Nonprofit Connection Causes Controversy in Dow Jones Buyout
August 3, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Plans to protect the journalistic integrity of Dow Jones & Company, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, as the News Corporation takes ownership, are coming under scrutiny because of an undisclosed charity connection, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The concern stems from the role of Nicholas Negroponte, founding chairman of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the leader of One Laptop Per Child, a charity that provides low-cost laptops to poor children. The nonprofit group has received at least $2-million from the News Corporation.
Mr. Negroponte was asked to serve on the committee that would uphold the journalistic independence of the Journal, but his nonprofit organization’s ties to the new owner raises questions about whether he could serve without bias.
A News Corporation spokesman said, “Dow Jones thinks [Mr. Negroponte] is independent, we think he is independent,” adding, “there is no objective standard of independence.”
Mr. Negroponte did not respond in the article to the allegations of bias.
