Among the top 25 U.S. newspapers, only News Corp's The Wall Street Journal scored a rise in total paid circulation, of 0.6 percent to 2.08 million.Of the major papers with a truly national reach, the WSJ is the only one with a more-or-less conservative editorial policy. Similarly, the mostly conservative Fox News Network, also owned by Murdoch's News Corp., keeps beating liberal MSNBC and CNN in the ratings.
Politically the country is very nearly divided in half. By owning the only media outlets in both print and cable news that are somewhat conservative, Murdoch is a near monopoly news provider for U.S. conservatives. Meanwhile, the networks, PBS, NPR, and most of the big newspapers split the liberal half.
From a business perspective, who is dumb and who is smart?
