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The Fox-Murdoch Feud
by Lloyd Grove
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Getty Images (3); AP Photo
Wendi Murdoch encouraged Rupert’s son-in-law to fire a rocket at Fox News boss Roger Ailes—the first salvo in an escalating war between Murdoch’s heirs and the company brass for the future of one of media’s hottest enterprises.
The long-simmering feud between Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch’s adult children has finally erupted into full-scale war—a death struggle over the future of News Corporation, the financially beleaguered media and entertainment conglomerate that the 78-year-old Murdoch continues to control as chairman and chief executive.
The first shot—really a nuclear device—was fired today on The New York Times’ Web site by British public-relations executive Matthew Freud, Murdoch’s son-in-law. Freud’s on-the-record quote, for a front-page profile of the 69-year-old Ailes, who launched and runs News Corp.’s most profitable division, is stunning in its condemnation—a frontal attack on Ailes and an apparent attempt to force News Corp.’s founder to choose between blood and money, between his progeny and his most-prized executive.
A source close to Freud said Wendi Murdoch was one of the family members who encouraged his Ailes attack in the Times.
“I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’ horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to,” Freud told the Times. A News Corp. spokesperson fired back: “Matthew Freud's opinions are his own and in no way reflect the views of Rupert Murdoch, who is proud of Roger Ailes and Fox News.”
A spokesman for Ailes, who in a previous career was a brass-knuckled Republican media consultant who toiled for Presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, had no response today to Freud’s charges. But a News Corp. insider told me the pugnacious Ailes, a self-made son of the working class who was paid $23 million last year, more than Rupert himself, is probably enraged at Freud and plotting his revenge. “Ailes would kill him if he thought he could get away with it,” the insider told me.
• Lloyd Grove: Is Roger Ailes Finished at Fox?One thing is pretty clear: Freud’s opinions are much more than just his own. They undoubtedly reflect those of his wife Elisabeth Murdoch, 41, a former News Corp. executive who owns a television production company in London, and are very likely in sync with the views of James Murdoch, Elisabeth’s 37-year-old brother, who has been taking a larger role within News Corp. in recent years. Freud often maneuvers behind the scenes on behalf of his brother-in-law, who is chairman and chief executive of News Corp.’s Asian and European operations and widely seen as Rupert’s heir apparent.
It’s unclear if Freud’s attack reflects the views of the previous pretender to the throne, 39-year-old Lachlan Murdoch—who in 2005 left the company and moved back to Australia after their father sided with Ailes in a dispute over Fox Television. As the Times story points out, Rupert owes a great deal to Ailes, who has turned Fox News into a $700 million profit machine—“believed to make more money than CNN, MSNBC and the evening newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS combined.”
Ailes, a barrel-chested man who doesn't shrink from a fight, especially in his earlier days when he was prone to physical confrontations, has an ego to equal his bulk. Aside from his pioneering role in political attack ads, Ailes' storied career includes producing daytime television's popular Mike Douglas Show in the 1960s, developing CNBC as a successful cable outlet in the 1980s, acting as a communications coach to such political figures as French President Jacques Chirac—and even producing Broadway shows.
Freud, the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud, is also friendly with Rupert’s 41-year-old Chinese-born wife, Wendi Deng, a former News Corp. executive who has two young children with the billionaire mogul. While her views on Ailes are not publicly known, News Corp. insiders say she's not a fan. Indeed, a source close to Freud told me Wendi was one of the family members who encouraged his Ailes attack in the Times.
Wendi is a skilled inside player, and a possible result of this corporate PR embarrassment would be to undermine Rupert's confidence in Elisabeth and James, thus ultimately advantaging Wendi's children—8-year-old Grace and 6-year-old Chloe Murdoch—in the inevitable successionary rivalry. It would help, of course, if Rupert hangs on as long as his formidable 100-year-old mother. Freud didn't respond to a voicemail message left on his cellphone.
