Company News: Reporters protest Murdoch bid for Dow Jones

Unionized Wall Street Journal reporters didn’t show up for work Thursday morning to protest Rupert Murdoch’s bid for the Journal’s parent company, as well as Dow Jones & Co.’s proposals for a new labor contract.

The half-day walkout, which lasted until 2 p.m. ET, had very high participation by members of the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, which represents all Journal reporters around the country, according to E.S. Browning, a stock market reporter who heads the union’s bargaining committee.

Union president Steve Yount said the employees were concerned both about the pending $5 billion offer from Murdoch’s media conglomerate News Corp. as well as the latest contract proposals from Dow Jones, which include higher health care premiums.

The union and a former board member at Dow Jones say the Journal’s independence and quality would suffer under Murdoch’s ownership, something Murdoch denies.

“A Santa Clara County judge dismissed the remaining charges against three defendants in the Hewlett-Packard Co. boardroom spying case Thursday, calling their conduct a “betrayal of trust and honor” that nonetheless did not rise to the level of criminal activity.

Superior Court Judge Ray E. Cunningham followed through on a deal reached in March to drop reduced fraud charges if the defendants — former HP ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker and private investigators Ronald DeLia and Matthew DePante — each completed 96 hours of community service.

“Blockbuster Inc. plans to close 282 stores in the U.S. this year to improve operating margins and expand domestic share, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday.

Blockbuster’s effort to accelerate closures of underperforming and marginal U.S. stores comes as the company is spending heavily to beef up its online-rental business to compete with rival online DVD rental service Netflix Inc.

“Traffic is just not what it used to be when Blockbuster was the big rooster in the hen house,” said Andy Cross, senior analyst with The Motley Fool.

The company is aggressively seeking a new approach after years of ignoring Netflix, Cross said.

Netflix Inc. has 6.8 million subscribers who pay $4.99 to $47.99 per month to rent DVDs that they select online and are delivered through the mail.