Free Republic

... [U]nder Mr. Murdoch’s leadership, the [WSJ] is no longer anchored by those deep dives into the boardrooms of American business with quaint stippled portraits, opting instead for a much broader template of breaking general interest news articles with a particular interest in politics and big splashy photos. [...] But there are growing indications that Mr. Murdoch, a lifelong conservative, doesn’t just want to cover politics, he wants to play them as well. A little over a year ago, Robert Thomson, The Journal’s top editor, picked Gerard Baker, a columnist for The Times of London, as his deputy managing editor....

After a summer of silence, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch has piped up to say that his newest Fox News star, Glenn Beck, "was right" when he called President Obama a racist in July even if he was wrong to say it. "On the racist thing, that caused a [unintelligible]," Murdoch said in an interview with his Sky News Australia over the weekend, referring to Beck's claim which seems to have been prompted by Obama's reaction to the controversial arrest of African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates. "But [Obama] did make a very racist comment about blacks and whites and so...

Sky News is now streaming its TV channel for free over its website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite Rupert Murdoch's mumblings about charging for all online content, the site is free - for now at least. Murdoch said yesterday that it was time for aggregators and search engines must start paying for news content - a slight refinement on previous announcements which seemed to want to get some money out of the readers.

I’m going to say three words to you and I want you to think hard before responding: O’Reilly. Olbermann. Co-anchors. No, I kid. Given the chairman’s opinion of Kayo, the only thing he’d be anchoring is the 2 a.m. edition of SportsCenter if ESPN took him back. Which, let’s face it, they wouldn’t. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NWSA.O) and John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp (LINTA.O) are interested in NBC Universal, according to a report by CNBC, citing sources. Cable company Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) has been widely reported to be in talks with NBC Universal parent General Electric Co (GE.N) to...

News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch has launched a stinging attack on Google and other online entities for stealing content. At a conference of World Media Executives at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Rupert Murdoch has taken aim at search engines like Google as internet parasites. According to the News Corporation Chairman, the so-called "aggregators" on the internet steal content from traditional media organisations and, he says, the time has come for them to pay for it. "If we do not take advantage of the current movement toward paid-for content, it will be the content creators - the people in...

The Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by Dow Jones publishing group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, reported over the weekend that the company was in discussions with potential buyers of the business. Goldman Sachs has been appointed to lead the talks. News Corp bought Dow Jones for $5.7bn (£3.45bn) in 2007 but was recently forced to write down $2.8bn of the purchase price after its publishing operations were hit by the fall in advertising. Potential buyers of the indices business have been named as Bloomberg, FTSE – which is a joint venture between the Financial Times Group...

MURDOCH: 'WE PLAN TO CHARGE FOR ALL OF OUR NEWS SITES'... 'WE WILL START CHARGING FOR FOXNEWS.COM'... Q. WILL YOU SHUT DOWN ANY OF YOUR NEWSPAPERS?' A. 'ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE... BUT NO PLANS FOR IT' FOXNEWS PROFIT 50% HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR... VERY HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR NEW JAMES CAMERON FILM...

Vivian Schiller, now CEO of National Public Radio in the US, said in an interview with Newsweek last week that talk of charging for news online is "mass delusion". She should know. Schiller was head of nytimes.com when it charged and then stopped charging for its content. If you can charge for your content - if you are the FT or the Wall Street Journal, the only brands that do it successfully - and your readers can make money on your content, and pass the cost of it onto their employers I have nothing against it. But for most, pinning...

This is big. ... Not because its Rupert Murdoch who said it (the chairman of News Corp) Its big because it could set the trend for others to follow. Murdoch says he plans to charge for all the online content. (Would I be blogging on this if I had to pay for it? Would you be reading this if you had to pay for it? ) So when will he start charging?

see link

Media giant News Corporation Ltd intends to charge for all its news websites in a bid to lift revenues, as the transition towards online media permanently changes the advertising landscape. News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch told analysts in a conference call after News Corp released its full year results that the traditional newspaper business model has to change. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive methods of distribution," Mr Murdoch said. "But it has not made content free. Accordingly we intend to charge for all our news websites," he said. He said News Corp would use the Wall...

