When You See The Money Coming, Don’t Put Your Foot Down

Michael Hedges March 1, 2023 Follow on Twitter

Media is just another product. Brands seek to satisfy customers and reap the due reward. Market research exists to inform brand executives of customer preferences and aversions. The result, say business scholars, is more efficient allocation of resources leading to higher profits and investor returns. This is the crux of the modern free market. Media brands are very familiar with these concepts and their executions.

Never far from headlines, one way or another, News Corp/News Corp principal owner Rupert Murdoch has been in the news recently. He recently purchased (another) residential property for US$30 million. There’s a new GF seeking to be Mrs Murdoch number 5. He tried and failed at putting News Corp and Fox Corp back together and sold off a real estate company. In addition, son Lachlan is intwined in an Australian defamation lawsuit against popular satirical news portal Crikey.

This past weekend, though, transcripts emerged of the Elder Mr. Murdoch and a few of his employees giving depositions under oath in January for the civil defamation lawsuit of Dominion Voting Systems seeking US$1.6 billion from Fox News, a subsidiary of Fox Corp. Also released were emails of those engaged individuals. Dominion Voting Systems is a provider of electronic voting hardware and software. Its services and equipment were used by 28 US states to process ballots in the 2020 US Presidential Election. Another election technology provider - Smartmatic - has also lodged a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corp.

In the run-up to and aftermath of those elections Fox News show hosts, anchors and guests continued to claim Dominion Voting Systems had participated in a conspiracy to “steal” the election from Donald Trump. That conspiracy, said the claims, emanated from Venezuela president Hugo Chavez, who was already dead. Attorneys General in state after state ruled the election free, fair and proper.

Some newspapers and broadcasters have proffered extreme right-wing views for decades. This is not unique to the United States. The public at large has tuned-in and tuned-out like the ebb and flow of the seas. That Fox News and extremist right-wing elements of US society have been and continue to be inextricably linked is well documented. Mr. Trump verbalized “stop the steal” to motivate supporters as they laid siege to the US Capital Building in January 2021. Fox News gave those events considerable coverage.

Asked about all of this for the deposition, the Elder Mr. Murdoch shrugged off any liability of the TV channel and turning blame to the hired help. “Not Fox, no. Not Fox. Some of our commentators were endorsing (the debunked conspiracy theory).” In an email one of those “commentators” groaned about losing viewers if forced to admit on air the false statements about a “rigged” election, fearing a negative affect on the stock price.

When asked for the deposition about a Fox News advertiser appearing on the channel promoting the “rigged” election conspiracy, the Elder Mr. Murdoch said it was not political. “Not red or blue,” reference to Republicans and Democrats, respectively. “It is green,” the traditional color of US money.

“The most damning headlines to come so far are about the gap between what Fox News hosts say in public and private,” said Harvard Shorenstein Center media and democracy fellow Brian Stelter, quoted by the Guardian (February 28). “Even if a little of that seeps into the Fox bloodstream, it still has an impact.” Fox News “is facing large potential damages which may be a major blow, but not a death blow. It (Fox News) is a license to print money.”

More than a decade ago - 2011 - the Elder Mr. Murdoch and son James, then chief executive of News UK, were admonished to appear at the Leveson Inquiry. The subject was the involvement of News UK tabloid The Sun in illegal phone hacking of celebrities and other figures. They were restrained in their testimony, apologetic, on one hand, and blaming errant contractors for the dirty deeds. At one point, recalled NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik (January 19), the Elder Mr. Murdoch paused the hearing by exclaiming: “This is the most humble day of my life.” Later it was reported that phrase had been scripted by a PR firm. The hearing was also paused when a person rushed in carrying a creme pie, aiming it at Mr. Murdoch only to be thwarted by Wendi Deng, then the 3rd Mrs. Murdoch, with a body chop. It made the evening news.

Through all of this the Elder Mr. Murdoch continues to get out and enjoy himself. He was photographed at the Super Bowl (February 12) hobnobbing with Chief Twit Elon Musk and chowing on a hotdog. Birds of a feather.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation