I can't remember whether I said this at the time of the articles here, or
not, but I'll risk saying it again.

The Wall Street Journal is a newspaper about business.   Their only interest,
and the only topic on which their readers would like, for their unusually
high subscription charges, to see articles, is, How are businesses doing?

There is never, ever going to be an article in this particular newspaper
about whether or not a particular business is good for the world.  Is it fair
to the shareholders, yes.  Is it persuasive in marketing itself as a good guy
to potential customers, yes.  Is it successful in cooperating with regulators
who control it, yes.   But morals?   It's not the department.

So although I am a big believer in letters to editors in other situations,
here I think that impassioned screeds from us, to the effect of "If you
really cared about African babies you wouldn't take the world of a greedy
corporation at face value," are a huge waste of our time and energy.    They
are unlikely to print them (unless you are mentioned in the article -- they
printed Carol Bellamy's letter for instance), and if they should somehow have
a slow letter day and put yours in , their readers are unlikely to absorb
your point *IN THAT FORUM.*

But those same readers go home and read the New York Times, or the Harvard
Health Letter, or Slate, or a zillion other sources of info, when their
attention is turned to matters other than business.   And in many, many, many
of those publications, articles are not only slanted differently but also our
letters can make a much more substantial impact.

So let's fight winnable battles, of which there are many, and not get our
blood pressure up because a business newspaper thinks that businesses are
more interesting than babies.   They are never going to be supportive of
boycotts, any more than they are going to be supportive of labor unions or
the IRS.    Business is their only interest.  That's just how it is -- sorry
but this is reality.

Elisheva Urbas
used to subscribe to the WSJ but now my husband reads it in the office and
just brings me home the really horrible bits

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