Rupert Murdoch's purchase of the Wall Street Journal may be changing the focus and look of the paper, but reporters seem to retain their freedom.

Exhibit A: this post at the BreakingViews blog, which says (second item) Murdoch's proposed deal with Yahoo! "puts a value on MySpace would be great for Mr. Murdoch" but "it's hard to see how a MySpace deal could be anything more than a spoiling tactic."

Elsewhere: Winer asks, "Why would Yahoo want to self-inflict more doubt about its future at this moment where doubt is its worst problem?"

Yahoo! speaks.

I'm suspicious of any deal that the perspicacious Scott Rosenberg questions, but the odds seem to favor MSFT.