Rupert Murdoch and Your Media

Evil has many faces. If you think Cheney's sneer or Bush's smirk are the most frightening images on earth, as I often do, you need to reconsider the face behind brainwashing the country into supporting these demons. This face: Rupert Murdoch. Not so grandfatherly from this angle, huh? On June 26th, the New York Times ran this headline: "Murdoch, Ruler of a Vast Empire, Reaches Out for Even More". It stated in part that back in 2003 a White House pressured Congress changed the rules to allow Murdoch a monopoly on media stations that had prior been limited. Never bite the hand that force-feeds you, huh? If you follow any MSM reporting at all, you know that Rupert Murdoch, owner of the right wing tabloid the New York Post, all things FOX, DirecTV, and has ventured into the net, buying up controlling interests on "My Space". Now the neo-con bastard made a bid to buy the Dow Jones, who owns The Wall Street Journal; claiming he would not influence it editorially. Yeah, right, we believe you Rooopy. Back to quoting the NYT article, for context of how Rupert shows his non-influence and balance. (all emphasis mine) Mr. Murdoch has an army of outside lobbyists, who have reported being paid more than $11 million since 1998 to address issues as diverse as trade relations, programming decency and Internet regulation. ::snip:: For more than 70 years, the federal government has regulated media ownership to protect against any entity gaining too much power over the dissemination of information. And for much of the last two decades, Mr. Murdoch has chafed against those restrictions, winning exceptions and easing regulations. Again and again, Mr. Murdoch won crucial skirmishes with the Federal Communications Commission. In this he was helped most by his Republican allies, including former Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Bush administration, which has promoted measures to allow more consolidation. On Rupert's London Times editorial non-influence by which he claims he would fashion his ownership here, his former Editors had this to say: Fred Emery, another former Times editor, said Mr. Murdoch once said to him: “I give instructions to my editors all around the world; why shouldn’t I in London?” The turmoil of those first years subsided, in part, one former Times editor said, because Mr. Murdoch got rid of those who did not adhere to his politics. “He puts people in who will do his bidding,” said Mr. Neil, the former editor. Fast forward to the move on the Dow. MSNBC reported back on May 1: "It's a brilliant move on many levels," said Mortimer Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report and chairman and co-publisher of the New York Daily News, which competes head to head with News Corp.'s New York Post. "He’s starting a business channel, and he’ll be able to marry (Dow Jones) to the business channel. Yes, this is a face I would trust the financial backbone of this country to, and more influence by which to direct it.  Fair and Balanced Influence; we've seen what that looks like at the hands of Fox News. On the 27th, driving to my job, I listened to a bone chilling report on NPR that is now transcribed there. I suggest the "Listen" feature for its full effect. The Bancroft family, which owns controlling interest of the Dow and the Wall Street Journal had originally been opposed to the sale. This report said that the sale was getting closer to a done deal. According to one person in each camp, Dow Jones and News Corp. have agreed to create a five-person board to resolve future conflicts between Murdoch and editors of The Wall Street Journal's top news and editorial pages. The hope is that the venerable Wall Street Journal, and other Dow Jones publications, would retain editorial independence. Those entities are viewed as staid in comparison with Murdoch's sensationalist media products, which include Fox News, the New York Post, and British tabloid The Sun. ::snip:: Some former news executives say Murdoch also twists coverage to promote his financial interests, especially in Asia. Former Wall Street Journal editor Dennis Kneale asserts that Murdoch will interfere. Opposition was still strong: James Ottoway Jr. is a former Dow Jones executive and board member who controls about 6.2 percent of the stock. "I could not live for the rest of my life with the shame of having voted to sell the Dow Jones company to Rupert Murdoch," he said. The related story that followed, a profile of Murdoch had these money quotes: But Andrew Neil, a former editor for News Corp., isn't impressed. "Rupert Murdoch has been around since the dinosaurs," said Neil. "He knows how to get around any independent board — as he did with me, and as he's done with other editors as well." ::snip:: "I would regularly get cuttings of Wall Street Journal editorials, which were taking a sufficiently hard-line Republican line, and they weren't sent just to pass the time," added Neil, noting that the clippings were sent directly from Murdoch with his handwriting on them. "Don't forget that Rupert Murdoch has always regarded the Op Ed pages of The Wall Street Journal — as he's said to me — as a cup of strong caffeine that gets you going in the morning and tells you what to think," said Neil. The chess game goes on.... with Murdoch making noises about backing out, and hoping the Dow will go down, making his offer seem more lucrative. I, for one, am sick to fucking death of the choke hold he and his affiliates have on this country, his Neo-Con OP/ED's "telling us what to think"! In rural areas, many people have only a Fox affiliate to tune into. Fascism begins when business and politics are married, and the press is controlled by them both. How much more can we take? The harder question: How the fuck do we take our media back? ..and I refuse to take "tune out" as an answer. These people are so very fucking biased, and are influencing, yes brainwashing the masses daily with their hate, their homophobia, their anti-woman stances, their racism, their calling Unpatriotic any dissent. Net Neutrality is gone as well. I'm dying for someone to write that up, but I have overdone my rage for the day. The Fascists must be stopped!