August 17, 2010 2:27 PM

Fox News Parent News Corp. Gives $1 Million to GOP

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Republicans

Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman and CEO.

(Credit: AP)

Updated 3:41 p.m. Eastern Time

Fox News parent company News Corp. has given $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. 

A spokesman for News Corp., which also owns the New York Post and other media properties around the world, said in an email to Politico's Ben Smith that the company "believes in the power of free markets, and the RGA's pro-business agenda supports our priorities at this most critical time for our economy."

The Republican Governors Association's most recent disclosure filing is here. The News Corp. donation is listed under "News America Inc." The news was first reported by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Despite widespread perceptions that Fox News is a conservative media outlet, the network maintains that its news coverage (as opposed to its opinion programming, such as "The Glenn Beck Program") is non-partisan.

According to Smith, FOX's political action committee has also donated to Sens. Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, though the donations were in the much smaller four-figure range.

In a statement, Democratic National Committee National Press Secretary Hari Sevugan said Fox News' "Fair and Balanced" slogan "has been rendered utterly meaningless" by the donation.

"Any pretense that may have existed about the ties between Fox News and the Republican Party has been ripped violently away," he said. "No Republican who appears on Fox can be seen as answering to an independent press and all should appear with a disclaimer for who they truly are - the favored candidate of the corporate-friendly network. No Fox News political coverage can be seen as impartial and all of it should have a disclaimer for what it truly is - partisan propaganda."


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by nuttyworld August 19, 2010 12:11 PM EDT
What have ABC, NBC and CBS given to Democrat party?
Reply to this comment
by nuttyworld August 19, 2010 12:10 PM EDT
How much did other stations give to Dems?
Reply to this comment
by orwellll August 18, 2010 6:24 PM EDT
As you can see that News Corp is clearly the propaganda outlet of the Republican Party. The $1 Million contribution to the GOP is a clear statement of whose side they are on as if their editorial page and every other page ever left and doubt.

But who are the major investors in News Corp.?

From AOL Money & Finance 8/16/10:

News Corp.'s second-largest shareholder, after the Murdoch family, is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the nephew of Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, and one of the world's richest men.

Through his Kingdom Holding Co., Alwaleed owns about 7% of News Corp., or about $3 billion of the media giant. He also owns 6% of Citigroup -- to which he was introduced by the Carlyle Group -- or about $10 billion of the giant bank. He's a part-owner of the famed Plaza Hotel in New York and has invested in many other prominent companies. (At one point he invested in AOL (AOL), the parent company of DailyFinance.)

Earlier this year, News Corp. invested $70 million for a 9% stake in Alwaleed's Middle Eastern media and entertainment company, Rotana, which "owns the Arab world's largest record label and about 40% of the region's movies -- most of which are Egyptian -- and operates 11 free-to-air television channels, two of which are through a partnership with News Corp.," according to Reuters. (Rotana broadcasts Fox movies and TV shows throughout the Middle East.) News Corp. has an option to double its stake in Rotana for another $70 million within 18 months.

From forbes.com:

The American public might know Alwaleed best for the $10 million donation he attempted to make to New York City after the 9/11 attacks. Mayor Rudy Giuliani returned the check to the prince because of language in Alwaleed's press release that Giuliani believed was critical of U.S. foreign policy. "The Giuliani incident raised my stock in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world," Alwaleed now says. "He's an expired hero. I'm still a rising star."

Do you see how this works?
Reply to this comment
by bluchetta August 18, 2010 3:40 PM EDT
How old is Murdoch? Just wondering how long this country has to put up with biased news.
Reply to this comment
by AdamsJohn August 22, 2010 1:03 PM EDT
Really, do you know how much money Time Warner (owner of CNN) has contributed to Democratic entities? How about how much money GE (owner of CBS) or Walt Disney (owner of ABC) has given to democratic entities. According to http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php, in fact, you can't even find News Corp on the heavy hitters list, but the other news groups are. So if Fox News ever did go away, there would be only liberal bias, which would make you happy. The difference is that Fox News doesn't try to hide their bias the way the other networks do.
by Shibbol August 18, 2010 2:16 PM EDT
Murdoch is caught with his pants down. Maybe time to sell Fox to the highest bidder.
Reply to this comment
by Bisk1 August 18, 2010 12:52 PM EDT
by bradkt1 August 17, 2010 4:52 PM EDT
I have to agree with jimboom121. It is a little different when this kind of money is coming from a "fair and balanced" news organization. Conservatives go nuts over the alleged liberal bias of reporters simply because of their voter registration...but there won't be a peep out of them over this.

*********

I wonder what Saraah will have to say bout this ..... Dumb Dumb Repugs !!
Reply to this comment
by lawkwfl August 18, 2010 1:00 PM EDT
"Repugs"?? LOL are we still in 3rd Grade? Your post speaks volumes about your ability reason current events. While I think any entity giving either side any money for their campaign chests is unacceptable, instead of griping about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn it, you should have started where the fraud got its start....UNIONS, they've been buying their candidates for years. The SCOTUS ruling simply puts candidates who have union backing on par with those that don't. Like it or not the ruling is giving both parties a biased voice. You can't have it both ways!
by AdamsJohn August 22, 2010 1:06 PM EDT
....see my reply to Shibbol....you are wrong, there is an obvious liberal bias, and is proven with empirical data here: http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php

Look at Time Warner, GE, and Walt Disney. Then search the heavy hitters list for News Corp. Guess what you will find?
by pdchapin August 18, 2010 9:09 AM EDT
I would think the GOP should be paying Fox for the slanted coverage.
Reply to this comment
by nuttyworld August 18, 2010 12:28 AM EDT
So does that finally make it wrong for CBS, ABC, and NBC to be pro Democrat?
Reply to this comment
by jimbom121 August 18, 2010 8:48 AM EDT
Who says? The other networks report just as many negative stories about the Dems as Repubs
by actornaught August 17, 2010 10:24 PM EDT
If you couldn't quite decide if fox was blatantly biased show biz or not, this sews it up.

Keeping some kinds of people pistoff is a ratings winner, evidently. I'm happy for Rupe (not really). But "news"? No, just comedy with one punchline: your fans.
Reply to this comment
by dugger132 August 17, 2010 9:30 PM EDT
So, how much has George Soros given to Democrats?
Reply to this comment
by jimbom121 August 18, 2010 8:49 AM EDT
Last I checked George Soros does not run a news organization.
by dugger132 August 18, 2010 3:26 PM EDT
Irrelevant. Murdoch owns a number of media outlets. So what? Does that deny him the right to contribute to political causes? If so, let's start the witch hunt for anyone in media giving any amount to any politician, campaign, or PAC. And make sure that GE has no ties to the White House, will you?
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