Stuart Karle, the Wall Street Journal's long time first amendment lawyer, was fired yesterday by a Murdoch-installed Dow Jones bigwig. Managing editor Marcus Brauchli wasn't in, or even allowed to weigh in on, the decision. Add to this, Murdoch snubbed Brauchli's welcome speech when he first arrived. It's as if this crazy media mogul is taking over the entire Wall Street Journal operation! He must be stopped! Of course, "first amendment lawyer" isn't exactly an editorial position, so one wonders how much say the managing editor ought to have, and also perhaps he's just distancing himself from the decision for political reasons, and, as we have seen in most other Murdoch outlets, Rupe hardly calls these sorts of shots himself in an imposing top-down dictator/owner fashion, so maybe a press-friendly lawyer just got fired, and maybe people at the Journal are just worried about their own job security, "well-liked" or not. [NY Observer]