To this end, News Corp. and the Bancrofts agreed on standards modeled on the long-standing Dow Jones Code of Conduct.

WSJ: A Report to Our Readers

In contrast with News Corp's sally for Dow Jones, many of the thorny details of the proposed tie-up between Reuters and Thomson, the second- and third-largest providers of financial data respectively, have already been worked out.

ECONOMIST: Media deals

The bribery allegations surfaced amid a sprawling investigation of a phone-hacking scandal that's plagued Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. media empire, which includes Dow Jones and the newspaper, since 2011.

WSJ: WSJ denies bribery in China