“You are in the field to defend the public interest, the financial truth for investors and the funds that should support the widow and the orphan,” said Clarence Barron, proprietor of The Wall Street Journal from 1902 until 1928. The founders of many media companies left trusts and special voting powers to protect such journalism, but with profits hurt by a shift to digital media, those structures are under siege.

Reuters, a financial information provider and the world’s largest news agency, has received an approach. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has bid for Dow Jones, owner of the Journal. Rebel investors, meanwhile, are demanding change at the New York Times Company.