There is talk of transforming News Corp into two companies: One for the newspapers (which don't produce much revenue) and one for the entertainment companies. Although this NYT piece does not specify, it appears that Fox News will be classified as entertainment.
Fitting.
A lot of people don't understand that Fox News is an anomaly within News Corp. The company really reflects the ethos of Roger Ailes, not Robert Murdoch. Although Murdoch is famously "hands on" when it comes to detailed oversight of his other assets, he leaves Fox alone and reportedly detests much of what Fox does. As David Brock and Ari Rabin-Havt detail in their invaluable The Fox Effect, News Corp executives seem genuinely afraid of Fox News.
Some will be surprised to learn that Rupert Murdoch supported Barack Obama in 2008. I'm not sure which candidate has Murdoch's vote now, but he certainly doesn't seem pleased with Mitt Romney. Moreover, Murdoch has advertised his belief in man-made climate change.
All of this contradicts the party line as delivered by Fox News. They've always hated Obama, and they always feature "experts" from "think tanks" (read: propaganda outfits) who deny climate change.
We need a better Theory of Fox. I don't think we're going to get one from Brock and Rabin-Hayt, as much as I appreciate their work.
As for the News Corp split: It may have some connection to the real Murdoch scandal, unmentioned by the NYT.
4 comments:
Why would the NYT bring up News Corp's scandals when it might start readers thinking about their own dirty laundry.
Remember how they parroted anything dick Cheney had Bush the Lesser accuse Saddam Hussein of in re WMDs?
Or their unhinged Op-Ed journalists smearing Democratic Presidential candidates?
I would look carefully for connections between Ailes and the US intel community. Fox uses the same techniques that the CIA has used since the 1950's to destabilize elected governments around the world; it was only a matter of time before the same methods came back to the USA, their country of origin.
I'm most curious what the control mechanism for the Movement Conservative is; is there a Politburo structure that we can't see, or is there a single leader?
Colorado, you're pondering what I'm pondering. But we need evidence.
There has been some talk that Murdoch hooked up with the CIA, or at least with the Nugan-Hand thing, by way of Murdoch's old partner, a fellow named Abeles.
I'd follow the money here.
What? are you kidding...?
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