| MUMBAI:
Six weeks after he launched a $5.6 billion bid for Dow Jones and Co., Rupert Murdoch's
dream of owning the Wall Street Journal moved closer to reality on Thursday when
the Bancroft family that controls the paper's parent company agreed to meet with
him. "The
mission of Dow Jones may be better accomplished in combination or collaboration
with another organization, which may include News Corp.," the family said
in a statement on the Journal's website. The
Bancrofts said the point of their meeting with News Corp. would be to find out
whether "it will be possible to ensure the level of commitment to editorial
independence, integrity and journalistic freedom that is the hallmark of Dow Jones." Murdoch
already owns a plethora of newspapers, including the New York Post, as well as
television and movie assets. Using Dow Jones, he plans to help build a business
news cable channel that would compete with NBC Universal's CNBC. But
some family members as well as Dow Jones journalists have raised concerns about
what they say is Murdoch's history of using his newspapers to further his business
and political agendas. | 
