Our old friend Rupert Murdoch is at it again. It seems that the Bancroft family has agreed to meet with Rupe regarding his bid to by Dow Jones (Wall Street Journal). This is from the Bancroft family’s statement that appeared in the Journal.
“After a detailed review of the business of Dow Jones and the evolving competitive environment in which it operates, the Family has reached consensus that the mission of Dow Jones may be better accomplished in combination or collaboration with another organization, which may include News Corporation.
“Accordingly, the Family has advised the Company’s Board that it intends to meet with News Corporation to determine whether, in the context of the current or any modified News Corporation proposal, it will be possible to ensure the level of commitment to editorial independence, integrity and journalistic freedom that is the hallmark of Dow Jones.
“The Family also indicated its receptivity to other options that might achieve the same overarching objective.”
The Bancroft’s are talking about journalistic integrity, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, Dow Jones’ stock is up to $60.95 a share, which is higher than the original Murdoch bid. So, the stock has risen some 65 percent since Rupe entered the game. Does Murdoch truly want Dow Jones? I have had suspicions from the start but two things cross my mind. First, the money, at this point, is petty cash to Murdoch. Second, he probably has the perception that the Wall Street Journal would help to legitimize his brand names. I could even picture a scenario in which Fox News would be re-tooled; possibly WSJ news.
Murdoch has put the Bancroft family in the catbird seat. I don’t think they would use the words “other options” in a public statement if there wasn’t some indication that those options were brewing. The rate at which the stock is rising seems to indicate that investors are feeling that there will be other offers. So, who is playing who? The Bancroft family is working the wall but, Rupe put them in the position to do so. Is Murdoch wanting some other buyer to come in and snatch Dow Jones at an exorbitant price? That doesn’t seem far-fetched.
I’ve been messing around with Google Earth for the last couple of days. This is a far cry from the satellite photos I eagerly looked at when I first had internet access in the ’90s. The images are far higher resolution and easier to manipulate with this surveillance tool. I downloaded the free version and now I’m wondering what the $400.00 pro version is like. The free version would be good enough for a would-be crook to stake out a location.
Along with this, Google Maps has added a street view feature in certain cities (San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver). These images are from ground level and are panoramic. There is a lot of uproar about these images with regard to privacy issues. After spying around Vegas a little bit, I can see why. Google is being tight lipped about details such as, how often the images are updated. The way it is now, it would be possible to catch somebody engaged in, at the least, embarrassing behavior but it would be a random find. How far away are we from being able to access this stuff in real time? I’m sure there are a lot of other entities involved with all of this technology but Google is your Big Brother because, they have the juice to actually pull it off.
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Tags: Bancroft Family, Big Brother, Google Earth, Rupert Murdoch, Wall Street Journal
Jayne d'Arcy wrote,
My computer can’t handle Google Earth (it crashes), but I liked looking at those satellite pictures until I zoomed in on our house and saw the vague, smudgy, images of one dog and my husband in his garden. Kind of weirded me out.
Link | June 1st, 2007 at 4:25 pm