Just as we learn that the Wall Street Journal's managing editor is expected resign after less than one year in the position, news comes that Rupert Murdoch has agreed to buy yet another New York-area paper, Newsday.

Selling the paper would be key to Tribune Chief Executive and Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell's plans to help slash debt at the company, which he took private in an $8.2 billion buyout last year.The Newsday deal is expected to wipe out as much as $50 million in annual losses that News Corp now incurs on the Post, with the combined Newsday-Post operation earning roughly $50 million, one person familiar with the situation said, according to the Journal.Regulatory issues could slow the sale, particularly media ownership issues that could restrict the number of properties that News Corp and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch could own in the New York Area.An announcement of a deal could be some time away, one person said.

And what about that editor?

Since December, when Mr. Murdochs News Corporation bought Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Journal, he has immersed himself in the newspapers daily operations and quickly made changes in its shape and style. Friends and colleagues say that Mr. Brauchli has been frustrated with some changes, and with the sense that he did not have the control over the newspaper that he was promised.

Paging Professor Moses...