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(This article first appeared in the Guardian (UK) under the headline Rupert Murdoch's Black Sheep.)

When Rupert Murdoch crowned his media empire with his acquisition of the Wall Street Journal last December, he took little serious notice of one piece of dangerous editorial baggage he inherited, an explosive trunk that could undermine the NewsCorp brand. The trunk contains the Wall Street Journal's well-known position on global warming -- unrepentant denialism coupled with rabid free-market advocacy of business-as-usual. And in today's changed context, it's tantamount to an anti-business agenda.

While other champion denialists now voice their opinions much more carefully, the Journal's editorial page -- led by Paul Gigot -- remains vociferous and unrelenting.