Sale of Dow Jones Finalized

Today, the sale of Dow Jones & Company to News Corp. was finalized.

Why the heck should college students care?

Let's set aside all discussion of post-college life and any vague hope you may have of getting a job in a good newsroom. There's plenty of other meat on this particular bone.

Right now, a lot of questions are being asked about whether newspapers can exist outside of media conglomerates. The party line claims that this is not an issue for college newspapers, but there are a few papers that have been bought up.

Student papers are extra tasty for media conglomerates:

1. There's a guaranteed audience, with a very specific demographic. It's very easy to sell advertising for such a specific market.
2. There's a cheap staff that won't need relocating, training, raises, etc. They're even excited about the opportunity. And after graduation, they can be funneled into other media properties for relatively low costs.
3. It looks good that a media conglomerate has an interest in up-and-coming journalists.

It can be a beneficial arrangement for newspapers too -- independent college papers spend a lot of time worrying about money and newspapers supported by colleges or universities have an inherent bias issue.

P.S. The Wall Street Journal has also been a bastion of good journalism in the past -- will Rupert Murdoch keep up the high standards? Today, journalists aspire to the WSJ's standards. Will they still be setting benchmarks for the rest of us? Or will they fall in line with Murdoch's conservative slant?