Truce Reached in Cable News Feud Keith Olbermann of MSNBC Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel regularly trade swipes at each other on their cable news shows. By BRIAN STELTER July 31, 2009 It was a media cage fight, televised every weeknight at 8 p.m. But the match was halted when the blood started to spray executives in the high-priced seats. For years Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had savaged his prime-time nemesis Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel and accused Fox of journalistic malpractice almost nightly. Mr. O’Reilly in turn criticized Mr. Olbermann’s bosses and led an exceptional...

The sale of The Weekly Standard should put paid to any lingering illusion that the neoconservative empire was anything but a Potemkin Village. Whatever happens from this point on, the news of Rupert Murdoch’s repudiation of his ugliest stepchild is as refreshing a pick-me-up as the morning’s second Bloody Mary I am enjoying, anchored off Spetzai on the Bushido with Chronicles’ incomparably hospitable columnist, Taki. The only thing needed to make my happiness complete would be for the boys of National Review to take the hint and sell out for oh, maybe $2 million. Allegedly, Murdoch sold the magazine for...

Fox News is on a tear. Its ratings have surged and its competitors have declined, not just in share, but in total numbers. When Fox News began in 1996 it was given little chance for success. But by 2001 it began surpassing CNN the only other all news cable channel at the time. The hunger for better balance, so lacking at CNN, vaulted FNC into the lead. It now has prime time demo ratings larger than its two competitors combined. From Media Life Magazine: "When Barack Obama arrived at the White House six months ago, there was a lot of...

The world's most powerful media moguls are "very bearish" on the economy, but they don't seem to be blaming President Obama for the tough times, Rupert Murdoch says. Apart from Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, both owned by News Corp., the media "remains very supportive of him, perhaps not of all of his policies," Murdoch told Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network. Speaking during an interview with Varney on Thursday at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, the News Corp. chairman and CEO also criticized the stimulus bill that was supposed to have juiced the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – MySpace, the social network owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said it will cut 30 percent of its staff to lower costs as it struggles to stay popular in the face of rising competition. MySpace will be left with about 1,000 employees, it said in a statement released on Tuesday. The company declined to say how many people work at the service, but the percentage suggests that about 400 people will lose their jobs. The cuts, which were presaged in several blog reports in recent weeks, are the biggest move so far by new management at...

"Video: Some things need to be defended..." Krauthammer: "....I've long thought that the Bush/Cheney administration will be treated by history like the Truman administration. But the one aspect of that I got wrong is the timing; whereas it took 50 years for Truman's work and genius to be acknowledged, we are only 5 months into the new era, and with every day and every action by this administration of adopting the wise policies that Bush/Cheney administration had adopted, even as it denounces them at the same time, the vindication of the last administration is strongly under way, and that in...

News Corp plans to introduce micro-payments for individual articles and premium subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal's website this year in a milestone in the news industry's race to find better online business models. "A sophisticated micropayments service" will launch this autumn, Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Journal, told the Financial Times. The move will position the Journal as the first big newspaper title to adopt a model many are studying cautiously as they seek to reduce dependence on plunging advertising revenues. It comes as John Kerry, the Massachusetts senator leading congressional hearings on...

Operating income at News Corp.'s cable networks, meanwhile, was up 30 percent, with revenue up 11 percent. And although it won't break out specific figures for individual networks, the company said its biggest gainer was the home of Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. "This past quarter, Fox News achieved its highest operating profit ever, nearly doubling its profits from the previous year's quarter," Murdoch, News Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, said in a conference call. "It's a stunning achievement for a 13-year-old network."

WASHINGTON (AFP) – As US newspapers shrivel up and die, an unlikely figure is emerging as their potential savior: News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch. The much-villified Australian-born media tycoon is preparing to battle against the practice many hold largely responsible for newspapers' current plight -- the "original sin" of giving away their content for free online. The 78-year-old Murdoch announced this week that the days of free are over. He said he planned to begin charging readers of the websites of News Corp. newspapers "within the next 12 months," testing the scheme "first on some of our stronger ones. "We...

Poll upert Murdoch expects to start charging for access to News Corporation's newspaper websites within a year. 'The current days of the internet will soon be over,' he said, as the media strived to fix a 'malfunctioning' business model. Would you pay to read papers online?

This was a few short months ago... MURDOCH WARNS: NATIONS WILL BE REDEFINED, FUTURES ALTERED Tue Feb 24 2009 08:36:39 ET Media baron Rupert Murdoch issued an urgent internal communication late Monday, warning his staff: "We are in the midst of a phase of history in which nations will be redefined and their futures fundamentally altered." MORE The dramatic call comes as markets continue their plunge and the future of media becomes increasingly muddled. "Many people will be under extreme pressure and many companies mortally wounded," Murdoch declared. "Our competitors will be sorely tempted to take the easy beat, to...

