http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/02/2937/
Published on Thursday, August 2, 2007 by Inter Press Service
Murdoch's Expanding Empire Seen as "Ominous"
by Khody Akhavi
WASHINGTON - Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch added one of the
most respected brands in journalism to his already vast media empire this
week, gaining enough support from the deeply divided Bancroft family to buy
Dow Jones & Company, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, for 5 billion
dollars.
In the midst of a very public negotiation which had much of U.S.
journalism recoiling in horror, Murdoch also announced his intention to
launch Fox Business Network, which will begin broadcasting this October.
And it appears the News Corp. Chairman has every intention of using
the journalistic resources of Dow Jones to bolster his fledgling business
channel.
"Murdoch has a long and sordid history of discarding the accepted
norms of honest journalism in order to advance his own political and
corporate agenda," wrote Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow at Media Matters in
America, in a statement published on the progressive media watchdog group's
website.
"Of particular concern is Murdoch's plan to use the Journal to help
launch the Fox Business Network, which will be overseen by Fox News boss and
former Republican strategist Roger Ailes," Boehlert said.
The convergence of Dow Jones and Murdoch's FOX Business Network makes
the NBC-owned and operated CNBC a prime target. In 1997, CNBC formed a
strategic alliance with Dow Jones, including content sharing with Dow Jones
Newswires and the Journal and the rebranding of the channel as "a service of
NBC and Dow Jones."
Yet Murdoch and Ailes have criticised the channel for not being
business friendly. "Many times I've seen things on CNBC where they are not
as friendly to corporations and profits as they should be," Ailes told the
New York Times.
"They [Murdoch and Ailes] say they are going to challenge this
pernicious bias. Their argument is that CNBC is too anti-business, but
that's
hard to fathom if you've ever watched it," Peter Hart, a media analyst at
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) told IPS.
While the coupling of Dow Jones and the new FOX venture is a victory
for proponents of media consolidation, much of the anger throughout the
journalist community has been directed at Murdoch's acquisition of the
Journal - a publication many in the U.S. believe to be the most respected
name in business reporting.
Critics have decried the Dow Jones sale, arguing that Murdoch has
rarely improved any news media company he has purchased, and that he will in
all likelihood turn the highly respected Journal into a mouthpiece for his
own political views, as he has done with the Fox News Channel.
While the Journal isn't exactly a beacon of liberal opinion - its
editorial pages boast some of the most right-wing and conservative voices in
the U.S. - the paper remains an iconic publication known for its serious and
credible reporting tradition. Negative sentiments were voiced by Journal
reporters themselves, who, when speaking on the condition of anonymity to
the Los Angeles Times, reacted bitterly to news of the sale.
The fear is that Murdoch will imbue the Journal with the same
sensationalism and, it is widely acknowledged, biased news coverage found on
Fox News and in the pages of the New York Post. Thirty years ago, Murdoch
purchased the liberal tabloid for 30 million dollars and promised not to
alter it. Currently, the paper is regarded as a right-wing gossip rag.
"Murdoch doesn't practice journalism; he molds diverse media into a
single voice. It's a dangerous uniformity - threatening the democratic
discourse a free press sustains as well as enabling wars by conniving with
bellicose politicians," wrote John Nichols in a report in the Nation
magazine.
News Corp. owns such media companies as the Fox News Channel,
Twentieth Century Fox movie studios, the New York Post, the Weekly Standard,
the Times of London, publications in England and Australia, satellite
television networks in Europe and Asia, as well as the popular
peer-networking group MySpace.
The recent buy-out of Dow Jones gives Murdoch Barron's Financial
Weekly, Dow Jones Newswires and the Ottaway community papers.
In a letter published Wednesday in WSJ, publisher L. Gordon Crovitz
reassured readers that his staff would work diligently to maintain the
newspaper's editorial independence and to continue practicing accurate
journalism.
In fact, he wrote, "accurate and independent journalism" was the first
topic discussed by Murdoch and Bancroft family during the negotiations.
According to Crovitz, the News Corp. Chairman told the Bancroft family that
"any interference - or even a hint of interference - would break the trust
that exists between the paper and its readers, something I am unwilling to
countenance. Apart from breaching the public's trust, it would simply be bad
business."
In order to safeguard long-standing standards of conduct - among them
"no hidden agendas" and a promise to accurately and fairly represent "the
facts" - a special committee was created to protect the Journal's newsroom
from attempts to steer coverage that may advance Murdoch's interests.
While Murdoch may not initially tamper with the editorial content of
the Journal, his ownership does place him in a position to directly
challenge the New York Times. It would not be surprising if Murdoch engaged
in a less overt campaign to woo advertisers away from that paper by offering
cheaper advertising rates, according to Hart.
"That's the playbook. Go after you competitors, go after their ad
rates so they lose the support from advertisers," said Hart. "You have to
have money to push a price war, and if [Murdoch] did that, there would be no
surprise."
Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service
***
From: Democrats.com
August 9th is the 33rd anniversary of the historic day when President
Richard Nixon resigned in the face of impeachment. Please plan now to mark
the day with ceremonies, solemn or fun. We need to remind America that the
proper use of impeachment did not traumatize our nation, but healed it -
everyone agreed "the system worked."
