The Power and the Money: Inside the Wall Street Journal

Despite some uneven analysis, awkward writing and the tendency to re-create conversations from decades past, this investigation raises serious questions about the recent history and current operations of one of America's most respected newspapers. Dealy ( Win at Any Cost: The Sellout of College Athletes ) sketches the Wall Street Journal 's history and growth from publisher Clarence Barron during the decade 1910-1920; to president Barney Kilgore who transformed the Journal from a financial to a general newspaper in the '40s; and on to publisher Warren Phillips who, Dealy argues convincingly, was responsible for a combination of bad business decisions and increased politicization in the '70s and '80s. He also skewers the paper for missing the savings and loan scandal; for devoting two-thirds of its editorial page one day in 1992 to an excerpt from a book by the page's editor; and for allowing Karen Elliott House, now a vice-president at the paper's parent, Dow Jones, and wife of company head Peter Kann, to write sympathetic articles about South Korea and especially Gen. Roh Tae-Woo who later helped the couple adopt a child. Dealy's conclusion, however, that the Journal ``needs to be transformed'' to survive is sketchily argued. Photos not seen by PW. (July)