Thanks to Rupert Murdoch, Bill Ayers’ “comrade” and Weather Underground terrorist Mark Rudd is on a book tour, trying to cash in on his bloody record. Murdoch’s Harper Collins published Rudd’s book, Underground: My Life With SDS and the Weathermen. This week he is in the San Francisco/Oakland, California area. According to Rudd’s website, he has other speeches and lectures scheduled around the country. [snip] On Thursday [today, April 23, 2009!], we are holding a news conference in San Francisco to demand justice in the case of the bombing murder of Sgt. McDonnell. If you are in the San Francisco...

No one can accuse News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch of being an economic cheerleader, despite his net worth of $4 billion according to Forbes magazine. In an interview with Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network anchor Neil Cavuto on April 2, Murdoch was not hopeful the financial markets would recover their value within the next 12 months. "Look, I'm not a market expert," Murdoch said. "I would say this is a bear market rally still. We're not going back to the old levels in any hurry at all. That's two or three years away." ..more (w/video)..

Over the years, some of my wildest critics seem to have assumed I am Jewish. At the same time, some of my closest friends wish I were. So let me set the record straight: I live in New York. I have a wife who craves Chinese food. And people I trust tell me I practically invented the word "chutzpah." Ladies and gentleman, I am humbled by the honor you have given me - because this award speaks more to your good work than it does to mine. The American Jewish Committee started in response to the persecution of Jews in...

Over the years, some of my wildest critics seem to have assumed I am Jewish. At the same time, some of my closest friends wish I were. So let me set the record straight: I live in New York. I have a wife who craves Chinese food. And people I trust tell me I practically invented the word "chutzpah."

I have it on impeccable authority but cannot disclose my source within the Fox Network. Rest assured that Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdock are sitting on the Obama eligibility/birth certficate story. Everyone else wants to jump all over it, including Sean Hannity. I say storm the Ailes/Murdock fax machine/email servers--let them know (politely) we need this issue thoroughly. Maybe someone has the email/fax numbers?

<< Back to MediaPost MediaDailyNews Murdoch Eyes 'NYT,' 'LA Times' Joan Voight, Feb 26, 2009 09:30 AM Rupert Murdoch's counterintuitive quest to invest in print media helped drive away longtime lieutenant Peter Chernin. News Corp. insiders say Murdoch's love of print media is so fervent that he's privately been talking about a play for The New York Times, and possibly the Los Angeles Times, which could make easier prey. As Wall Streeters digested the news of Chernin's exit, they identified two things that make a deal for The New York Times a remote but intriguing possibility: The dire state...

A third apology may not be enough. Chimpgate continues, though Rupert Murdoch himself has offered a mea culpa..

The Rev. Al Sharpton was still not satisfied Tuesday after New York Post owner Rupert Murdoch issued an unprecedented personal apology over a controversial cartoon that was branded racist. Standing on the steps of City Hall, flanked by several City Council members and civil rights leaders, Sharpton continued his calls for a boycott over the illustration, which critics say compared President Obama to a chimpanzee. He also demanded that the billionaire businessman explain how he will ensure that a similar gaffe will not occur in the future. [Snip] Sharpton called on Murdoch to come up with a plan for...

Rupert Murdoch's counterintuitive quest to invest in print media helped drive away longtime lieutenant Peter Chernin. And now that Chernin can't intercede, does Murdoch want to follow News Corp.'s $5 billion buyout of Dow Jones by gobbling up the struggling New York Times Co.? The answer appears to be yes, as impossible as present economic conditions make it for most deals of any kind to get done. What's more, incredulous News Corp. insiders say Murdoch's love of print media is so fervent that he's also been talking about a play for the Los Angeles Times, which could make easier prey...

Earlier this morning, CNN had a link to my blog - specifically to an article I "penned" called "Race Baiter On The Attack." It was part of their "From The Blogs" section, underneath an article about Rupert Murdoch's apology for publishing a cartoon deemed "offensive" by race-baiters and victimized societal dinosaurs.My "inbox" and I may never be on speaking terms again. After the ruckus of what should've been less than a non-story, it indeed, may be time to resurrect and redefine the term "yellow journalism." Fear, intimidation, apology and appeasement are becoming the cornerstones of today's free press. The mainstream...

