WASHINGTON - JULY 17 -The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has reached a "tentative" agreement to take over Dow Jones Co. for $5 billion.

Robert W. McChesney, president of the media reform group Free Press and Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois, made the following statement:

"Rupert Murdoch's takeover of the Wall Street Journal may not be illegal, but it's certainly wrong. The cost of giving one company — and one man — this much media power is simply too high.

"Less than a dozen outlets — the major TV networks, a few cable news channels and couple of newspapers — set the national news agenda. They decide what most citizens will — or will not — learn. If this deal goes through, Murdoch would control three of them: the Fox Network, Fox News Channel and the Journal. And that is just the tip of the iceberg for his media empire. When is it enough?

"If they want to protect the editorial integrity of the institution they built, the Bancroft family can still stop this deal from going through. But even if Murdoch's Journal takeover is derailed at the 11th hour, it should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares about media and democracy.

"We're at a critical juncture. We have to understand that our democracy is premised on the existence of an informed citizenry. As the framers understood, that requires a media system that produces quality journalism. We cannot abandon our noble tradition and allow the Murdochs of the world to run the Republic into the ground in their quest for endless profits.

"We need to undertake a number of crucial policies to promote viable journalism, and job No. 1 is to roll back consolidation and restore the national policies that once protected local and diverse media ownership. That's the only way to reverse the damage to quality journalism and our political culture caused by Murdoch and his cronies."

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