On a scale of 1 to 10, how scary is the idea of Rupert Murdoch owning Dow Jones?

[WilliamPitt]

Cut it looks like it's gonna happen.

News Corp. in tentative deal to buy Dow Jones
Approval needed on Murdoch's bid
By Globe Staff And Wire Reports | July 17, 2007

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has reportedly reached a tentative agreement to buy Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co.

The deal, reported by The Wall Street Journal on its website late last night, is for the original $5 billion price that Murdoch had offered. It will be put to the full Dow Jones board today for its approval, the Journal said, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.

The deal would still need approval from the Bancroft family, controlling shareholders of Dow Jones, who have been divided on a sale to News Corp. because of concerns over whether the Journal would maintain editorial independence.

Michael B. Elefante, the Bancroft family's lead trustee, has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to present the agreement to the family and is expected to give members several days to make a decision, the Journal said.

Representatives of Dow Jones and News Corp. did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.

More: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/07/17/news_corp_in_tentative_deal_to_buy_dow_jones/

...P.S., Murdoch already owns all this:

Television
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Television Stations
WNYW - New York City
WWOR - New York City
KTTV - Los Angeles
KCOP - Los Angeles
WFLD - Chicago
WPWR - Chicago
KMSP - Minneapolis
WFTC - Minneapolis
WTXF - Philadelphia
WFXT - Boston
WTTG - Washington D.C.
WDCA - Washington D.C.
KDFW - Dallas
KDFI - Dallas
WJBK - Detroit
KUTP - Phoenix
KSAZ - Phoenix
WUTB - Baltimore
WRBW - Orlando
WOFL - Orlando
WOGX - Ocala
WAGA - Atlanta
KRIV - Houston
KTXH - Houston
WJW - Cleveland
WTVT - Tampa
KDVR - Denver
KTVI - St. Louis
WITI - Milwaukee
WDAF - Kansas City
KSTU - Salt Lake City
WHBQ - Memphis
WGHP - Greensboro
WBRC - Birmingham
KTBC - Austin
DBS & Cable
FOXTEL
BSkyB
Star
DirecTV
Sky Italia
Fox News Channel
Fox Movie Channel
FX
FUEL
National Geographic Channel
SPEED Channel

Fox Sports Net
FSN New England (50%)
FSN Ohio
FSN Florida
National Advertising Partners
Fox College Sports
Fox Soccer Channel
Stats, Inc.

Film
20th Century Fox
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Television Studios
Blue Sky Studios

Newspapers
United States
New York Post
United Kingdom
News International
News of the World
The Sun
The Sunday Times
The Times
Australia
Daily Telegraph
Fiji Times
Gold Coast Bulletin
Herald Sun
Newsphotos
Newspix
Newstext
NT News
Post-Courier
Sunday Herald Sun
Sunday Mail
Sunday Tasmanian
Sunday Territorian
Sunday Times
The Advertiser
The Australian
The Courier-Mail
The Mercury
The Sunday Telegraph
Weekly Times
Magazines
InsideOut
donna hay
SmartSource
The Weekly Standard
TV Guide (partial)

Books
HarperMorrow Publishers
HarperMorrow
General Books Group
Access
Amistad
Caedmon
Avon
Ecco
Eos
Fourth Estate
HarperAudio
HarperBusiness
HarperCollins
Harper Design International
HarperEntertainment
HarperLargePrint
HarperResource
HarperSanFrancisco
HarperTorch
Perennial
PerfectBound
Quill
Rayo
ReganBooks
William Morrow
William Morrow Cookbooks
Children's Books Group
Avon
Greenwillow Books
Joanna Cotler Books
Eos
Laura Geringer Books
HarperAudio
HarperCollins Children's Books
HarperFestival
HarperTempest
Katherine Tegen Books
Trophy
Zondervan
HarperCollins UK
HarperCollins Canada
HarperCollins Australia

Other
Los Angeles Kings (NHL, 40% option)
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA, 9.8% option)
Staples Center (40% owned by Fox/Liberty)
News Interactive
Fox Sports Radio Network
Sky Radio Denmark
Sky Radio Germany
Broadsystem
Classic FM
Festival Records
Fox Interactive
IGN Entertainment
Mushroom Records
MySpace.com
National Rugby League
NDS
News Outdoor
Nursery World
Scout Media

(last updated 05/14/07)

http://www.cjr.org/resources/ <--- Columbia Journalism Review's breakdown of who owns what in mass media.

[bunkerbuster1]

1. Just damn.

While the WSJ's editorial page was basically Freepers on crack with a professional editor massaging the copy, the news stories were trustworthy.

I guess we can kiss another respectable journalistic resource goodbye.

[baldguy]

2. Why would a first-class corporate propagandist like Murdoch

want with a company that does nothing but publish financial data?