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
jomama
WOW. I want front row seats to this fight. I bet either FoxNews gets spun off into it's own thing via a leveraged buyout orchestrated by Ailes, or Ailes gets the Chair of Fox. The key issue is how much equity Rupert leaves to the anti-Ailes side of the family. If the anti-Ailes camp gets control, that's it. They can ouster Ailes without too much fuss. That would be SWEET! We need to get posters and t-shirts made up and put this on pay-per-view - on Fox, no doubt!
ftn4706
The company is destroying itself; any thinking American can see that Fox News is a circus, not a news show. They have done a good job of spicing up politics. We all know that politics are boring, but it has been over played and will only be a cash cow for so long with its current ways. The other family members are right in the idea to change Fox news into a reputable news source while they have such a larger audience in order to maintain them.
I agree that conservatives need a media outlet, but if you are anything but a fanatical conservative you will agree that Fox News is just plain crap when it comes to real journalism, they make up their own stories and site their own op-ed pieces as factual information, and they do it so well that other news agencies buy into it also, and pick up those same ridiculous stories.
amanda07070
Really DG? Here's what FOX argued in a Florida courtroom in 2003:
Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news. The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.
Hmmm. A "news" organization stating in open court that they have the right to lie. I'll put them in my "favorites" right now.
If you want the link, here you go!
http://www.rense.com/general35/MEDIA.HTM
aldobender
Oh, are YOU a thinking American? Ailes has done a great job and your comments prove that Fox gets the job done. I have watched the rest of the media grow to "progressive" (read liberal) for my tastes. Read this and weep!
diamondgirl
ftn, Fox News is going great, you just wish them problems..Wow. It sounds like Ruperts older children are upset that Ailes and the new wife are in the way of the money they were wishing to inherit... To dam bad, who by the way are Left wing Liberals.
Daddy has made his decision, and you dont run/own Fox News he does...
Without Fox News there would be TOTAL GOVERNMEN RUN MEDIA- just like in Communist Countries. Thank God for FOX NEWS!
Glenda1976
Without Fox, we would be stuck with Chrissy Matthews & Olbermann! Thank God for Fox!!
FarLeftFist
FOX "news" went to court in 2003 for the 'right-to-lie and spread mis-information' and WON!!! I would seriously question any "news" organization with those motives. Also about GOVT RUN MEDIA, it is well-documented that after 9/11 FOX wrote Bush's blueprint on how to act and be a leader, so instead of Govt run media we had media-run-Govt. Also Fox news isn't even owned by an American, it's owned by an Australian with a Communist wife and a Saudi prince. Seriously people look deeper, FOX's ratings are high because people watch it like they watch Jerry Springer...A trainwreck. They turned American politics into a VH1 reality show, not to mention their journalism is horrendous, have you read their articles on their .com, they read at a 4th grade level....At least they know their fanbase. The only one's that take FOX seriously are mindless drones with short attention spans and NO thirst for fact-checking. FOX news reports have been de-bunked so many times they need a whole other channel just to address retractions and corrections, but with the above mentioned motives I don't see that happening anytime soon.
JohnSawyer
While much of mainstream media is too often lame in its reporting, Fox News has failed to be an alternative, with its outright lies, slanting, and so forth. You're looking for an alternative to mainstream news that will report pointedly about government goings-on, but you've mistaken Fox News for being that alternative, maybe simply because it's so attack-based. That's an act on their part--they're after ratings primarily, and they know that inflaming people, instead of delivering accurate news and analysis, is the way to get those ratings. If you want alternative news, I suggest you look elsewhere. One place I suggest you start is www.alternet.org, but there are lots of other real sources of news and analysis.
FairNYC
Typical Far Right talking points.
The good news? They are the future and when they take over your Far Right propaganda station will be history.
amanda07070
Sorry FarLeftFist. You were way ahead of me. I responded to the moron DG before reading your response.
Sephbay
Fox let's us know what CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, and ABC, among others, do not want to say. It helps America understand the gamut of the political spectrum.
Although the people at Fox will never have their names submitted to the Vatican for sainthood, or perhaps will have a round of beer with Obama, it let's us understand the bigger picture of the freedom of speech and of the press.
"How can we understand evil if all we know was good?"
Source: "America's Greatest Challenge: Succession and Continuity"
www.greatestchallenge.org
maspring
"I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes's horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to,"
Cool. Most thinking Americans are ashamed and sickened by it as well.
