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The Journalists at The Wall Street Journal are threatening to stage a walk-out if Rupert Murdoch buys the company through purchasing Dow Jones (DJ) via News Corp. (NWS-A). That's pretty much meaningless, as we saw how far the rebellion at the L.A. Times got, when the realities of the current media market caved in on them.

"The feeling on the shop floor is they hate the fact that Murdoch's name and all the baggage that comes with it will be attached to their paper," said one senior newspaper executive in the US. "Their view is that the Rupert Murdoch name becomes an adjective that gets added to any media property he buys. Their fear is it will damage their credibility."

This is in response to the agreement by the Bancroft family to meet with Murdoch today to discuss the possibilities of the deal.

To me the threat by the Journalists shows their weakness and that they are in a panic mode. I don't think this is so much about Rupert Murdoch, but more about the state of the industry itself and the fear of change and how it would impact them.
 
The underlying concern is what all newspapers have been going through: the eliminating of jobs. Any change will result in that in the industry at this time.

For the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones & Company, they haven't been able to do much over the last several years as far as growth goes. This is a much-needed deal for them overall, which would give them the type of parent company that can help lead them to success in the new media realities.

To fight this is really to fight themselves. They are trying to go around now and stir up interest from other companies as if that will make a difference. What do they think other companies are going to do? Just let them do whatever they want under their ownership?

Business isn't "as usual" in this industry anymore. It's long past time where the company and its management should have grown The Wall Street Journal, and they haven't. Just last month advertising sales at The Journal dropped by 12 percent, showing the trouble it's in.
 
So my thoughts on journalists walking out are: Who cares? What will happen to the company if someone that isn't savvy about the new Internet age doesn't come in and expand the franchise? Murdoch is one of the savviest of the traditional media managers, and he and News Corp. could help take the company to a lot more success than the tortured path they've been on.