Bush and Cheney have now surpassed Nixonian levels of disapproval in the
polls, and for good reason. They openly committed the same abuses for which
the House Judiciary Committee passed articles of impeachment against Nixon
(such as refusing to comply with subpoenas). They openly violated laws put
into place in response to Nixon's abuses (such as the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act). They seized unconstitutional power in ways Nixon never
attempted (such as by rewriting laws with signing statements). And Cheney
and Bush committed far more serious crimes, including misleading the nation
into war, kidnapping, torture, and murder.
When Congress finally stood up to Nixon, he was gone in 3 months. (And that
was with evidence of crimes still needing to be discovered, unlike today
when it is already known). The Democrats won the biggest victories in recent
memory in the elections that followed their decision to uphold the
Constitution. In contrast, when they took the impeachment of President
Ronald Reagan off the table, in order to win elections, they proceeded to
lose.
Kucinich Accepts Over 100,000 Petitions Urging Cheney Impeachment
Congressman Dennis Kucinich on Thursday received petitions from people
throughout the country who support impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney.
Kucinich introduced H. Res. 333, which proposes articles of impeachment
against the Vice President on April 24, 2007. Petition signatures in support
of impeaching Vice President Cheney have been collected at
http://www.impeachcheney.org by a coalition that includes Brave New Films,
A28, AfterDowningStreet, Backbone Campaign, True Majority, Iraq Veterans
Against the War, BuzzFlash, Democracy Rising, Democrats.com, Grass Roots
America, Hip Hop Caucus, ImpeachBush.tv, Impeach for Peace, Impeach Space,
The Nation, National Lawyers Guild, OpEdNews, The People's Email Network,
Progressive Democrats of America, Code Pink, United for Peace and Justice,
Velvet Revolution, World Can't Wait. The coalition presented Congressman
Kucinich with 113,000 signatures, plus additional petition signatures from
some individual groups.
Working Assets, the only wireless company fighting to impeach Vice President
Dick Cheney, has collected over 50,000 of its members' signatures to submit
to their Congressional representatives calling for his impeachment. True
Majority has collected 49,000 signatures. Democrats.com and
AfterDowningStreet have collected an additional 28,000 signatures in support
of impeaching the Vice President. And Impeach for Peace has brought together
thousands of hand-written memorials, in accordance with the rules of the
Jefferson Manual, from individuals around the country urging the impeachment
of Dick Cheney. Representatives from several of these organizations took
part in Thursday's event.
There are currently 16 co-sponsors of H.Res. 333: Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI),
Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA), Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Rep. William Lacy Clay
(D-MO), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Bob Filner
(D-CA), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Jim
McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Jan
Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and
Rep. Al Wynn (D-MD).
Does Your Representative Support Impeachment? Just Ask!
I ran into Congressman Donald Payne Tuesday evening and asked him if he
would sign on to cosponsor H Res 333, articles of impeachment against Vice
President Dick Cheney. He said yes immediately and brought his legislative
director in on the conversation. They both said yes, as a matter of course,
as if all they'd been waiting for was someone to ask them. Now, I know
that's not quite the case, and that citizens of New Jersey have been
lobbying Payne and other New Jersey Congress Members intensely. Still, it
makes me wonder how many Congress Members might back impeachment if people
just got to them, face-to-face, and asked.
Well, here's your chance to find out. Congress is taking the next month off.
Congress Members will be in their districts. They'll be near your house.
They have offices near your house. Now is the time to ask them to cosponsor
H Res 333 or introduce their own articles of impeachment against Cheney. If
they agree to cosponsor H Res 333, you should contact Congressman Dennis
Kucinich's office and let him know. If they do not agree, you should make a
bunch of big posters that say "Honk to Impeach" and stand on the street
corner in front of your Congress Member's office. Or you should sit in their
office, read the Constitution out loud, and refuse to leave. August is your
time to make your message clear. 54% of Americans want Cheney impeached, and
40% do not. See how many of that 54% you can bring with you to your
representative's office.
Cheryl Biren-Wright wrote to share this: Rep. Robert Brady (D., Pa.) just
signed onto H Res 333. I'd like to share an interesting tidbit - bob brady's
district office is on s. broad street in philadelphia just on the other side
of city hall from where we had our "honk for impeach" during rush hour on n.
broad street yesterday. i can attest that the honking never ceased - it was
one steady stream of noise - the people want it! An idea for others who plan
rush hour impeach "honk fests," i had on hand pre-printed impeach postcards
for people to sign and send to their reps. Most drivers were very eager to
take them.
More information: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/cheney
FAIR Takes on the Media's Coverage of Impeachment
Read this analysis from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3149
Then contact the media:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/media
There are ongoing Honk to Impeach events in at least 18 locations around the
country. We should have at least one in every state. Find one near you or
start your own.
We suggest having impeachment petitions on hand for people to sign, wearing
orange, and--if you can--handing out free impeachment bumper stickers.
Forward this message to everyone you know!
To subscribe, create a free Democrats.com account here:
http://www.democrats.com/user/register
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