Devoted to the auto industry – builders to enthusiasts

So, Rupert Murdoch has purchased the Wall Street Journal.

I'm a 30-year veteran reporter who has worked for three daily newspapers. But I now write the auto review column, TheWeeklyDriver, the blog on AutoMill.com, and I report on sporting events, cycling to golf.

In motorcycling parlance, I'm a privateer. But Murdoch's multi-billion purchase seems directly relevant to me in two ways.

I'm no longer in the newsroom, but every time I cover a major sporting event, there are usually a few dozen reporters from various newspapers in the same room. They spent considerable time talking about their respective newspaper's new corporate owner. I've never heard one press room reporter say, "We've got a new owner and he's doing great things."

The same thing will happen at the WSJ. There will be changes and likely journalistic compromise as Murdoch's management trust takes over and looks for more ways to entice and keep advertisers.

That's the nature of newspapers these days. If a newspaper doesn't have a new owner — a corporate owner — it likely soon will. The family owned metro daily will soon be an irrevelant term. And as such, the importance and placement of articles will increasingly be further connected to the profit-making prospects of the story.

Newspapers are in such tumultuous times and staff travel budgets are so thin, I may get more work. But I also may not know who's paying me.

As one example, I contribute often to the Monterey County Herald. It's been bought and sold a few times in recent years. I remember covering a golf tournament (or maybe it was a bicycle race) several months ago and receiving a check in about a month from the McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. The Sacramento-based publisher bought the Herald in its monstrous newspaper purchase in 2006. By the time I received my check, McClatchy Newspapers had already sold the Herald to MediaNews Group, Inc.

McClatchy has not done well with its advertising goals since its large purchases and sell-offs, and the company's stock has fallen substantially.

Now it's Murdoch turn. And this is where the automotive industry and its relationship with newspapers applies.

Unlike most daily newspapers, the WSJ doesn't have a traditional classified want-ad section. One typical example is the automotive section of today's Sacramento Bee. It's called Wheels. The section is eight pages, 5 1/2 pages of which either classified or display ads.

Suffice is to say automotive sections are important to the business of newspapers. Of course, automotive online advertising, just like other advertising areas, has affected its print counterpart. Sites like Craigslist.com, for example, are increasingly popular.

But since Murdoch owns a wide-ranging share of print and broadcast media outlets, it will be interesting to see if and how he changes the WSJ advertising model, particularly, considering my field, automotive advertising. Maybe it means more people will read auto blogs.

At least they know going in, that a blog is an opinion.