Pressure of Truth
The news, with the spin made visible.
Outlet profile

The Wall Street Journal (editorial board)

U.S. right (traditionally conservative, free-market)

Owned byDow Jones & Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp, controlled by the Murdoch family; Lachlan Murdoch serves as chair of News Corp after a 2025 family trust settlement cemented his control of the empire
FundingPrimarily reader subscriptions (over 4.6 million total, roughly 4.2 million digital-only, as of early 2025) and advertising revenue; Dow Jones properties — which include the WSJ, Barron's, and MarketWatch — generated approximately $2.1 billion in revenue for fiscal 2025
On the administrationmixed

Background

The Wall Street Journal was founded on July 8, 1889, by Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser in New York City, originally to deliver stock and bond market news to Wall Street investors. Over the 20th century it grew into one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the United States. Its editorial page built a distinctly conservative, free-market identity — especially under longtime editorial page editor Robert Bartley (1972–2002), who championed supply-side economics and became closely associated with Reagan-era tax-cut ideology. In 2007, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp acquired parent company Dow Jones & Company for roughly $5 billion, over objections from some staff who feared editorial interference. When News Corp split in 2013 into a publishing arm (News Corp) and an entertainment arm (21st Century Fox), the WSJ stayed under News Corp. Rupert Murdoch stepped back as chairman in 2023, and a 2025 family trust settlement gave son Lachlan Murdoch controlling authority over the media empire. The editorial board has maintained a classically conservative stance — supportive of free trade, deregulation, and fiscal restraint — that has put it in repeated public conflict with Trump's second-term tariff agenda, which the board called 'self-defeating,' and with the Trump family's financial dealings, which it described as 'cashing in on the presidency in big and sketchy ways.' The WSJ news division is generally regarded as more centrist than its editorial pages and has earned numerous Pulitzer Prizes; the detention of reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia in 2023 and his eventual release in 2024 drew wide attention to the outlet.

Sources

  1. Lachlan Murdoch cements control of Fox and WSJ media empire in new family deal — NBC News
  2. WSJ Editorial Board Slams Trump Family Financial Dealings — America News Nation
  3. WSJ Editorial Board Accuses Trump Family of 'Cashing In on the Presidency' — Mediaite
  4. Wall Street Journal editorial board denounces Donald Trump's tariff 'plunge' — The Hill
  5. Wall Street Journal Goes Scorched Earth on Trump for 'Destroying' Jobs — The Daily Beast
  6. The Wall Street Journal — Wikipedia
  7. Wall Street Journal — Bias and Credibility — Media Bias/Fact Check
  8. WSJ Subs Rise as Pricing Under Review — A Media Operator
  9. The Wall Street Journal — Britannica
  10. Breaking Right — Columbia Journalism Review

Profile compiled 2026-07-20; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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