Maybe Fox News will die someday. Or be cleaned up by the rest of the Murdoch family.
One can only hope.
whipmawhopma
Cleaned up would be nice. We could use a media outlet with a conservative perspective, but without the mouthfoamers and the raving loons. It would be nice if MSNBC could be cleaned up as well. Of course, that would cut into the Daily Show's supply of clips to show, but I am sure the political class could make up any shortfall.
AlanD2
Just why do you think that MSNBC needs to be cleaned up, whipmawhopma?
Their commentators are not liars like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, etc. Also, MSNBC does not foment violence such as the assassination of "Tiller the Baby Killer" and tea parties.
Your attempt to equate MSNBC with Fox News is pathetic.
diamondgirl
Alan,YOU GOT THE MEMO I SEE!
MEMO To: All Dems running for office in 2010,& Gov Run Media
The Following method shold be used to WIN!
Pick your target: Tea Baggers, Palin, Fox News,anyone against legalizing illegal aliens ( Racists)
Method: Pick your target, freeze it,personalize it, polarize it...
It worked in 2008, Saul Alinski is Obama's Hero
MSNBE is Government Run Media, bought and paid for by GE!
dcbooknurse
diamondgirl
>Method: Pick your target, freeze it,personalize it, polarize it..<
You mean like when Fox started calling Obama a socialist/fascist/communist from Day 1?
Like when Palin used the 'palling around with terrorists' line even when it was shown that Obama had no idea about William Aires past?
Like now when Republicans are repeating the lie that there were no terrorist acts under Bush's presidency.Mary Matlin even tried to insist that Bush "inherited" 9/11.
It's called 'projection', dear. It's when you see qualities in yourself in others when those qualities don't really exist.
Saul Alinski is the Republican's God.
charo111
Fox has the highest ratings of all the networks....The best show on MSNBC is Joe Scarbaro's early morning show with all his guests with a wide variety of opinions....no mouthfoamers. MSNBC needs to be cleaned up asap with less ravings.......
whipmawhopma
AlanD2 - I am not equating Fox News with MSNBC, though you might be. Fox News is the one with the mouthfoamers and the raving loons, as I stated in my reply to maspring. I did not attribute anything like that to MSNBC.
Yet I would like MSNBC cleaned up as well. Perhaps a little less self-righteousness from the likes of Olbermann and maybe some kind of governor on the mouth of Matthews so his guests can have some time to respond to the questions he asks them. Of course, I don't have to watch either, and mostly don't.
I don't know about O'Reilly, but Beck (mouthfoamer) and Hannity (raving loon) are not liars, by reason of dimished capacity, i.e. they are insane or at least I have become convinced that they are. O'Reilly on the otherhand, I think that whatever else he is, he is quite sane.
I hope that answered your question.
Imonlyhere2hateU
Does that mean that when bush was in office fox news was THE government run media?
No bias my a$$.
FarLeftFist
Another big reason for FOX "news" high ratings is that it comes standard with every cable provider while Msnbc usually comes with higher priced package deals.
AlanD2
whipmawhopma: I would never equate Fox News with MSNBC.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you for the most part about Olbermann and Matthews. Which is why the Rachel Maddow Show is my favorite on MSNBC.
maspring
Maddow!
ThinkAgain
Thinking? lol They're spoiled brats cruising the cocktail circuits on the money daddy and daddy-in-law handed them on a silver platter. They don't like the fact that it's not cool to be conservative in this bubbleheaded crowd
newswoman
I am convinced that Faux News is watched by more Americans because of all the long legged, blue -eyed blonds they have on their shows. They all wear their skirts halfway up their thighs and for most men, that is all it takes.
FatFreddy
newswoman
CNN has some nice ones also. From the young hottie, Betty Nguyen, to that Cougar/MILF Kyra Phillips.
ThinkAgain
lotsa butt ugly women over there on MSNBC and the networks are there?
