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Bancroft family seeks guarantee for `Journal' staff

In their first face-to-face meeting, the family that controls Dow Jones & Co on Monday told Rupert Murdoch, a suitor some family members mistrust deeply, that it would sell him the company only if its jewel, the Wall Street Journal, could be shielded from editorial interference from him.

Murdoch made it clear that he would not accept the terms of the Bancroft family's proposal, which would give a board of independent overseers the power to hire and fire top editors, according to people who were present or were briefed by participants, but added that Murdoch floated an alternate arrangement in the meeting, which lasted almost five hours.

"Both sides laid out the way they thought it should work, and neither side agreed with the other, but they're eager to keep talking," said a person briefed on the meeting but who was unauthorized to speak on behalf of the participants. "It was all very pleasant on both sides, but there's still plenty of distance between the two."

Monday's discussions did not include a price, although it is widely believed that the Bancrofts will be looking for Murdoch to raise his offer of US$60 a share. Murdoch has said he does not intend to increase his bid.

He and his representatives asked to meet again yesterday, but the family demurred, suggesting that some directors will discuss the negotiations by phone before the two sides get together again, as soon as today but more likely in a few days.

Critics of the elder Murdoch, 76, say that from British tabloids to the New York Post to Fox News, he has a long pattern of bending journalism to serve his business and political ends. Members of the Bancroft family and many Journal newsroom employees have expressed their fear of editorial interference.

The Bancrofts pitched their idea for a board of overseers for the Journal in a written proposal presented at the meeting. The board's initial members would be chosen by the family and, just as important, would choose their successors in perpetuity, people close to the family said.

Similar arrangements govern many of the nation's biggest philanthropic foundations, often with the result that the charities are free to pursue aims that would not please their wealthy founders.

Murdoch studied the Bancroft's document but, after some discussion, said it was not workable for him, people briefed on the meeting said.

Bringing out his own written proposal, he offered a less independent sort of governing board like the one at the Times of London when he acquired it, with some members appointed by him. The structure did not prevent him from forcing out the editor, Harry Evans, in short order.

Under the current configuration of the Times' board, he explained, he could appoint the paper's editor, but the editor would need to be approved by the independent board. Similarly, he could not remove the editor without the concurrence of the board.

Two people briefed on the meeting said Murdoch's proposal was well received by the Bancroft family representatives and Martin Lipton, a lawyer representing them.

But Dow Jones' chairman M. Peter McPherson was cool to the proposal even as it seemed to other attendees that a deal might be near, they said. McPherson called for a break so that the Bancrofts could study the News Corp proposal more closely.

Both sides caucused for more than an hour, and when they resumed in the late afternoon, McPherson was more amenable, they said.
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