It’s not a good time to be a member of the board of directors of Dow Jones & Co., owner of The Wall Street Journal.

One director resigned Thursday because of the board’s decision to
approve a $5 billion buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. A second director is under investigation by the SEC because of insider
trading allegations related to that buyout offer.

The board of directors of Dow Jones said late Tuesday night that itw as “prepared to approve” a buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch, which would give the conservative press baron control of The Wall Street Journal.

Fine, but the real news is that Al Gore says Murdoch is a man of his word who supports independent voices, according to The New York Times.

It’s not often that the Times buries a lead, but this is one of them. The newspaper acknowledged that Gore’s support is an “unlikely endorsement,” but put it at the very end of its main Murdoch-Dow Jones story, posted to its Web site late Tuesday night.

There’s no doubt that Ron Burkle loves newspapers.

In the past year or so, he has explored buying the Tribune Co. and several former Knight Ridder papers. Today, the California billionaire
is scheduled to meet with directors of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

None of Burkle’s previous media flirtations has led to anything and some analysts don’t give him much of a chance with Dow Jones. Some members of the company’s controlling Bancroft family, though, are desperately seeking an alternative to a takeover by Rupert Murdoch. Burkle is a Democrat with strong ties to the Bill and Hillary Clinton.