When Rupert Murdoch took over the Wall Street Journal, he promised the Bancroft family he wouldn't mess with the editorial operations. Well, not too much. Nobody really believed him, and for good reason: The five-member panel Murdoch set up set up to protect the paper's editorial integrity had a board member with financial ties to News Corp. But at least Murdoch has kept his hands off managing editor Marcus Brauchli, the well-liked and respected news veteran, who told staffers not to fear their new overlord.

That doesn't mean Brauchli can protect everyone. Especially if they're not editorial.

Yesterday afternoon, Murdoch-installed Dow Jones chief counsel Mark Jackson (formerly of News Corp.'s HarperCollins) called WSJ first amendment attorney Stuart Karle into his office and told him he had until March to pack up his desk. Karle has been with the paper since 1992; Karle has been with the paper's parent since Dec. 17, two days after Murdoch closed on his new purchase. And Brauchli had no say, and wasn't even asked for consultation, on Karle's dismissal.

Reacting to Karle's firing, one staffer told the Observer, "It doesn't give you a lot of confidence that Murdoch really values the culture of this place." Which wouldn't normally be an amusing statement, except it's being made long after anyone made a serious argument Murdoch ever did value the Journal's culture.