Rupert Murdoch Fights for the Wall Street Journal

The IHT reports that Rupert Murdoch has had his first face-to-face meeting with the Bancroft family that controls Dow Jones and Co., which Murdoch has offered to buy. The family previously rejected his bid outright over concerns that Murdoch would interfere in editorial decisions at the Wall Street Journal.

Rupert Murdoch has a long history of altering and even suppressing news reports critical of the Chinese government in order to curry favor with the Communist Party. Murdoch has yet to make a media fortune in China, but his ethnic Chinese wife is spearheading News Corp.'s expansion into China.

The meeting itself was inconclusive, but both party's have agreed in principle to additional talks. The Bancroft family presented a proposal that would prevent Murdoch from effectively controlling the editorial side of the Wall Street Journal, but Murdoch rejected that immediately. Mr. Murdoch's own proposal is a quasi-independent board with some of the members appointed by him.

The proposal was supposedly well received by the Bancrofts but the chairman of Dow Jones, M. Peter McPherson, voiced objections.

The proposal is eerily similar to the governing board that was set up when Murdoch purchased The Times of London. That board allowed Murdoch to force out editor Harry Evans without any serious objections.

Murdoch's proposal is clearly the most financially remunerative option available to the Bancroft family. Murdoch's bid is 60% higher than the previous market price and his other media properties offer obvious synergies.

If the Bancroft family decides that it values the editorial integrity of the nation's financial press more than cold, hard cash, the family would be well advised to solicit a competitive bid from GE/NBC. GE/NBC has a long history of media coverage that would be more in keeping with the Bancroft family's ideals. While many view NBC as the most widely leftist media giant, against the grain of the traditionally conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board, GE has long exhibited the ability to ignore editorial viewpoints as long as profits rise. Because NBC's CNBC property is the likely victim of any alliance between the Bancrofts and Murdoch, NBC's investment in Dow Jones would also offer great synergies.