Dow Jones Deputy Managing Editor Alix Freedman sent an email to staff outlining some rules for the use of social media with regards to WSJ and other Dow Jones properties. "The use of social and business networking sites by reporters and editors of the Journal, Newswires and MarketWatch is becoming more commonplace," the email reads. "These ground rules should guide all news employees’ actions online, whether on Dow Jones sites or in social-networking, e-mail, personal blogs, or other sites outside Dow Jones."

Some of the ground rules mentioned include:

-  Consult your editor before "connecting" to or "friending" any reporting contacts who may need to be treated as confidential sources. Openly "friending" sources is akin to publicly publishing your Rolodex.

- Let our coverage speak for itself, and don’t detail how an article was reported, written or edited.

- Don’t discuss articles that haven’t been published, meetings you’ve attended or plan to attend with staff or sources, or interviews that you’ve conducted.

- Don’t disparage the work of colleagues or competitors or aggressively promote your coverage.

And likely the favorite of most critics of these guidelines…

- Business and pleasure should not be mixed on services like Twitter. Common sense should prevail, but if you are in doubt about the appropriateness of a Tweet or posting, discuss it with your editor before sending.

Don’t mix business and pleasure. Many proponents of social media that use the medium for work will tell you that’s exactly what you are supposed to do.

"The Wall Street Journal’s rules for Twitter and the internet rob the paper and its reporters of a few key benefits," says Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMac. "This misses the chance to make their reporting collaborative."

Collaboration, particularly in news, is where social media and blogs thrive. More of the story tends to come out when there is an open conversation.

Editor & Publisher has the entire list of guidelines posted here. Many of them are common sense, and some pertain to things outside of social networking.

PubCenter is to be built on the existing adCenter Publisher architecture, and will include "the convergence of technologies and tools provided by the former Atlas and Rapt solutions, as well as a self-serve offering. Microsoft says the new platform will provide innovative forecasting and order management solutions, advanced analytics tools, and enhanced targeting functionality to enable all digital media publishers to have access to the tools and technology they need to provide valuable and relevant ad content to their advertising partners."

The Publisher Leadership Council includes members from IAC, Dow Jones Online, The New York Times, Time, and Viacom. The group will have a hand in determining the product’s design and features.

"Digital media publishers have diverse needs and face many challenges,” said Scott Howe, corporate vice president of the Advertiser & Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft. "This initiative is validation of our commitment to partnering with the industry to meet those challenges together. Some key features of PubCenter are still on the whiteboard, and we’re giving our partners a pen."

Publishers welcome the opportunity to play a role in the creative process. "As an industry, we’re forced to rely on many disjointed tools and systems, and the quality of the data we receive can suffer as a result,” said Nada Stirratt, executive vice president of Digital Advertising at Viacom’s MTV-Networks.

"Data is critical to managing, measuring and meeting the needs of our advertisers and audience, and enhancing the overall value we deliver," added Stirratt. "By collaborating with Microsoft, we’re in a strong position to help address these needs and, together, chart the industry’s future."

Predictions have been made about a potentially big year for Microsoft on the search front. The company’s advertising efforts might be attracting some attention as well.

This could be accomplished by refocusing some of the company’s more traditional arms.  The Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney, and Barron’s Magazine tend to be associated with print publications instead of their related websites.

Alternatively, as a quick and easy way of altering the overall ratio, Dow Jones could just buy up a few Internet companies.  MySpace would tie into a lot of different things with little or no difficulty.

Regardless, Murdoch summarized the current state of affairs by stating, "It’s not just the Wall Street Journal, it’s the Dow Jones Company, whose revenues are nearly 50 percent digital," according to Reuters.

He then continued, "I can see in a very few years (revenues going up to) 75 percent (from) digital."

What Murdoch wants, Murdoch tends to get, so keep an eye out for significant shifts in Dow Jones’s digital strategy.

Well, At Least One FCC Commissioner Isn’t An Idiot

But only if the other commissioners come on board with the American people, rather than turning a blind eye to corporate manipulation.

And I don’t know if that looks likely until a new commission is in place.

Copps’ most recent tongue-lashing comes from a speech about the state of broadband in the US, and the sound bites are doozies.

Copps calls the broadband access and the net neutrality debate "the great infrastructure challenge of our time," and bemoans the FCC’s reluctance to regulate phone and cable companies to prevent them from taking advantage of a government-allowed oligopoly.

"Unfortunately our record on broadband is so poor that every citizen in this country ought to be outraged," said Copps in a speech at YearlyKos.

He also debunked arguments that the US’s 15th in the world position for broadband penetration was because the population was less dense than the rest of the world, noting that Canada, Norway, and Sweden all rank above the US with less dense populations.

It also implies that urban speeds and access in urban areas are superior, even if Washington, DC is far behind Seoul Korea.

Copps’s remarks are snowballing into an overarching theme of pulling the reins on media consolidation and corporate gatekeepers. His comments on broadband match others on the concerns regarding the wireless spectrum, and News Corp.’s buyout of Dow Jones.

In a statement issued after the rules were set, Copps said, "[W]e have seen a wave of consolidation among wireless incumbents that has substantially increased the hurdles facing potential new entrants. And now we live in a world where the two leading wireless companies are owned in whole or in part by the leading wireline telephone companies."

And these same companies want to act as gatekeepers on the Internet as well, ending the long-running Net Neutrality that has ensured an unprecedented place in the democratic process for the American people.

"What’s good for shareholders of huge media conglomerates isn’t always what’s good for the public interest or our civic dialogue," he said.

Media consolidation, too, is concern for Copps, and said people shouldn’t be too quick to think News Corp.’s acquisition of Dow Jones is a done deal.

The Hollywood Reporter quotes him as saying:

"This deal means more media consolidation and fewer independent voices, and it specifically impacts the local market in New York City. We should immediately conduct a careful factual and legal analysis of the transaction to determine how it implicates specific FCC rules and our overarching statutory obligation to protect the public interest. I hope nobody views this as a slam-dunk."

Copps’ concerns echo a growing concern in the public that too few companies have too much control of important media in their everyday lives and will diminish their voice in the democratic process.

Dow Jones Denies News Corp. Buyout

TheBusinessOnline cited anonymous "sources acting for the Dow Jones board," though it’s unclear what was meant by that.

In the report, which the publication labeled "exclusive," The Business claimed Rupert Murdoch’s $5 billion bid for Dow Jones was accepted, with editorial conditions set by the Bancroft family to ensure independence for the Dow Jones-owned Wall Street Journal.

The article also admits that Dow Jones issued a statement saying the report was incorrect, but later "refused to elaborate on the record." In fact, on the record, the Dow Jones statement simply reads:

An article published on Thebusinessonline.com this morning stating that an agreement in principle has been reached for the sale of Dow Jones & Company to News Corp. is incorrect.

End of statement. It’s easy to think, however, that someone spoke too soon. A deal between the two seemed eminent, as other possible suitors backed away from acquisition possibilities last week, and the WSJ published an article about how the company’s top three editors were protected by a "pact" to ensure editorial independence.

The initial report said an announcement was expected next week, and denials at this point may just be damage control. Statements from News Corp. seem noticeably absent.

The deal is significant because ownership of Dow Jones and its publication gives conservative-leaning Rupert Murdoch a huge boost of influence in the media, adding the WSJ to Fox, the New York Post, MySpace, and other powerhouses.

Integrating all the top media properties, online and off, seems to be Murdoch’s top priority. Adding Dow Jones to today’s approval of Fox’s purchase of the top photo site on the Web, Photobucket, will make next week a champagne type of week for a lot of corporate suits.