Hey, it looks like Ken Auletta was right. The New York Times is reporting that in the (increasingly likely by the nanosecond) purchase of the Wall Street Journal by News Corporation, an independent committee would be appointed that would have power to approve or reject personnel changes related to top editors. The five founding members of the committee would be jointly chosen by Dow Jones & Co. (we’re assuming with heavy input from the Bancrofts) and News Corp. This committee would have the power to block hirings or firings on the part of News Corp — something extremely close to what Auletta was reporting in his recent New Yorker piece on Murdoch. Meanwhile, the Journal reports on “quixotic” attempts to find an alternate buyer for the paper, including Brian Tierney of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and, err, Brad Greenspan of MySpace.