Can't Blame Murdoch for Seizing on Media Shift

For almost everyone, the outcome regarding News Corp.'s bid for Dow Jones is all but certain: Rupert Murdoch will get his plunder, the Journal will be used as leverage to launch his business-news cable channel, and the paper's stories will grow shorter.

But that's not all. At best, those stories will be squelched just enough to further Murdoch's own business interests; at worst, they'll become corporate PR under a sterling media brand. Murdoch, after all, has been said to regard journalists as furniture: If they clash with the interior décor, they can always be replaced.

So, Murdoch tends to be painted as something of a villain in all this. However, to News Corp. shareholders -- who have pushed the stock up slightly since the merger was announced -- he may be something of a hero, one who is laboring to drive up their investment's value. ...