This user is no longer registered.
johnwr3
Most Americans who actually watch FOX News are bright enough to be able to separate it from the commentary. This is just another example why you don't hire family or in this case a flipping son-in-law who is eating crumpets and tea today all paid for by his wife's daddy. Yet he has the "cheek" to bite the hand that feeds, moron. Let's just hope FOX doesn't let the idiots run things like they did at the NBC channel. Roger makes Jeff Zucker look like a Media Matters geek, you know alone in his basement with his dick in his hand. Actually, most news orgs. look like that compared to FOX.
diamondgirl
Fox NEWS is the best thing on TV
diamondgirl
Maspring, I dont think so, he has a new wife and 2 young children... I think the writing is on the wall for the older ones...
As for what those of you who like MSNBC you would be so proud of what Chris Matthews said 2 weeks ago...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi3xcoo8LBE
Pupster
You don't seem to know very much about the internal dynamics of the Murdoch family. Wendi Deng is very savvy, true, but it's not in her interest, or her two young daughters' interests, to alienate or undermine the older Murdoch children. Between Wendi and Elizabeth, I wouldn't want to bet who would win in a back alley knife fight. But Elizabeth also has James and (to a lesser degree, Lachlan) on her side, not to mention their still powerful mother Anna. Wendi knows this. Her best bet is to keep Rupert alive as long as possible. One thing she can't change: her two kids are girls -- they will never usurp the two sons in Rupert's mind. (Otherwise, Elizabeth, the smartest of them all, would be heir apparent already.)
One other thing you seem unaware of: Wendi Deng is liberal, even more so than the older Murdoch children. She has very strong pro-China alliances.
FarLeftFist
With that many double-chins I'm sure Ailes will be dead soon.
This user is no longer registered.
ChanRobt
When these moron kids get hold of Fox News, they'll turn it into CNN or MSNBC and destroy the cash cow of NewsCorp.
As usual, third generation wimps will destroy the company.
FairNYC
As they should.
Dirty money is never good karma.
diamondgirl
Rupert has a new wife and younger kids, the older ones are upset because they cant get their hands on Fox news to stop it, because they are liberals. Here is a sample of what Chis Matthews had to say...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi3xcoo8LBE
Pupster
diamondgirl, you seem unaware of Wendi Deng's politics. The older kids are not "upset".
moqueuo
moron? i wonder if you even know what that word means.
ThinkAgain
You'd think they'd see it just by looking in in the mirror wouldn't you? But self-absorbtion doesn't reflect so all they see is a blob of nothingness that in liberal lalal land constitutes intelligence.
AlanD2
I see you're projecting again, ThinkAgain.
ftn4706
The company is destroying itself, any thinking American can see that Fox News is a circus, not a news show. They have done a good job of spicing up polootics. We all knkow that polotics are boring, but it has been over played and will only be a cash cow for so long with its current ways. The other family members are right in the idea to change Fox news into a reputable news source while they have such a larger audience in order to maintain them.
I agree that conservatives need a media outlet, but if you are anything but a fantatical conservative you will agree that Fox News is just plain crap when it comes to real journalism, they make up their own stories and site their own op-ed pieces as factual information, and they do it so well that other news agencies buy into it also, and pick up those same ridiculous stories.
srexley
"any thinking American can see that Fox News is a circus, not a news show"
and
"anything but a fantatical conservative you will agree that Fox News is just plain crap"
Both of these comments show you to be a biased idealogue that seems to be a bit hateful of those with different views. Neither statement is remotely true, yet you put them forth as fact. The idea that "fantatical conservatives" would generate the largest cable news audience is laughable. Not sure how you can take yourself seriously. I'm pretty sure that very few people (save other biased idealogues) do.
AlanD2
Your comments show a denial of reality, srexley.
Or the lack of an ability to think critically.
Or an overdose of Fox News.
FatFreddy
I know many Right-leaning hardcore Libertarians who KNOW Fox is crap. The only decent commentator is Judge Napolitano. The only one at Fox News with a "conscience". A "real" Conservative. But if you watch this video, you'll see why neo-cons don't like him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNRSs6LsGeI
srexley
AlanD2 - "Your comments show a denial of reality, srexley. Or the lack of an ability to think critically. Or an overdose of Fox News."
I note that you show no examples to back this up. Just and exhibition of the same prejudicial nonsense that ftn4076 does.
