The Longbow Papers

Link to Main Blog Page

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Murdoch So Far Right He Won't Even Take Ad Money From The Left

4:50 PM

I like nothing about Rupert Murdoch. Forgive me, that wasn't an honest statement. I despise everything the man stands for--or better yet, stoops to--but I must give the Devil his due for stubbornness: The man won't accept commercials on his Fox News aberration of a cable TV news network from the oldest political magazine in America, the venerable, but unashamedly liberal weekly, The Nation.

It isn't often that The Nation has enough money in their ad budget to pay for television commercials. Recently, though, an unnamed, deep pockets individual with a good liberal heart made a sizeable donation of dollars for the little mag that can to go big-time on TV during the RNC in New York. But Rupert said their money wasn't good enough for his empire's clean hands of righteousness, basically telling them to go elsewhere to spend their ill-gotten leftist bucks.

But get this: He is happy to spend his money advertising in their pages. Go Figure. I am not making this up! Read it here, in The New York Times :

The Fox News Channel, the highest-rated cable news network in the country, arrives this week at the Republican National Convention with an opportunity to serve up ample red meat for its core constituency.

A growing number of advertisers would like a piece of that audience, but The Nation, the left-leaning political magazine, will not be among them. Ten days ago, the ad agency for The Nation sent a 60-second commercial to the cable network promoting its brand of political news and commentary as free of White House influence and corporate agendas.

"Nobody owns The Nation. Not Time Warner, not Murdoch. So there's no corporate slant, no White House spin. Just the straight dope," the commercial says.

While the ad will appear on Time Warner's CNN, as well as NBC Universal's MSNBC and Bravo, it will not appear on Fox News, a division of the News Corporation whose chairman and chief executive is Rupert Murdoch.

"They rejected it out of hand," said Arthur Stupar, senior vice president for circulation at The Nation. "I find it ironic. They are the G.O.P. cable station, a champion of free markets, and they got spooked at the thought of running an ad that doesn't publish spin or serve the agenda of corporate conglomerates."

A spokesman for Fox News, which has always rejected the charge that it brings a partisan bias to news coverage, said, "We reject ads all the time," and declined further comment.

Executives at The Nation were hoping that Fox News would be more accommodating, especially because the network has bought an ad in the newest issue of The Nation, which will be coming out during the convention.

And last year, Fox News purchased a back-page ad in The Nation, an action that prompted 50 readers to cancel their subscriptions in protest of the magazine taking what they considered tainted money. After reading of the controversy, Fox News promptly purchased another.

Mr. Stupar of The Nation said that the ad was not specifically constructed to antagonize Fox, but allowed that the specific mention of Mr. Murdoch may have been something of a problem for the cable network.

"Yes, we mention him by name, but we mention Time Warner as well and CNN didn't have a problem with that," he said.

The New York Times

4:50 PM / Editor / permalink 2 comments

Links to this post:

<\$BlogBacklinkControl\$> <\$BlogBacklinkTitle\$> <\$BlogBacklinkDeleteIcon\$>: <\$BlogBacklinkSnippet\$>
posted by <\$BlogBacklinkAuthor\$> \@ <\$BlogBacklinkDateTime\$>

2 Comments:

I don't know, Joseph, this seems to be perfectly in line with the 'principles' of Murdoch and his buddies. Freedom of speech applies only to those he agrees with, and he will do what he can to limit those who disagree. He is an extremist, remember, and this is the way extremists really think and act. They talk about freedom of speech, but they really don't like those they oppose actually being allowed to exercise such freedom. The 50 subscriptions this article mentions were cancelled becase the Nation ran an ad for Fox before are a prime example of how lefties often behave the exact same way.

It's silly and childish, but it's no surprise.

It's a tangent, but there is a connection: One thing I like about this blog is you leave it open to all comers and tolerate all view points, and you treat all your commenters with the same courtesy. This is the way debate should be conducted, but too often isn't.

Chris Waugh

www.livejournal.com/users/chriswaugh_bj/

By Anonymous, at 5:43 PM

Dear Chris,

Yes, Murdoch is simply being himself, and he has every legal right to do so; I am sure many will agree that he has the ethical right to refuse any advertiser also. You are certainly right by reminding us that the left plays the same game when the tables are turned.

What I found most interesting about the report was his willingness to spend his money in their pages. Perhaps that is just his way of "showing the flag" as naval powers do when they sail into not exactly friendly ports.

Thank you for the kind words; I do try to conduct these pages as you suggest, but I sometimes fall short and am more opinionated and churlish than I would like.

Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to say howdy and leave some thoughtful insight behind. I always enjoy your words and your manners.

All the best,

Joseph

By Joseph, at 6:10 PM