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The decision by the Bancrofts to hand over negotiations to the board of Dow Jones & Co. (DJ) may end up being a non-event, as the latest plan by those that have seen its contents does nothing to further the process. So why even put the negotiations into the hands of the board if all a segment of the Bancroft family does is dictate the terms? It makes no sense.

According to people that have seen the plan, there would be a seven-member board created that has the power to hire or fire the Wall Street Journal's managing editor, the newspaper's publisher, The Journal's editorial page and the managing editor of Dow Jones Newswires. Not only that, but those currently in those positions will have to be allowed to stay at the company. Oh yah, here's my $5 billion, I'll do that!

That's not all though. The created board would also have control over the budgets of the newsroom. They would also have control of all the Dow Jones's "brands." What that means is it would keep Murdoch from tapping into the worker resources of the company to help grow his upcoming business channel.

For the new board, News Corp. (NWS-A) would only be able to appoint two of the seven editorial board members. The Bancrofts or family trust would be able to name two, and from there the other there would be also chosen by the family, but being subject to News Corp.'s approval.

The Bancrofts are starting to look like they live in never-never land. To me the board is now looking low in the eyes of the business world. They shouldn't have even accepted this proposal, let alone offer it. They now look like all they will do is parrot what the Bancrofts tell them. It makes them look weak and impotent.

Sources say that Murdoch was "surprised and frustrated" by the offer which attempt to control what he does with it. I'm not sure why this was even done by the board and Bancrofts, Murdoch already said he wouldn't agree to something like this from the beginning. It would have been better for the Bancrofts to reject the proposal outright, which it seems they're unwilling to do, possibly in fear of being sued by other shareholders.

This is an exercise in futility and a waste of time. There is nothing in this that could even be a starting place of negotiations. It's really a way of saying no. The Bancrofts don't even seem to be able to do that, as I said.

For the most part the board really doesn't have the concerns of the Bancrofts concerning "editorial integrity," and could try to draw up their own proposal and try to convince the family to accept it. That could be interesting in that several family members are on the board too.

What's odd about this is it shows no type of progress or point of contact between the two parties. With Murdoch already saying he wouldn't accept these types of conditions, what's the point of putting it forth again? It seems the Bancrofts wish this would just go away and it never happened. They seem to resent that they have to deal with it at all. But when it comes right down to it, they're the ones that had the type of dual-layer shares that let them have voting control. If they want voting control than they have to deal with the responsibilities.

So where does it go from here? The strange response by the Bancrofts brings it back to where it all began. Murdoch has already responded to this before, so it doesn't offer anything new. That's why it's strange.

It looks like the Bancrofts are refusing to make a decision, and so are doing this to try to force Murdoch to make a decision which he has already made. This is going around in circles in a public forum.

What are the Bancroft's trying to do if Murdoch has already said no to this, and they simply bring the same conditions up again? If they are saying no, why don't they publically reject the offer then? There is no way they're going to get $5 billion from News Corp. and go on doing business-as-usual. News Corp. shareholders would be the next issue Murdoch would have to face if that happened.

A publically traded company can't give $5 billion for a company and let the ones they bought it from run it under their conditions and control - it's not going to happen.

So again, none of this makes sense based upon Murdoch already saying no to this type of proposal already. The Bancrofts and Dow Jones board needs to either say yes or no. Bringing up something already decided on and responded to, is even more bizarre than the obsession with "editorial integrity" itself.

Related Coverage:

Dow Jones Board Drafting "Editorial Independence" Statement - Will Murdoch Accept?

General Electric and Pearson PLC Drop out of Dow Jones Sweepstakes

Bancrofts Out of the Dow Jones Negotiations - Board Takes Over

General Electric, Pearson PLC Consortium to Buy Dow Jones Already Under Fire

Bancrofts Said to be Readying Proposal for Special Board

Another Dow Jones Suitor Bites the Dust

More Suitors for Dow Jones than Men Saying They were Father of Anna Nicole Smith's Baby

Brian Tierney Interested in Dow Jones

Union for Dow Jones Employees Claims Ron Burkle Joined Them to Battle Rupert Murdoch

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