News Corp and Dow Jones

So we should find out within the next week whether the Brancroft family will accept the NewsCorp offer, but I have to wonder whether some type of all-points bulletin went out across the NewsCorp empire: "Don't publish anything low-brow, scandalous or let The Boss influence your thinking". At least until this business is over. It would be bad timing of a momentous nature that could have the Bancroft family perusing some questionable covers of The Post or The Sun or even reading some politically charged editorial in The Times while meeting to determine the fate of the company. And of course if for some reason they missed these indicators, there are rivals like The Daily News that joyously draw them to their attention.

Coincidentally, The New York Times released some private archive material of the owning family, Ochs Sulzberger to the New York Public Library. There is nothing recent yet (although additional material is anticipated to be made available soon) but there are interesting items relating to the relationship between the Editorial philosophy and that of the owners,

Many of the documents reveal the newsroom’s sometimes prickly relationship with its owners. “It’s difficult for me personally to take a position not in accord with the wife of the Publisher,” Edwin L. James, the managing editor, wrote to Arthur Hays Sulzberger on June 22, 1949, after Iphigene Sulzberger complained about placement of a story involving Cardinal Francis Spellman. (A spirited defense of the news desk’s judgment followed.)

Will we ever see Murdoch's personal archive...? Do we want to? What happens if the deal doesn't is not accepted? You can bet that News Corp has an alternative plan ready to roll if the Dow Jones bid fails.