News and corporate governance: What Dow Jones and Reuters teach us about stewardship
Authors: Nordberg, D.
Journal: Journalism
Volume: 8
Issue: 6
Pages: 718-735
eISSN: 1741-3001
ISSN: 1464-8849
DOI: 10.1177/1464884907008448
Abstract:The outcomes of near simultaneous bids for the news organizations Reuters Group plc and Dow Jones & Co. Inc. in 2007 hinged on mechanisms of corporate governance put in place at each company to protect the integrity and independence of the editorial operations. Neither company is a particularly good model of good governance, since the restrictions - super-voting shares at Dow Jones, veto-power by the trustees of the Founders Share Company at Reuters - almost completely rule out an open market for corporate control. This article looks at Reuters - and in even greater detail at Dow Jones, where the private actions of the board and shareholders came into rare public view. It suggests that stewardship theory plays a large role in protecting a perceived social value of the integrity of the news, figuring more heavily in crucial board decision-making than shareholder value. But the outcome of both cases means that the tension between the two is not easily resolved. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications.
Source: Scopus
News and Corporate Governance: What Dow Jones and Reuters Teach Us About Stewardship
Authors: Nordberg, D.
Journal: Journalism: theory, practice and criticism
Volume: 8
Issue: 6
Pages: 718-735
Publisher: Sage Publications
DOI: 10.1177/1464884907008448
Abstract:The outcomes of near simultaneous bids for the news organizations Reuters Group plc and Dow Jones & Co. Inc. in 2007 hinged on mechanisms of corporate governance put in place at each company to protect the integrity and independence of the editorial operations. Neither company is a particularly good model of good governance, since the restrictions — super-voting shares at Dow Jones, veto-power by the trustees of the Founders Share Company at Reuters — almost completely rule out an open market for corporate control. This article looks at Reuters — and in even greater detail at Dow Jones, where the private actions of the board and shareholders came into rare public view. It suggests that stewardship theory plays a large role in protecting a perceived social value of the integrity of the news, figuring more heavily in crucial board decision-making than shareholder value. But the outcome of both cases means that the tension between the two is not easily resolved.
Source: Manual