Yet many experts also surmise that while Mr. Murdoch’s influence on the pages of The Journal is inevitable, it will matter less than people think, especially in the short run. His primary business strategy in buying Dow Jones is to use The Journal and the newswires as a source of content and credibility for the Fox Business Channel, which he plans to introduce in October.

Image Credit... Joseph Ciardiello

“He’s saying, ‘I like this paper, I’ve paid a lot of money for it, I think The Journal and its brand are a valuable part of my global strategy,’ and he’s not going to mess that up,” said Anne K. Gordon, a partner at Dubilier & Company, a private investment firm, and a former managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. She said people who predict that Mr. Murdoch would intervene aggressively, in damaging ways, “do not give him enough credit.”

Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell, a business research firm, said that when it comes to changing The Journal, “I also think he’ll go slow, at least at first,” because Mr. Murdoch “doesn’t want to jeopardize the brand he’s buying.”

Even so, he said, “I find it just about impossible to imagine that if he really wants to make changes, any agreement will hold him back for very long.”

The tentative deal still must pass muster with the Bancrofts, some of whom have accused Mr. Murdoch of warping news coverage for political or business reasons. It is impossible to describe exactly how the controls will work, experts say, in part because they know of no real precedent for the structure it puts in place, in media companies or any other business.

“The agreement would be an obstacle to editorial interference,” said Louis Ureneck, chairman of the journalism department at Boston University, and a former deputy managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “But it’s not a firewall. The composition of the special committee would be the result of negotiation and compromise, since both parties need to agree to it, and that invites political compromise at the outset.”

Mr. Murdoch would also be able to set the editors’ budgets, and he has talked of pumping more money into the Journal’s news department, at a time when many newspapers are struggling and cutting their staffs. Under those circumstances, any owner would want some say in what kind of coverage is beefed up in the process.