They used to call the party out of power "the loyal opposition," but an Australian-born billionaire with Neanderthal politics and no journalistic scruples has changed all that.
Rupert Murdoch became an American citizen in 1985 so he could own TV stations here, and now as proprietor of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and more has turned his adopted country's mass communications powerhouse into a source of sleazy political power as well as profit.
As Glenn Beck's Dr. Frankenstein, Karl Rove's rehabilitator and Sarah Palin's sugar daddy, Murdoch has defined media deviancy down to the point where it matches the now rock-bottom ethical standards of politics.
One gauge of his dual motivation is reflected in the antics of the Journal, which Murdoch has put behind a pay wall online, but which in recent weeks has made freely available to all its most virulent attacks on Obama.
In today's edition alone, one columnist calls Barack Obama "kind of a jerk," another parses his "disastrous fall" and still another explains why "Connecticut voters want a smackdown of the president's policies."
But if would-be readers are interested in a critique of Stephen Hawking's views on God or what Congress should do about IPOs to help the American economy on "the road to recovery," they will have to pay Murdoch for the privilege.
In his full-bore attacks on Obama, there may be an element of the disappointed suitor for Murdoch, who courted him in 2008 and then even allowed his New York Post to endorse him.
"He is a rock star. It's fantastic," the media mogul said back then. "I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk."
Two years later, Murdoch is busy giving Obama's ugliest attackers a free ride.
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2 comments:
murdoch and the employees of news corp are enemies to the people of the United States of America. They all should be tried for treason, placed in prison or publicly executed for their crimes. The most important aspect of free speech is responsibility. They are deliberately feeding their viewers, readers and listeners misinformation on a grand scale to cause dissension and separation between American citizens. If this is not checked many more Americans will die from this misinformation. This is the most obvious example of yelling FIRE there is.
I could never understand why what I thought was a well respected, albeit business, newspaper was so partisan and nasty to Obama...now I know,thanks from Toronto
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