Rupert Murdoch buys Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones  and Murdoch Wins His Bid for Dow Jones for 5.6 Billion dollars today. 

"..The 76-year-old Mr. Murdoch, whose properties range from the Fox television network to the Times of London, negotiated hard to win the paper he long coveted. He has promised to invest more in Dow Jones journalism.

As my fellow KMM Blogger George Parker at AdHurl just wrote in Rupert Murdoch + The Wall Street Journal = Bare breasts on page three!, getting Rupert Murdoch to own the Wall Street Journal is like putting this picture of Paris Hilton, naked, on page 3, every day:

Still, a final word to "The Wizened." You can't take it with you Cobber. Why not get round the old "Barbie" and open a few "Tinnies." Relax, there's nothing left for you to buy! 

Hi. It's the new "Serious" Paris Hilton. You'll find me naked on page three of the Wall Street Journal, every day!

It's clearly a composite picture of Paris Hilton - she's sorta the " Paris Hilton - Muse of the Wall Street Journal"….  I'm not sure about the rest of what George Parker has to say in AdHurl, but he definitely got my eyes with the Naked Paris Hilton picture….ok, ok, I digress.. There's also a post on Rupert Murdoch… The Gordon Gecko of media? that quotes another post My Advice for Murdoch - Wall Street Journal Worriers by Dan Tutor that reassures us all that buying the Wall Street Journal is just a good business deal:

"..Look, here's what you need to remember: First and foremost, Murdoch is a businessman.  He's in it for the money.  The bottom line will drive his decisions with the Wall Street Journal (ironically, that's the same paper who's current opinions and coverage is routinely brushed aside by the establishment media as already "too conservative", so it's even more confusing to me why there is such an uproar now over the News Corporation take over of operations).  Case in point: The man bought-out MySpace.com…not exactly a haven for conservative thought and discussion, right?"

I don't know…. is it news as usual, or Naked Paris Hilton on page 3.. you tell me.

Getting back to how the Bancrofts, and protecting the "reputation of the Wall Street Journal"….. I guess if they were that worried about the Wall Street Journal's reputation - they would not have sold it to Murdoch in the first place.

The Bancrofts worried about protecting the reputation of the Journal, the nation's second-largest newspaper. They feared Mr. Murdoch would meddle in the paper's editorial affairs and import the brand of sensationalist journalism found in some of his properties such as the New York Post. Some Bancrofts sought other buyers.

But ultimately, Mr. Murdoch's $60-a-share bid — a 67% premium above Dow Jones's share price when it became public — was the only serious offer on the table. Key family members, spurred by Dow Jones's board and advisers, decided they had no choice."

Forbes reports that Murdoch Cuts Wide Swath Through NYC:

"…Today, he's a king among king makers who just pulled off one of the biggest coups in his already out sized career: a $5 billion deal to purchase Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

The move shoots him to the pinnacle of journalism and gives him one of the most prestigious properties in the newspaper business, cementing his legacy as one of the great press barons and a towering figure in New York.

"As a media mogul, I don't know if there has been anybody quite like Murdoch since Hearst," said David Nasaw, who authored "The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst."

I guess, in my mind, WSJ.com / Wall Street Journal has become aligned so closely with the right wing conservatism that I don't see all that much difference between the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal as there once was.  I don't go out of my way to read either paper and whenever I do read them, I expect the news reporting and OP-ED to be slanted to the Right, and I'm rarely disappointed.

So maybe having Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. $5 billion agreement to purchase the publisher of The Wall Street Journal does not change much for me -but it does bother me that one person can control so many media properties.

I got more information about why Murdoch bought Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal by reading KnowMoreMedia.com:

"..The Wall Street Journal acquisition is an indication that business content has substantial media value. It also is an indication that investors like Murdoch and News Corporation (NWS), believe that traditional business media will translate to “online business media.” :

I doubt the Wall Street Journal will get any better because Rupert Murdoch bought Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal (but having a Naked Paris Hilton picture might actually be an improvement over the content they had).- but I'd bet the Wall Street Journal will end up being given away for free within the next year (and perhaps by the end of this year) in order to get more advertising revenue and widen the audience who reads the journal.