John Edwards, the former Senator and candidate for Vice President who is in the running for next year's presidential nomination, has hired two consumer activists from Wake-Up Wal-Mar, a union-back political group that opposes just about everything Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) does these days. This really is no surprise, as Edwards has hired fire-breathers before to support his campaign. Alas, the last one he hired was dismissed after a huge public outcry led by Fox News personality Bill O' Reilly.

Edwards is again stepping into the mud-wrestling ring by hiring activists Paul Blank and Chris Kofinis. What does Edwards hope to accomplish with this move? Well, although the hiring has not been completed yet, both Blank and Kofinis have campaign management and communications in their backgrounds, and both will be poised to increase the visibility of Edwards while allowing other senior campaign officials to work on bringing in more campaign funds. Edwards has fallen quite a bit behind Hilary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in campaign fund-raising, and since we know money talks (and platforms walk) when it comes to elections, the more money you have, the more ears and eyes you can reach.

But does Edwards want these high-level officials connected with Wal-Mart's biggest public adversary to work with his campaign? Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the nation for a reason: customers shop there and most seem to like it. Although the retailer is constantly attacked because of its size and practices, Edward's decision to use fanatic Wal-Mart adversaries could backfire among a good portion of the American public. Will he back down again?

News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox News channel received praise from an unlikely source: former CNN anchor Aaron Brown.

In an interview with TV Newser, Brown described Fox as "very disciplined, ratings-directed news organization, or whatever they are" and CNN as "an organization that is trying to figure out if it can be all things to all people."

Though Brown is bitter about his departure from the Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) network, he does have a point. Fox didn't only win the cable ratings war because of politics. It hired better broadcasters and put out more memorable shows. Roger Ailes figured out early that people tune into cable expecting opinions and that's what Fox gave them.

CNN has fought back though, adding blowhards such as Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace, CNN Headline News does decently in the ratings. Lou Dobbs' crusade against illegal immigration also has resonated with the public, which is kind of scary. It's also scored its share of scoops including Larry King's Paris Hilton interview. (Yeah she's horrible, but people are interested).

The champagne may be on ice, but is it premature to believe that News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) will succeed in its $5B, $60 a share takeover of Dow Jones & Company Inc (NYSE: DJ)?

While both sides appear close to a deal, the stumbling block remains the editorial independence of the Wall Street Journal. If both sides can reach an acceptable agreement, there's no one else to block News Corp. Late last week, General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and Pearson, who had teamed up to make a bid, dropped out. But if they can't reach a common ground, and there are plenty of reasons to believe why Rupert Murdoch won't agree to the controlling shareholders -- the Bancroft's -- requirement for the deal to work (Think: Murdoch's editorial independence). It has been reported that News Corp.'s offer would reduce the Bancroft's involvement, but that Dow Jones was set to offer an alternative proposal, as early as today.

No matter what Rupert Murdoch wants, and he very badly wants the Wall Street Journal, the Bancroft family can still walk away and not sell.

Dow Jones(NYSE:DJ) volatility collapses on expectations of a deal. Dow Jones is recently up $7.76 to $61.12 on speculation Rupert Murdoch's News Corp(NYSE: NWS) will raise his $60 cash bid made on 5/1/07. Dow Jones controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family, agreed to meet with Murdoch. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)has been speculated as submitting a stock for stock bid for Dow Jones. GE's stock for stock bid could be attractive to the Bancroft family because of GE's low beta of 0.85 compared to News Corp's beta of 1.54 if Murdoch would add a stock component to his bid. Dow Jones June option implied volatility has collapsed to 45 from 70 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing risk.

New York Times(NYSE:NYT) implied volatility suggests non-directional Risk. NYT is recently up .71 to $25.82. NYT over all option implied volatility of 24 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price risk.

Option volume leaders today are: Dendreon (NASDAQ-DNDN), Apple, Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) and Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO).

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

In yet another sign of the decline of network television news, General Electric Co.'s (NYSE: GE) NBC dumped "Dateline" anchor Stone Phillips. He won't be the last high-priced talent to be shown the door.

As ratings continue to decline for news programs at NBC, Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) ABC and CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) profit pressures are intensifying as shareholders demand to see a return for the money being poured into these shows.

That's why Phillips won't be earning nearly as much at his next job as the $7 million USA Today says he earned at NBC. Odds are best that he'll wind up at News Corp's (NYSE: NWS) Fox News Channel, Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) or another cable network such as the Discovery Channel which is now home to former "Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel.

In the wake of Philips' departure, TV personalities up and down the dial are probably quaking in their designer clothes wondering whether they will be next. It's a well-founded fear.

Networks are less patient than ever.

