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Rupert Murdoch stands up for America

Written By mista sense on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 | 6:40 PM

The Cable Gamer has always been a fan of Fox News.  Why?  For two reasons: First, FNC has  brought fairness and balance to the Cable Game--sometimes it seems as if FNC is the only major news outlet giving conservatives a voice, albeit not an unalloyed voice, as lively give 'em hell FNC contributors such as Kirsten Powers make clear.   Second, even liberals would agree that FNC has also livened up news coverage in general.  The Cable Game is a much more interesting sector than it was a decade ago; that's why I started this blog in 2005. 

Looming in the background of Fox, of course, is its parent company, the News Corporation (NWS), and its chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch.  And while I have never noticed much connection between Fox and NWS (Does Fox trumpet Fox movies? Or Fox TV shows?  Or even The Wall Street Journal?  Not really!), it would be silly to deny that Murdoch plays an outsized role in Fox, NWS, and in American life overall.

So he's a natural target, even if he basically has no role in the day-to-day operations of FNC.  Thus the company of which he is the chairman and CEO decides to give $1 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) , the national campaign group for GOP governors, it's destined to be a big deal, The Daily Kos, and its sister publication, The Huffington Post , to name two of a hundred liberal-left outfits, are all busy trashing Murdoch, NWS, and, of course, Fox.

Over at The Washington Post, Howard Kurtz points out that heretofore, NWS had actually given more money to Democrats--including Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi than to Republicans.  But the margin was close for NWS: 54 percent to Dems, 46 percent to Republicans. By contrast, according to Kurtz, CBS gave $13,000 to D's, and $1,000 to Rs--a 13:1 ratio. 

But now there's a country to save--we must save it from Barack Obama.   As NWS said in a statement accompanying the donation, "News Corporation has always believed in the power of free markets and in organizations like the RGA, which have a pro-business agenda and support our priorities at this most critical time for our economy."  Bravo.

Shortly thereafter, Jack Horner, a spokesman for News Corp., said in an interview with Kurtz: "It's patently false that a corporate donation would have any bearing on our news-gathering activities at Fox News or any other of our properties."

But of course, that didn't stop the RGA rival, the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), from rushing out a letter assaulting what the DGA called NWS's donation to help "put wild-eyed Tea Party candidates in charge of our states and Congressional redistricting," which also asked donors to "make News Corp. regret this decision." Got that, Barbra Streisand?  Dig deep. 

Moreover DGA executive director Nathan Daschle invited himself on to FNC--for the purpose, of course, of denouncing Fox, no matter what the question.   To which FNC said "no," adding a withering statement: "We understand Nathan's desire to get face time on the most watched news network. And when he can offer insight on a legitimate news story instead of concocting a dishonest publicity stunt, we will consider having him on as a guest."  Pow! 

And so the beat goes on.  Who knows what will happen in November, but we know that The Cable Game will go on--and we know that Murdoch and NWS have done their part to save us from further Obamination.

PS: Peter Chernin, we don't miss you one bit. 

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