Does this name calling and belittling those with different perspectives make you feel better? Superior?
It is hard to figure out what drives the disdain so many on the left feel for those with other views. It must be an inferiority complex or something.
AlanD2
You want examples, srexley? Are you too lazy to Google them yourself? There are literally hundreds on the web if you do. But here are two simple examples of Fox News lies.
After the assassination of "Tiller the Baby Killer", Bill O'Reilly claimed he had never called Dr. Tiller this. He lied.
Glenn Beck claimed that Obama hates whites without remembering that Obama's mother and grandmother - both of whom Obama loves - were white. Beck lied.
By the way, you're pretty good at name-calling yourself. Pots and kettles?
amanda07070
srexley - Where is your comment to diamondgirl, who stated above that:
"Fox NEWS is the best thing on TV"
Did you not consider that statement to be biased? Do you think it was simply an "opinion"? What is the difference between DG's statement and the statements by which you were so offended?
amanda07070
srexley - what is the difference between the name calling the conservatives spew in these posts and those of the liberals? Do you respond in kind to their comments?
I wonder if name calling and belittling those with different perspectives make the conservatives feel better? Or superior?
It is hard to figure out what drives the disdain so many on the right feel for those with other views. It must be an inferiority complex or something.
waldenasta
I wish them luck. It's hard not be worship mammon (as you obviously do ChanRobt) when you are born into that environment.
newswoman
All you people care about is how much money Faux News makes. What about integrity and honesty and truth in news reporting? That is what is missing under Ailes.
ydrittmann
George W. Bush. George H. W. Bush. Prescott Bush. Change company to country. I agree with you.
menckenlite
American people should be grateful to Rupert Murdoch for exposing the lies and deceptions of US journalists and politicians. Relatives of Freud lived on his prestige for many years. Edward Bernays, Freud's nephew created a PR empire to deceive Americans. Bernays' daughter still promotes her Freud connection in Cambridge the home of "Do you know who I am?"
NerdyMcNerdstein
Is Sigmund Freud held in the same regard by the right as Charles Darwin? I did not know this.
whipmawhopma
NerdyMcNerdstein - It's not uniform nor do I have any idea how widespread it is, but often enough psychology and psychiatry are viewed by the Christian Right as functioning like alternative religions (i.e. doctrine of demons sort of stuff. BullMoose would know.)
I have no idea how the Christian Left views it, but have an idea that they are not as much against it as the Christian Right can be.
Opinions vary...
http://christianpsych.org/
http://christianpsychologyresources.com/
http://www.northforest.org/SocialCulturalTopics/psychology.html
http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org/endofcp.html
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/psych.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/psy/idolatry/index.html
http://www.sntp.net/materialism_ideology.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070903094243.htm
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/532922/?sc=dwhr
It's not just a Christian only thing.
L Ron Hubbard hated psychology and psychiatry, or at least that's the impression I got from reading his Mission Earth science-fiction series. L Ron Hubbard was many things, but Christian wasn't one of them. Not sure if he was a rightwinger.
JohnSawyer
L. Ron Hubbard didn't like psychology for at least a couple reasons: he was diagnosed, before starting Scientology, as having some very distinct psychological issues--he hoped Scientology would replace actual psychology so that he could be pronounced sane by his own standards; and, related to this, he saw psychology as competition for his nascent "empire", a force always there that non-Scientologists could rely on to show them how nuts he was.
AlanD2
Fox News makes up lies about politicians and the MSM, menckenlite, as well as spreading the lies of other conservatives.
I see no need for anybody to be grateful for this.
diamondgirl
Alan you are spinning the lies of Gov Run Media again.... and we are not buying
amanda07070
Alan is spinning the "lies of Gov Run Media", DG??
Why have you not addressed the below fact I have put forth to you numerous times?
Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news. The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.
Are you a man or a mouse diamondgirl?
newswoman
What a snarky post, Mencken. What lies and deceptions of US journalists and politicians? Facts please.
FairNYC
This is hilarious, this should drive BillO nuts.
The thought of Murdoch's children taking over, ousting Ailes, Beck, O'Reilly, the 3 Faux & Friends Fools and Shannity. No more Malkin, Coulter and Ingraham contributions. How will Cavuto handle it.
