that forbid individuals or corporations to own so many outlets in so many markets. That system was better for democracy and competition.