Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media pirate who is in the process of being cut down to size by the British, may have trouble brewing in the U.S., too. As the New York Times reports, concern over Murdoch’s News Corporation’s appalling ethics “has crossed the ocean.” At least six members of Congress this week have called for investigations of possible misconduct by Murdoch papers in America, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. News Corporation is based in the U.S., and thus their British papers’ tactics of paying police for information violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Beyond that one issue, however, Congress should include Fox News, Murdoch’s most financially successful U.S. operation and one that is already infamous for distorting the function of a normal news-gathering organization into an unofficial-in-name-only mouthpiece for the Republican Party. Fox News, by the way, has been making news of its own for its sparse-to-nonexistent coverage of Murdoch’s massive problems in Great Britain. Some of Fox’s panelists were even caught off-camera talking about deliberately avoiding the issue. Yeah, that’s a legitimate news organization, all right, and not a front for right-wing propaganda. It seems obvious, but any congressional investigation of News Corporation has to include Fox News.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2011.
Explain how Murdoch is a “mouthpiece for the Republican Party” when he was a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton for President.
BTW, try – if you can stomach it – watching MSNBC at 1PM when Andrea Mitchell, wife of former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, ignores the freedom candidates for President (Ron Paul and Gary Johnson) while displaying a psychotic bloodlust for the six wars that Obama is now fighting on behalf of the banks who employed her husband.
Read it again, Joe. He’s not saying Murdoch is a mouthpiece for the Republican Party, he’s saying Fox News is, which is true. Murdoch owns Fox, but lets Roger Ailes, a rabid conservative, run it. Plus, Murdoch gave a little money to Hillary’s senate campaign and primary campaign for Pres. She’s a senator from the city where his empire is based – what else is he going to do? The fact that FoxNews used to get marching orders from Rove when Bush was president has been written about and documented over and over. Ailes was one of Reagan’s top aides, so what did you expect? Seems like you’re kind of behind the curve, Joe – even some Fox people are admitting lately that their news slant is pro-Republican, so what’s the problem?
Oooooohhh… Ailes is “rabid”. Better not let him bite ya.
What would you call Ted Turner then? What about Rick Kaplan, who, while executive producer of ABC’s “PrimeTime Live,” advised Bill Clinton how to deal with the Gennifer Flowers affair issue, recommended that the Clintons appear on “60 Minutes,” and advised the Clintons on how to handle that interview.
Kaplan became executive producer of ABC’s World News Tonight, then President of CNN/US (where he ordered reporters to “limit the use of the word ‘scandal’’ in reporting on Clinton’s campaign fundraising”, then President of MSNBC, and is presently Executive Producer of The CBS Evening News.
For those of you keeping score at home, that’s one Friend Of Bill, FOUR “news” networks.
I note your predictable silence on the MSNBC/Fed connection.
Anyone who believes that Fox is news and every news outlet that is not owned by Mr. Murdock is part of the vast left wing conspiracy is not going to be influenced by anything anyone writes here.
I love how right wing defenders always point to other cases as a means of defense. (i.e Joe)
How would that hold up in court in front of a jury?
“Your honor, my client murdered someone but hey, others have murdered too so we should be ok if others are doing it too right?”
Crimes are crimes and Joe, your little defense about Clinton and Kaplan doesn’t hold water.
We’re talking hacking phones of innocent people. 911 victims too. C’mon, that’s a lot worse than some being advised.
Bill,
Murdoch has hired former Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh, the primary architect of the Obama-signed PATRIOT Act (you remember PATRIOT, the act that fascist motherfucker Harry Reid went apoplectic over when Rand Paul – REPUBLICAN of Kentucky – protested its extension).
so…you think we all must like that guy because Obama agreed with him on something once? most liberals despise the Patriot Act, and many of us aren’t too happy with Obama over things like that. again you get waaay off topic, thinking “gotcha” every time you can relate ANYTHING to ANY democrat.
stu,
What have you done about PATRIOT and about Obama?
Joe, I was only commenting about how your post had nothing to do with the article, so if your only interest is in leading me further down that tangent, you can kindly excuse yourself and find an article ABOUT the patriot act to comment on.
Obama top recipient of News Corp. donations
http://www.thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/172321-report-obama-top-recipient-of-news-corp-donations
Political donations by News Corp., its employees and their families were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with President Obama the all-time leading recipient, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation.
News Corp. has spent $8.2 million since 1997 lobbying on issues such as net neutrality and privacy. He also points out the top recipients from the firm’s political action committee, News America Holdings, in the 2009-10 election cycle were Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).