It's going to be sweet.
crypto
Dream on DS, Fox will be there when the rest die. Reason, the information brought to light on this channel is most usually that covered up by the "Other" three. If you watch NBC you have to go to FOX to see if the story NBC tells is true. Yes my opinion is that FOX leans in the Republican column. But that only offsets the suckass being provided by NBC,CBS,and ABC, Any logical thinking person can see where it all comes down by Obamasan trashing FOX. They tell on his lying ass and he doesn't like it.
AlanD2
The information brought to light on Fox News is usually lies made up by Fox or by other conservatives.
Anybody expecting truthful reporting on Fox News is doomed to disappointment.
diamondgirl
Alan you are the liar not FOX
dcbooknurse
Here is how it works.
Fox 'News' reports on some innocent item.
Fox 'Friends' express outrage on the item.
O'Reilly, Beck, and Hannity express their outrage on the item.
Fox 'News' reports "There is increasing outrage expressed on this item."
Fox 'Friends', O'Reilly, Beck, and Hannity say "Why is Fox the only news outlet reporting on this outrage?"
Fox 'News' reports, "There is growing concern that this item is not being reported by the other news outlets."
The other news outlets feel obligated to report on the item, even though it is clearly nonsense.
Fox crows "Thank goodness we reported on this important story that the liberal media ignored."
And repeat ad nauseum.
JohnSawyer
The reason Fox News appears, to some people, to be reporting on things that few other media outlets will report on, is that many other media outlets, though often lame, usually won't report on the particular untruths that Fox News manufactures. That alone makes it LOOK like Fox News is reporting on issues that "other media are covering up".
fedupinthecity
where can we buy tickets? I CAN NOT WAIT for the day we hear" Hello America, this is my last show on Fox but I've started my own vlog from my basement so check out "Glenn's Opinions dont mean shit.com" sweet, sweet, very sweet...
Dolmance
Wow, Rupert made some children who possess some integrity. That's something I wouldn't have thought it possible, just based on genetics.
Maybe their mother screwed around and bred with someone besides Rupert. See, I always thought reptile genes were dominant.
Anyway, I am very surprised. That means there's a chance of the evil cloud that is Fox News might turn into something respectable after Roger and Rupert make their long awaited descent into Hell.
darsmind
I'm amazed at the word integrity being through around. Does anyone think Chris Matthews or Keith Oberman are journalists? Truth is truth- We have a "progressive" President and worthless congress who believe they can run your life better than you can. Bring back the constitution. I'd be fine with CNN and MSNBC if they would actually report the news. I love it if they'd do the work of real journalists but they've forgotten that.
Matthew Freud wants to see his name in print and I'm sure Rupert is smart enough to keep his cash cow away from someone as slimy as Freud. BTW- did I read that Fox News makes more profit than CNN, MSNBC and the three network news COMBINE? Fox makes the money because of viewership! No one cares what the other stations have to say.
FairNYC
The problem with Faux viewers is that they really only want to hear what they want to hear. Manufactured news that isn't really news at all. And the news that is legitimate is too hard for them to handle, thus this fantasy of a alleged "liberal media" comes into play.
Get over yourself and get out of the kool-aid fountain. Faux has viewership like the National Inquirer has readers and TMZ has hits. These viewers crave the sensationalistic delivery of the "news" that Murdoch is famous for and nothing more and nothing less.
srexley
"The problem with Faux viewers..."
There is no problem per se with people who watch Fox. The problem is with people like you that hate people who watch Fox News. I can't see how so many folks on the left can not recognize their own hyporcritical and hateful prejudice.
attilathehunny
say what you want about the National Enquirer...they broke the Breck Boy story and boy was it accurate! LOL
darsmind
"The problem with Faux viewers is that they really only want to hear what they want to hear."
I really don't want to hear that my government is being lead by socialist. Please tell me if that is wrong. I really don't want to hear that a President who PROMISED TRANSPARENCY is keeping the process behind closed doors. Is that wrong? Is Fox news wrong on that? Was Van Jones not a "self described" communist? Did Obama not give a GM to the unions? If you can point out a story they've been wrong on I'm good for calling for their heads. You might not like the way they tell the story of anyone who has a conservative thought but you can't accuse them of lying.