Because that financial data is first-class corporate propaganda.

[DFW]

3. On a scale from one to ten?

Eleven

[Karenina]

4. I'll see your 11 and up it to 12!

Bitte, Bancrofts!!! Verkaufen verboten!!!

[donheld]

5. I'll raise ya to 13

it's the most unluck thing that's happened in a long time

[librechik]

14. i know this is repetitive but I was truly thinking 14 before I read these posts

:freak:

[spanone]

6. LIfe will be just a bit more fair & balanced

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[w4rma]

7. I think his reputation will destroy the WSJ. (nt)

[WilliamPitt]

11. I'm more worried about the goddam Dow Jones.

I'm no stocks guy by any means, because I have no means, but I know a lot of friends with 401(k)'s and mutual funds, etc. that float on the whims of the market. I honestly don't know enough about the Dow to judge, but this just seems to be a bad idea on spec. I want monks running that kind of thing, virgins with memberships in Mensa, chess ascetics, Latin teachers, ANYONE BUT a guy whose mission in life for 20 years has been to take over the freakin' world, one channel at a time.

Yeesh. That board needs a talking-to.

[NewJeffCT]

8. As I've said on the WSJ before - once you get beyond their editorial page

it's actually a very good newspaper and does some very good news reporting - and not just on business news.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Agreed.

Maybe Rupert will just sit around swilling gin with the editorial board, reminiscing about the Arkansas Project and praising the producer who made Americans mistrust their government on the sneak (during the Clinton years, of course) via ten years of X-Files paranoia.

Remember militias, world government conspiracies, black helicopters, all that shit? Where did those people go? Was Clinton really that scary to them? Or did that X-Files producer just do his job really well? ;)

I can't fathom why the Michigan Militia and their ilk seem totally cool with this current Bush crew, despite wiretaps and warrantless searches and the bleeding of habeus rights and the huge growth of Federal powers across the board. Wasn't it the threat of stuff just like this that got them going on bunkers and arsenals to begin with? How is all this OK with them, but Family Leave Acts and a booming economy and Head Start and clear presidential diction managed to freak them into bombing buildings in Oklahoma?

Is it possible those militia gomers were paid to stir shit up? To wrongfoot Clinton and make people wonder what the hell was going on? Hm. I think I need coffee and a new subject to mull.

Anyway, yeah, the WSJ straight reporting is among the best to be found. I hope Rup sticks with the batshit-crazy editors and leaves the newsroom alone.

[NewJeffCT]

18. Interesting theory

Amazing that those militia types have been so silent these past several years. Maybe they've all signed up to work for Blackwater as mercenaries and are over in Iraq? :sarcasm:

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

9. I'm surprized he doesn't own ClearChannel!!

Looks like it was on the selling block May 19, 2007

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/05/19/lee_bain_team_will_buy_clear_channel/
SACRAMENTO -- Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s directors accepted a revised $19.5 billion buyout offer from two private equity firms after two big shareholders indicated support for the bid.














Time for a Media shake-up!!!!!!

[OzarkDem]

10. Living in a world of lies

Its difficult to imagine any area of public life any longer that hasn't been corrupted.

We can no longer trust any of our institutions to be honest.

[Evergreen Emerald]

15. that is exactly right...our fundamental systems of democracy

are corrupted to the core by the neo-cons. They are invading every aspect of our government and society. They have taken over the media, the judiciary, the executive branch, the federal attorneys. They had the legislature for a while, until we got wise, but they still have the voting machines.

This is an internal coup--and we are not fighting hard enough.

[AlCzervik]

13. 10 squared and i'm still holding on to the word "Tentative", the deal could still

not happen---please let it not happen.

[shadowknows69]

16. "Spinal Tap" Eleven n/t

[Ganja Ninja]

17. This could actually be a good thing.

Look at it this way. The stock markets aren't like the political arena. They are governed by laws and regulations. If/When Murdock misleads investors he can be charged with a crime and/or sued.

[WilliamPitt]

19. "They are governed by laws and regulations"

http://www.sec.gov/about/commissioner/pitt.htm

*sigh*

Such a tool, with such a great name.

:)

Fox, meet chicken coop.

Enron was regualted, too. So was Arthur Anderson.

[kiki]

20. You never know...

It's one thing for FOX to get its craven screech monkeys to lie to its audience of fear-driven, mouth-breathing simpletons. It may be quite another to sell that shit to the WSJ crowd, who actually need to pay some attention to that well-known bastion of liberalism known as "reality" in order to make their money. After all, regardless of Rover's demented bleatings, you're not entitled to "your own math".

If we assume that your average stock exchange type is a pragmatist - that they care more about cold, hard dollar values than political principles - then Rupert's shit won't go down well at all. Perhaps all this will just serve to highlight what a colossal joke any "news" media with his name attached to it has become.