The other Les speaks

By SDH Dow Jones's new low key CEO Les Hinton, has been relatively silent since moving into Richard Zanino's old office. But with the dust starting to settle, the media industry's other Les speaks about, the effort to make Dow Jones and News Corp one big happy family under one big roof and why it was crazy of them to have spun the idea about taking down the paid wall at The Wall Street Journal's website WSJ.com. "The initial thought was if we were not having a pay barrier, we could grow very quickly and get the resulting advertising. That frankly was probably a little bit simplistic because ... it has over a million subscribers. Without going into detail, we get tens of millions in revenue from it." Hinton signals WSJ-News Corp tie-up [Media Guardian]

The Murdochization of Dow Jones: Rupert Murdoch does the expected, say hello to the other Les

If the Bancrofts were to swing by the offices of their once beloved company, Dow Jones, in about a month or so, they probably wouldn’t know the people who are now running the show there. Final papers haven't been signed yet and already Rupert Murdoch, the man who wined and dined the Bancrofts into selling him their company, is already putting his stamp all over it. As expected, Dow Jones CEO Richard Zaninno is gone, in what seems to be a rush out the door, and a new CEO has been named. Based on earlier published reports all bets were on former Times of London editor Robert Thomson taking the helm, putting the legendary company back in the leading hands of a journalist. But Rupert and company pulled a sneaky one and installed yet another Murdochian (someone loyal to the Murdoch’s) out of his hat in naming Les Hinton CEO of Dow Jones. In naming Hinton CEO, Thomson was also named Publisher of the Wall Street Journal, signaling Rupert's desire to keep a tight grip on things at the company. But what will happen when both Hinton and Thomson move into their new rolls and start calling the shots? OK so that was such a cliche question that we all know the answer to. Word is there are more departures expected from the company as Murdoch moves to fill the executive offices with hand picked individuals from across News Corp. Will the Wall Street Journal's newsroom be made over as well with faces familiar to both Hinton and Thomson? This is only the beginning and we can't wait to see how it all plays out. Oh yeah, and that promise Rupert made in writing to not snoop around editorial, did they think he wouldn't find a way around that? With Rupert’s plans to take down the paid wall of the Wall Street Journal’s website, Hinton and Thomson have one of their first challenges in keeping the site revenue driven. On another not, why do we get the impression that News Corp's so called number two Peter Chernin was kept out of this deal? Just asking. -SDH Les Hinton to take reins as Dow Jones CEO [Fortune]