JohnSawyer
darsmind: I also want Obama to make good on his promise of transparency (he already has, in some areas, by signing into law some anti-secrecy regulations that most people haven't heard of), but did you call for transparency when Bush Jr. was in office?
amanda07070
AMEN.
amanda07070
Yes srexley, there IS a problem with people who watch Fox. Many people on this post have given very specific reasons that Fox lies and promotes sensationalism. To continue to call Fox a "news" organization has been proven to be idiocy simply by those numerous, specific reasons.
Why is the truth and proof of that truth "hypocritical and hateful prejudice"?
AlanD2
Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow are journalists with liberal biases who report truthfully and acknowledge their errors.
Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity are lying conservatives.
Quite a difference, I'd say.
srexley
"Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity are lying conservatives"
Funny that there are never examples with these kinds of charges. Of the 3 I only watch O'Reilly with any regularity. But when he makes mistakes he corrects them. When he shows the mistakes of others he has expamples and back up.
Many on the left are content to just call names. As you are doing here.
Note to AlanD2. It is easy to make charges against those you disagree with. But if you don't back it up, you just look like a spiteful fool.
AlanD2
srexley: Please feel free to show that O'Reilly doesn't tell lies.
Unfortunately for you, there are lots of times that he does lie. For example, on the June 9, 2009, edition o The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly falsely claimed that it is "a lie" that he "called George Tiller 'Dr. Killer' while covering his murder last week." In fact, on his June 2, 2009, program, O'Reilly did refer to Tiller as "Dr. Killer."
Unfortunately for O'Reilly, all of his lies are permanently recorded for anybody who wants to track them down.
The advice you gave me in your note also applies to you, you know.
amanda07070
Really srexley? On The Daily Show some time ago, a clip was shown of Bill O'Reilly clearly stating that he "never told anyone to shut up". This statement was followed by not one, two or three absolute proofs that he had indeed told many, many of his guests to "SHUT UP", but literally DOZENS.
I've been aching to ask a Bill O'Reilly fan how they justify that. So, srexley, will you be the one?
diamondgirl
Matthews is a SAUL ALINSKI LOVER, here is the video of the Commies spewing their Love for Alinski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi3xcoo8LBE
Pupster
What are you going to do when Roger Ailes dies? If you take a good look at him, overweight, gouty, likely with heart and diabetic problems, he's not going to last for more than a few years. Both Rupert and Ailes don't have much left in the tank... while family is blood, and young, and liberal -- all of them, including the new wife (who's Chinese) and kids.
You should read the writing on the wall. As with many on the right, you seem to think only short-term, ignoring inconvenient facts that don't jibe with your philosophy, and not the longer term picture. You better hope Wendi Deng doesn't win in the fight as she will turn NewsCorp into a pro-Chinese apparatus. (Not that you seem to know about the family's voting stock at all.)
Samiil
"Bring back the constitution".
This is so funny. Most of the people who make statements like this are totally clueless about the meaning of what they spew. "Bring back the constitution" is a phrase they heard someone just as clueless as they say.
Not only that they could not explain "the Constitution" if it were written in crayons and super glued to their eye-balls.
Stop it.
darsmind
Samiil- I fully understand what the constitution means and I understand what the bill of rights means. So here's a recap- We, the individual are sovereign! Government is here to serve us not us serve it. The constitution does not grant us freedom, it acknowledges freedom from GOD!!! It is based on "Natural Law" and "common law" because a group of men who were very diverse came together for one purpose and created a document that has had no equal. We great because we are free, free to make our own decisions and that document was meant to "LIMIT" government. Government is out of control- both dems and repubs.
