Leave it to Eric Savitz, dean of the Valley's tech correspondents, to take on Rupert Murdoch. The rest of the media grudgingly sighs as it treats News Corp.'s pending acquisition of Dow Jones as an inevitability. But Savitz — who works at the Dow Jones-owned Barron's dares to ask the forbidden question: What if the Bancrofts, the family which owns a controlling stake in Dow Jones, turn Murdoch down? After asking this question, and exploring what might happen to the stock (short version: It will probably drop by half, from $57 to $30), he picks up 24/7 Wall Street's idea of having Dow Jones buy its U.K. rival, the Financial Times. Let's hope Murdoch keeps his promises about editorial independence. Or fancies having a stable of cheeky employees around. Because we'd sure miss Savitz if News Corp. buys Dow Jones and something, well, unpleasant happens.

"News Corp will meet Dow Jones directors this week in a session that could prove decisive in Rupert Murdoch's pursuit of the media group and its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal newspaper," reports the Financial Times. Not so fast, says the Journal: "As News Corp. pursues its bid for Dow Jones & Co., a key member of the controlling Bancroft family, Christopher Bancroft, has launched his own last-ditch, long-shot crusade to block the deal, according to people familiar with the matter." Bancroft is talking to hedge funds and private equity folks in an attempt to buy more "super-voting shares" so as to scupper the deal. Slate's Jack Shafer still thinks the whole thing is a bad idea.
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Turns out there's some interesting Rupert Murdoch news after all! A source tells Rush & Molloy that vagina dentata ne plus ultra Judith Regan has "secret tapes of phone calls and meetings that provide explosive evidence in her $20 million lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation," and that the recordings "may prove damning to more than a few Fox executives." Well of course! Meanwhile, books she signed up before her ouster are still climbing the bestseller lists.

Today's developments in the continuing Rupert Murdoch saga:

Your daily dose of Rupert Murdoch news: In an extensive interview with Dow Jones director James Ottaway (who, you'll surely care to remember, controls approximately six percent of the company's voting shares), the recalcitrant stockholder reiterates his disdain for Murdoch, charging that no matter what the News Corp. head says, "It is clear that any promise of editorial independence will not be honored."

NBC and News Corp.'s joint online-video venture has gone unnamed so long that it's reaching the point of total absurdity. It now has a CEO, even — former Amazon executive Jason Kilar — but still no name. The clock is counting down, since "NewCo," as NBC and News Corp. employees still style it, appears set to launch in a month. George Kliavkoff, NBC's chief digital officer resorts to calling it "the new site" in an interview with ClickZ. NBBC, NBC's digital-video distribution arm, is getting folded into NewCo and is winding down its current ad campaigns over the next 30 days, which suggests an imminent launch. Just one question: To whom are advertisers going to make out their checks?

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the pact on editorial independence negotiated by Dow Jones and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in advance of Murdoch's probable takeover of the company. The agreement sets up a board that has approval over the hiring and firing of the top three positions at the Journal as well as providing for injunctive relief in case Murdoch tries to do an end-run around the committee (which, if history is any indication, he almost certainly will). How else does the pact tie the wily Australian's meddling hands?

News Corp. buys two small Bronx papers, bringing its local weekly circulation to approximately 300,000. [NYT]

MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe isn't worried that users might be troubled by Rupert Murdoch's ownership of the site, since most of them are too uninformed to realize that News Corp. actually has anything to do with it. [Independent]

Meet Brad Greenspan, the 34-year-old L.A. player who won't be the next owner of Dow Jones but, since there's not a lot of other news going on concerning Rupert Murdoch's close-to-inevitable takeover of the company, is probably worth a quick profile. Greenspan was a co-founder of MySpace (although, the Times reports, "there are fundamental disagreements over his role in the company, as there are over other aspects of his career") and objected to News Corp.'s acquisition of the social networking site, claiming (presciently) that the company was worth far more than the bid accepted. Greenspan's something of a character, and even though My Cock has a better chance of buying the Wall Street Journal than he does (it's bidding $63 a share with guarantees of balls-off full editorial independence policy), there's something fairly charming about his cranky episodes.

The Times examines the agreement between Rupert Murdoch and the Dow Jones board to protect the editorial independence of the Wall Street Journal: News Corp. would need the committee's approval to hire or fire editors. News Corp. and Dow Jones will jointly select the board's founding members, who would in turn choose future members.

Registering their disapproval of Rupert Murdoch's impending Dow Jones takeover, Wall Street Journal reporters "across the country chose not to show up to work this morning." A statement from the Newspaper Guild notes that they take this action to "demonstrate our conviction that the Journal's editorial integrity depends on an owner committed to journalistic independence" and remind "Dow Jones management that the quality of its publications depends on a top-quality professional staff." Good for them! But guess what, guys? You're the ones they want leaving anyway. News Corp. management doesn't give a shit about "top-quality professional staff." The organization's leading lights include Shep Smith and Andrea Peyser; you think they really care if you take the morning off?

Pretty great Rupert Murdoch profile in this week's Time. Former Fortune managing editor Eric Pooley caught the mogul in action as negotiations with the Dow Jones board over editorial independence for the Wall Street Journal were being conducted. Here's why the News Corp. head usually gets what he wants:

Reuters is reporting that "News Corp. and Dow Jones have reached an agreement to protect the editorial independence of the Dow Jones news operations." [CNBC]

After yesterday's slapdash jam-job, the Times redeems itself this morning with a lengthy piece on Rupert Murdoch's ties to China. There's not a lot that comes as news to those who (for, say, work reasons) obsessively read every news story about the News Corp. mogul, but for the casual observer it's a fairly good summary. Let us break it down for you.

An agreement on "editorial independence" between Dow Jones and News Corp. could be announced early today, putting Rupert Murdoch one step closer to owning the Wall Street Journal. Of course, there are about seventy-three other steps, but, hey, it's movement. [WSJ]

Looks like the New York Times is anxious to get that Jill Abramson-helmed investigation of Rupert Murdoch out to the public as quickly as possible—if Matt Drudge and his caps-lock is to be believed.

Still more Dow Jones action! The big news: The board, "frustrated with the pace of the Bancroft family's negotiations with News Corp., said it would take over talks on the future of the company." This is viewed as a sign that Rupert Murdoch is going to get what he wants: "Because the Dow Jones board is obliged to pursue the best result for all shareholders, the handoff makes the $5-billion offer from Murdoch's News Corp. harder to beat for potential rivals."

News Corp. offers to swap MySpace for a 30% share of Yahoo. [Times U.K.]

The Bancroft family will send its proposal for a board to preserve the Wall Street Journal's editorial independence to Rupert Murdoch as early as today. In the wake of yesterday's organizational realignment by new Managing Editor Marcus Brauchli—which sends Jim Cramer into paroxysms of fury—the paper announced it will raise its newsstand price to $1.50 an issue, which is less significant than it seems because no one actually buys the Wall Street Journal, they get it free at work. As the union representing Dow Jones employees flails about in its efforts to find an alternate bidder to Murdoch, the Guardian's Roy Greenslade defends the News Corp. head: "He knows how to run papers."