If entertainment programs don't immediately catch on, they are gone after a handful of episodes. Ratings are just as important to news programs. Though nightly news programs have been in decline for years, they still make good money for the networks.

Ratings points translate into advertising sales which translates eventually into profits. No TV star is immune from fiscal realities.

That's why Philips got pushed out the door. "Dateline" has morphed into a program dedicated to catching pathetic sex offenders. His services as a newsman were no longer needed.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) posted first quarter earnings of 27 cents a share, a penny above last year. The biggest contributor was Ben Stiller's $571 million hit A Night at the Museum. Increased advertising rates at Fox News, the top rated U.S. cable news channel, helped boost its cable-network profit by 34% to $282 million, beating analysts' estimates of $262 million.

Last month I attended a party at which I met the director of New York City's Museum of Natural History where part of the movie was filmed. I had meant to ask her about how the Museum coordinated the filming with all its other activities, but I failed to do so.

Meanwhile, it is a sign of the depth of my ignorance about America that I do not know why so many people watch Fox News. Every time I am forced to watch it when I'm on the treadmill in front of the bank of TV screens at my health club, I feel like changing the channel. And I'm just watching the picture without even hearing the sound!

Investors reacted to News Corp.'s results with a yawn. The stock is down 1% in early trading.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in News Corp.

If someone offers you $1 million in cash for your house that's only worth $450,000, would you take the money? Of course you would. That's the same situation that the Bancroft family was in yesterday with Rupert Murdoch's unsolicited $5 billion offer for Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ).

The Bancrofts, descendants of the founders of the New York-based publisher, turned Murdoch's incredibly generous offer down, proving that just because you're really rich it doesn't make you smart. The Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Street column points out that Murdoch's bid valued Dow Jones at a multiple of 40 times 2007 earnings. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) currently trades at a multiple of 31.

That's right, the Australian-born tycoon gave Dow Jones a valuation BETTER than Google. He offered a 65% premium over Monday's closing price, which as the column points out, surpasses what the company could have gotten from private equity players.

An alliance between News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Dow Jones makes sense strategically. The Wall Street Journal would be a good fit alongside other Murdoch properties including Fox News Channel, The New York Post and the yet too be launched Fox Business Channel.

Though there's speculation about other potential buyers, I doubt that any would be willing to pay the price for Dow Jones that Murdoch offered. Murdoch is an especially motivated buyer, having coveted the Journal for years. This deal is more about gaining clout than creating shareholder value.

The Bancrofts seemed to be letting their pride in owning one of the best newspapers in America get in the way of common sense. They better get while the getting is good. Otherwise, they are going to be stuck in the same rut they've been in for years.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has coveted The Wall Street Journal for years. Now, he's trying to turn his dreams into reality.

CNBC is reporting that Murdoch has made a $5 billion bid for Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ), sending the company's shares up into the stratosphere. Shares of other newspaper publishers including the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) also surged on the news.

Murdoch isn't really interested in creating shareholder value with this deal though it probably will benefit shareholders. Owning the Journal would give him unbelievable influence to set the world's political agenda. That interests Murdoch almost as much as making money.

The Australian-born billionaire also loves to stick it to what he sees as the liberal-dominated media.

He owns the money-losing conservative New York Post to prove a point to the New York Times. Fox News Channel proves a point to CNN and the new Fox Business Channel proves a point to CNBC. The Wall Street Journal would be a good fit among these properties.

Murdoch wouldn't have dreamed of leaking his offer to CNBC unless he'd gotten some assurances from the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones, that they would listen to him. The Bancrofts have grumbled for years about the stock's poor performance but have insisted that Dow Jones remain independent.

The offer on the table, though, may be too good to refuse.

New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, who has brushed aside shareholder critics, is probably on the phone with is bankers right now.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

The battle between CNN and Fox News isn't a question of liberals and conservatives. That debate was settled long ago and the conservatives won.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) makes a ton of money from Fox News, which continues to dominate. Its ratings have rebounded after slipping last year. CNN parent Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) launched Headline Prime in 2005 as a Fox without Bill O'Reilly, complete with rabid right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck.

One night for fun, I decided to compare O'Reilly and Beck. Boy was I lucky. I picked a night to DVR their shows when both hosts were at the the top of their games.

On his program, Beck railed against all sorts of people bent on destroying the America, including filmmaker Michael Moore, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, comedian Rosie O'Donnell, and pop star Elton John.

Elton John? Rocket Man? I was shocked too.

Apparently, Sir Elton is the "high priest of hypocrisy," according to Beck. The singer had a 60th birthday party at St. John the Divine, a big church in New York. Seems John, who has little use for religion, made some changes to the church building for the concert, including removing the pews. To make matters worse, John showed a background of a burning church at his show the next day at Madison Square Garden. Oh yeah, that was on a Sunday.