Yes I know the constitution and I now I am protected FROM the government because of it. But if you want a socialist government, no free speech and whatever job the government will give to you then just keep putting supporting people in office that it's a "LIVING" document. A foundation can't be moving or living- it's resolute and complete we only need to protect it. You might want to read it sometime it's what allows you to have these debates.
attilathehunny
well you can say what you wish about Fox but the ratings speak for themselves. Now I know all you liberals simply assume that means that the audience is uneducated, red neck, religious, etc etc etc. I find that so hilarious as an educated person, as so many of the postings on this site are blatantly and factually incorrect. (Fox is an evil cloud?) Bill O'Reilly has over 3 million viewers nightly with Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity following in the 2.5 m range. The rest of the networks simply try to get whatever viewers they can.
pjsoft
I am trying to follow your logic. O'Reilly, Hannity and Beck have viewers, some educated as you say you are and "uneducated, red neck, religious, etc,etc,etc." How exactly does that equate to evidence that Fox Network has integrity? A lot of people in those same catagories watch reality shows so does that make them quality shows?
diamondgirl
pjsoft here is what you left wing nuts are watching and believeing!
Where do you think you are living in Communist China?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi3xcoo8LBE
crypto
You're right on target Attilathehunny. And it really grinds the left to see viewers move over to FOX. FOX programs have exposed so much corruption in this administration it's no wonder they want Fox outta their hair.
rpopstar
"the ratings speak for themselves" and what do they say? fauxnews' most watched shows aren't news, they are opinion...track the numbers between 5pm and 11pm...they dip quite a bit between 6 and 8..the hours that faux runs their version of straight news...the halfhour network evening news shows all have substantially higher numbers...the three main reasons faux wins the ratings: they have the wingnuts all to themselves, they totally dominate the south, they have more viewers than headline, cnn and msnbc combined, and cnn's decision to not run opinion in primetime has them coming in fourth for half the evening...when a major news story [like the christmas night bombing attempt] breaks....cnn wins,
rpopstar
just to clarify: IN THE SOUTH faux has more viewers than headline, cnn and msnbc combined, outside the south, they duel with msnbc for [a distant] second place..
AlanD2
I see no indication that you are an educated person, attilathehunny.
Supporting Fox News is a strong indication to the contrary.
newswoman
Peole watch "Dancing with the Stars" and "American Idol", too, but that doesn't make them good shows. I watch Glenn Beck sometimes because he is comical and I want to see what he will say next, not because I agree with his rants.
FatFreddy
Bring back the Gong Show.
Dancing with the Gene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACpNVD5GMUw
ericlfranks
Actually, the ratings DON'T speak for themselves. Fox is the first to point out that over one-third of its viewership is liberal, which means over one in three people who watch it do so because they DON'T like it.
I'm one of those viewers.
crypto
Yeh but you go back eric. Why?? Because you want to know what's really going on. Lie and say it ain't so!!
AlanD2
Perhaps it's because Eric, like me, enjoys the humorous lies spouted on Fox.
diamondgirl
eric, this is what you left wing liberal like...MSNBC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi3xcoo8LBE
Beethy
I believe FOX has become a conservative outlet, not quite a news corporation. I don't watch it ( no matter how successful they are or have become). I am not interested in their internal feuds, but have noted their intensity.
ThinkAgain
lol They're attacking the one of the divisions that's really successful rather than those that are struggling?
Yup, that's liberal brilliance for you.
TallulahBankhead
Don't you mean Ailes would EAT Freud if he thought he could get away with it?
JohnSawyer
"Get in mah belly!"
TallulahBankhead
THANK YOU FOR MY LAUGH OF THE DAY.
southernyankee
How sad a family is torn apart by politics. Murdock puts Ailes above his blood is something to behold. But then again that is that good ole republican family value thing. If I were Ailes I wouldn't be counting on getting his hands of the family business just yet. After all Ailes isn't married to Murdock, is he? I will count on Wendi before Ailes. Don't ever get under a womans skin. I bet she knows exactly how to cover her family.
ruebenscott
Fox news has become more entertainment than news and THAT has made it profitable.I'm pleased to know there are family members who want to bring the company back good journalism
rbwfla
The Tea Party brought to by FOX NEWS!
FairNYC
Faux News is bought and paid for by Tea Party Express and the GOP for sure.
bob963
One can only hope that old Rupert Murdoch leaves this world soon so Roger Ailes can get his butt fired. Maybe the Murdoch kids will turn FOX News into a respectable News outlet and really be fair and balanced.
Thank you.
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