Rupert Murdoch: the devil? reincarnation of all of the world's tyrants? a human blender determined to turn the world's brains to mush with his news outlets unique brand of right wing, subjective, self serving patronising reporting?

Discuss.

(or not, as most posts like this end up)

I will admit to having had grave concerns when he bought my favorite paper, the Wall Street Journal.  It's a bit early to judge but so far, I can't tell a difference.  It's all about the staff and the freedom they have.  Until I hear that the writers are leaving in droves for greener pastures (if there are such places in newspaper journalism anymore), I'm sticking.

Otherwise, I don't think too much about RM at all.  Not a fan or a major detractor but I always tend to feel a little more sympathetic toward those who are routinely demonized as corporate monsters including the CEOs of Starbucks or McDonalds, etc.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Not the Devil.  However, given the whole Fox News thing, not my favorite person.  He is turning a tidy profit by employing people I really really don't like.  This is America, so that's his right, but I always get the feeling that more than for the other major networks Fox is minimally interested in the truth and maximally interested in whipping up a loyal fan base who will help it make more money.

Agreed, Susan- not sure about WSJ yet- to be honest I don't read it very often.

Well count me in if we're talking about dumbing down when it comes to news.  My husband can attest to my rants as we watch just about ANY of it.  And my rants each morning over the LA Times! 

Seriously, when Tim Russert (Meet The Press) died last year, it marked the passing of one of the last true television journalists who can now be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Rupert is the devil because he owns Fox news. The one and only news station to not bow down and vote for and fawn over Obama. That station can't be tolerated in a 'liberal' universe.

If the 'progressives' could destroy Fox and silence that lowly AM radio band there would be no opposition to O's rules and decrees. That would be/is the goal.

One complementary media-one voice lock step coverage everywhere. ABC, CBS,  MSNBC, NBC, CNN. Any divergence shall be silenced. Forget that freedom of the press b.s. : )

All news coverage should reflect Chris Matthews. Reporters and wonks should get "a tingle up my [his] leg" upon seeing Obama.

On the upside, if it wasn't for Fox News the Daily Show and Colbert report would probably have run out of material.  Of course, Fox News has only itself to blame for Matthews and Olberman.  Free speech is free speech, and they had no right to expect to keep their monopoly on rediculously enraged asses.

 Is it just me, or is NPR getting more and more conservative editorials?

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

i'm far from being a liberal hippy idiot, ('yay, i permit everything except things that i dont't agree with...booo')

but...fair enough, every news outlet is a business, and has their own political agenda or whatnot...but i sorely dislike when audiences/readers are talked down to/misinformed/given things in a deliberately provocative and vague context in order to stir up an emotional reaction...or leanings towards sheer pettiness....for instance, past few days in scotland, al lof the tabloids feature as their sole 'FRONT PAGE' article, some shit about Big Brother...feeding constant petty moronic thoughts into the public consciousness.

Big Brother!  How about the ubiquity of Jon and Kate!?!?!?  I'm not sure how many weeks now, but every time I walk through the supermarket check-out, it is their faces I see having never seen them anywhere before.  They surely must be the most important thing going on today.  And how sick am I of that Victoria Beckham hairdo?

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

FNC's O'Reilly and Hannity are BIASED ANALYSTS - and they are up front about it. Everyone knows when you watch Sean or Bill, you know you are going to get right of center bias. It's like flipping over to the AM band and listening to Rush - he's also not a journalist. Putting any of these guys in the "journalist" column is WRONG. It bugs me when I hear analysts call themselves journalists becasue they aren't. It also bothers me when people don't see (or know) the difference between journalists (Tim Russert) and analysts (Hannity).

Unlike FNC, most of the other networks won't admit to their biasness when reporting stories. They act like journalists, give very subtle analysis, and quietly spin the news their way so you can't tell. MSNBC and NBC have done it for about a year now for Obama. (Their ratings have also been going up)

Now, let's be honest about news. IT'S NEVER BEEN FAIR OR BALANCED. The idea that news at any point in society has been fair and balanced is fiction. We can go back to the 1800s and early 1900s in which "hard news" was more like tabloids (thank you, Hearst). I encourage anyone who is interested to read old newspaper articles back in the 1800s. You'll see what i mean.

And then it was around WWII that I believe news started to move back to a more "balanced" version of news, but it didn't last very long. As soon as we hit the 60s and Vietnam, it shifted again and has been moving that way since.

Now with regards to Murdoch - the guy is a good capitalist. He sees the market, sees what is missing (convservative slant in the news), and fills that hole. Why do you think FNC continues to be the number 1 cable news network for SEVEN YEARS? Even FNC's most balanced news shows (Special Report and FOX Report) consistently outpace the other cable news shows. And in Feb, FNC was third most watched basic cable network in primetime (that's ALL basic cable channels).

And of course, there's always going to be a market for the dumb-down tabloids. (Did you know that Michelle is keeping an "Obama is gay" story out of press?) I don't see that as much of a problem though. I think the bigger issue is that our mainstream news (city and national papers and magazines, network and cable news) filters things to slant their own conscious and unconscious bias.

Jordan .

i found this article today - and thought it matched the discussion a bit. Not about Murdoch, but instead about NBC and GE.

click here

Jordan .

Interesting article, Jordan.

 Nikki Finke is a fine investigative journalist.  She once wrote for the LA Weekly.  Entertaining and one who really digs for the full story.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Jordan .

onnnne andddd the saaame.

ARGH, let's resort to extreme tactics eh. BOOM.

Jordan .

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

those poor lambs at fox i can't imagine why people think they are partisan