All of this was too much for the talk show host to take.

"If he wants to drop a few million to desecrate your church than who am I to judge, right? Wrong!" he said of the pop star.

What should MSNBC do now that its dumped Don Imus?

According to the New York Times, Imus generated $50 million in revenue through his shows on CBS Corp.'s (NYSE: CBS) radio division and on the General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) cable television network. Plus, Imus' program was dirt cheap for MSNBC to air. Imus probably won't lose his job in radio given the sad state of the medium.

MSNBC has got to come up with something. Morning television is a cash cow for both broadcast and cable networks. It can't just keep broadcasting a never-ending supply of prison documentaries. Seriously, MSNBC must have filmed every maximum security penitentiary in the country.

Let me offer a few suggestions for replacement for Imus.

1) Keith Olbermann -- He's smart, opinionated and under contract with the network. Moreover, he would regularly outrage Republicans which would make for entertaining viewing. I don't care that no one agreed with my suggestion that the network should promote him more prominently on its ratings-challenged "Nightly News with Brian Williams."

2) Craig Carton -- One of the "Jersey Guys," the top-rated afternoon talk show that manages to entertain, offend and educate residents of the Garden State. I'm sure Gov. Jon Corzine, a regular Carton target, would be happy to see him leave New Jersey. He got women to make plaster casts of their breasts that were later decorated and sold to raise money for breast cancer research. It was called "Cans for the Cure."

3) Greg Gutfeld -- I learned about this guy in a recent New York Times story that described him as a "compact but enormously animated man." He sounds awesome and I plan to DVR his show and write up a post on it.

4) Jeanne Moss -- This CNN reporter has cornered the market on off-the wall stories. Why not make her a star? Still, she's been at the Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX)-owned network for 20 years and probably has a sweet deal.

5) Gwen Ifill -- She deserves a bigger audience than PBS. She's a seasoned journalist who keeps those troublemakers on "Washington Week" from getting out of hand.

This list is far from comprehensive.

Who would you like to see on MSNBC? Send in your suggestions and I'll pass them along to the network and they will be promptly ignored.

The Fox network is about to go head to head with CNBC by launching its own business network. The new service is being built by Roger Ailes, CEO of Fox News, and Neil Cavuto, managing editor for Fox's current business news.

While the news was officially announced yesterday by Rupert Murdoch, the market has been watching its development for some time. Just last month, our Jonathan Berr blogged about Time Warner (NYSE:TWX)'s agreement to distribute the content to their cable subscribers.

The network has placed development in the hands of some pretty serious guys, but I wonder if they aren't missing a bet by not developing content more consistent with the Fox image. Why clone CNBC when they could offer:

The Simpson's Investment Hour: Focusing on energy stocks, medical advancements and remedial education, Homer shows the viewer how to make some 'D'OH!' The animated hour could provide a hilarious alternative to Larry Kudlow's usual contest to see who can talk the loudest.

Joe Millionaire's Hottie Tips: The gag is, the ladies don't know he's totally ignorant about stocks when they turn over their 401k's to his administration. They only know he's hot, and broadcasts from the most pimped-out hot tub/studio in all of Beverly Hills.

House Party: Stock experts take a sick stock and try to determine why it's on the decline. Will they find the key in the annual report? The administration? Federal regulations? Erratic currency? Stock shrinkage? Will they solve the mystery in time to keep it from being de-listed?

StockCops: Bad broker, bad stock, what you gonna do when they come for you? An hour of hard-hitting drama as Fox accompanies the men and women of the Security and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General as they chase rogue traders and backdated-options executives through the mean streets of New York's financial district.

Madden in the Madhouse: The veteran sportscaster abandons his bus for a booth in the NYSE, where he gives the viewer a play-by-play of the last hour of each market day. " You see, what he's got to do here," (insert telestrator clip of traders on the floor) "is take the offer right at him. Bam! That's some kind of bid."

America's Most Wanted Stocks: AMWS will call upon the combined wisdom (?) of the American Public to suss out the wayward properties that have disappeared from the investors' minds, determine who is to blame for their malaise, and reunite them with now eager purchasers.

Or they could just clone Jim Cramer.

It was bound to happen -- Big Media wants to know who is uploading copyrighted material to YouTube, now owned by Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). Short of raking out lawsuits in expedient fashion, 20th Century Fox has served YouTube a subpoena as of yesterday. It wants to find out who uploaded copies of entire recent episodes of "24" and "The Simpsons." Those are two of the largest-audience shows for Fox -- so understandably, the company is a tad miffed.

