'Post' Publisher Grilling 'WSJ' Sales Staff

Rupert Murdoch sure knows how to keep the troops paranoid.

Two months ago, he rattled cages by bringing along New York Post editor Col Allan -- the Philistine's Philistine -- to a meeting with Wall Street Journal higher-ups.

Now, he has officials on the sales side at Dow Jones giving presentations on the state of their business to Post publisher Paul Carlucci, according to Dow Jones sources.

I asked a News Corp. spokesman about the meetings, and whether they betoken any sort of future organizational changes or Post-Journal cooperation. "I wouldn't confirm any specific meetings, but there have been lots of planning meetings about how we can operate together better after we close the deal," he said.

What's increasingly clear is that those operations will in some way involve Robert Thompson, the current editor of the Times of London, another Murdoch-owned paper. Though the Guardian reports Thompson will be installed as the Journal's publisher, I'm hearing he's being eyed for a higher-level job, one that may encompass other News Corp. properties as well.