I have news for them -- although YouTube's presence has expanded into the limelight in the last year -- capped by extensive media coverage when Google bought the company in exchange for some of its stock -- there have been entire episodes of all kinds of copyrighted television shows on YouTube since its inception. There are constant "we are policing our site" comments from YouTube and now from Google, but freeloaders of content and violators of copyrights will *always* find a way to make tons o' content available to anyone with a 'net connection. Say it with me here -- BitTorrent.

Will media companies that produce mostly video content start barking like wild dogs in a similar fashion to the music industry (RIAA) that has sued its own customers and has taken down file-sharing networks due to massive copyright abuse? If so, the first few fertile steps are being laid now, since YouTube requires just a web browser (no file-sharing software or network knowledge needed).

The MPAA has been following in the RIAA's footsteps in trying to crack down on users posting copyrighted content online for all to see (and hear). In this Fox example, the damage "could be" worse. Why? Well, the "24" episodes in question actually appeared on YouTube before their prime time premiere on January 14. When copyright material starts making it to YouTube before it officially airs, we have issues -- and some network execs have tissues.

Fox raised its rate per subscriber for Cablevision from $.25 to $.75. Cablevision did not have much choice.

Cablevision has three million subscribers, so, it's a lot of money. Especially if other programmers who have high ratings, like Fox News, follow suit.

Cable companies have been doing well. Their stocks are rising with their annual cash flow. Comcast's shares, which traded at $26 at the end of 2005, now fetch over $38.

Programming costs are not going to wreck the cable industry, but if content rates go up, large cable operators like Time Warner Cable could find it is paying its content partners tens of millions of dollars more per year. Even $.50 times 10 million subscribers is a lot. And, if several channels have to pay that amount, it begins to add up.

Arguably, the deal is worse for the cable guys. The content they are paying for is also ending up on the Internet, so viewership is becoming fragmented. If IPTV works, telecom customers will be watching the same content.

The content companies may be finding that their income is rising rapidly in the new world of media, but cable companies may not be quite as ebullient.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

More interested in pop culture than in personal finance? No wonder this country is going down the tubes. The Internet is a series of tubes, by the way. Well, that aside, this article over at CNET describes how most American citizens still tune into traditional media in times of crisis.

That is, they turn to established media instead of blogs and other "edgy" forms of new media where the wisdom of crowds comes into play more than mass media's huge spectacles -- spectacles that need a few hundred pounds of Windex cleaning every day as well.

It's most likely old habits, as well as access -- there are televisions and radios just about everywhere, unlike Internet-connected computers. At the grocery store, the barber shop, and even the kids' daycare -- those two modes of communication are ubiquitous in everyday life. Although many of us consider the computer just as entrenched, the fact is that it's not everywhere traditional communications tools are.

Products like everyday mobile phones with high-speed data connections are changing the paradigm a little, although the user interface for those devices is far from useful for everyday folks.

With pop culture and entertainment at the top of the list when surveying citizens about news topics that interested them, politics and finance were not anywhere near the top (sadly). Instead of paying attention to pop culture tripe like Angelina and Brad, shouldn't we all be more enveloped in the way American lives are unfolding instead of the rich and famous?

That's another discussion for another day, but you get the idea. But, as I referenced earlier, as instant Internet access becomes an everyday tool everywhere -- like television and terrestrial radio -- things may change. Let's hope so for our sake.

When Rupert Murdoch's News. Corp purchased the incredibly-popular MySpace.com social networking portal, the global media behemoth promised not to distract the founders from what they do best -- provide a great environment for a certain age demographic. They said they would let MySpace continue to be the virtual "mall hangout" for millions.

So far, that has held true, and of course, News Corp. wants to have advertising displayed all over the social website to cash in on those lucrative and captive-audience ad dollars. To that tune, Google signed a rather high-profile deal with MySpace just a few weeks ago worth $900 million to do just that. Off to the races we all go now...

But are there signs of change at MySpace lurking beneath the proverbial covers? Recently, after some worry-filled days and nights, the MySpace laid-back, but intensely-focused, culture was uprooted as its headquarters was moved from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills, where News Corp. was consolidating its Internet properties. Tom Anderson -- co-founder of MySpace -- is now going through regular corporate drills like budget reviews and executive meetings.

MySpace is also about to roll out enhanced photo and video-sharing capabilities that will allow the site to complete with social photo-sharing and tagging communities like Yahoo!'s Flickr and YouTube -- two of the web's most popular sites for sharing photos and videos, respectively. Will MySpace be able to integrate advertising in such a way that it does not overwhelm and scare off its target market of teens and young adults? That remains to be seen. If it can, then Yahoo! and others may need to watch out. The community of the future may not be on Yahoo!'s immensely-popular portal, but on MySpace.