Media baron Rupert Murdoch issued an urgent internal communication late Monday, warning his staff: "We are in the midst of a phase of history in which nations will be redefined and their futures fundamentally altered."

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday surrounded by almost 560 family and close friends at her home Cruden Farm. Among the guests were her son Rupert Murdoch, who flew in from New York, and two daughters, Anne Kantor and Janet Calvert-Jones. Dame Elisabeth's grandson Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah also attended Dame Elisabeth's birthday lunch at Cruden Farm in Langwarrin. Jose Carreras and principal artist with the Australian Opera Emma Matthews performed at the party. Their songs included Ave Maria, Core 'ngrato, Some Enchanted Evening and a favourite of Dame Elisabeth's, O Mio Babbino Caro. Guests tucked...

For those not out partying, Brit's describing his beginnings at FNC and how it all evolved. They're not perfect, but thank God for Fox News Channel and Brit. Hope he stays around.

From 24/7 Wall St - based upon background and financials, ten major companies predicted to go away in 2009. Number 6 on the list? The New York Times. h/t An email from Pundita: 24/7 Wall St. looked at some of the largest and most well-known companies, reviewed their SEC filings if they are public, analyst reports, and media observations about their businesses and picked ten that probably won’t be around at the end of next year. 6) The New York Times (NYT) has to repay $400 million in debt in the first half of 2009. It does not have the...

ABC has Gotcha Gibson. NBC has Williams. CBS has Couric. Fox has............ Nothing. There is no national broadcast coming from Fox news. This needs to change.

With newspapers cutting back and predictions of even worse times ahead, Rupert Murdoch said the profession may still have a bright future if it can shake free of reporters and editors who he said have forfeited the trust and loyalty of their readers. "My summary of the way some of the established media has responded to the internet is this: it's not newspapers that might become obsolete. It's some of the editors, reporters, and proprietors who are forgetting a newspaper's most precious asset: the bond with its readers," said Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp. He...

With newspapers cutting back and predictions of even worse times ahead, Rupert Murdoch said the profession may still have a bright future if it can shake free of reporters and editors who he said have forfeited the trust and loyalty of their readers. "My summary of the way some of the established media has responded to the internet is this: it's not newspapers that might become obsolete. It's some of the editors, reporters, and proprietors who are forgetting a newspaper's most precious asset: the bond with its readers," said Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp. He...

NEWS Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch has warned that Barack Obama could worsen the world financial crisis if he is elected US president next week and implements protectionist policies. In an interview with The Weekend Australian before delivering the first of six Boyer lectures on ABC radio tomorrow afternoon, Murdoch said the Democrats' policies would result in "a real setback for globalisation" if implemented. ...he did not know whether Senator Obama would implement all of the protectionist measures espoused by the party... With the US election five days away, Murdoch criticised Senator Obama's tax policies as "crazy", particularly his plan to...

ALASKA's trooper guys and polar bears may think Sarah Palin's as cold as a glacier, but she sure heats up a room. *snip* "It was Rupert and Bono who got Sarah Palin to come. Rupert made the call to Sarah's people, and then she met Bono earlier today." And it was Rupert who piloted Sarah around.

News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said he doesn't regret the New York Post endorsing John McCain, even as some say the Republican ticket is the weaker choice for voters concerned about the economy. "I am very worried," Murdoch said during an interview Friday with Fox Business Network. "I like Sen. Obama very much. I have met him. He is a very intelligent man. But his policy of anti-globalization, protectionism, is going to be -- and card checks -- are going to do two or three things. It's going to give us a lot of inflation. They're going to...

In a live interview on Your World with Neil Cavuto on FOXNews, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. (Wallstreet Journal, New York Post) said that Obama's policies are naive and outdated as they applied to the state of the U.S. economy of the 1960s. Murdoch stated that if allowed to unfold, Obama's economic policies would prevent job creation in America, shrink the American economy, and slow many economies around the world.

LONDON -- Rupert Murdoch is considering an acquisition of The New York Times , according to a report by Vanity Fair's Michael Wolff, who wrote a profile and interviewed the News Corp. chairman and chief executive. Wolff speaks of watching Murdoch "go through the numbers, plot out a merger with the Journal's backroom operations, and fantasize about the staff's quitting en masse as soon as he entered the sacred temple." The article doesn't directly quote Murdoch on his reported interest. There would be clear regulatory obstacles to a New York Times acquisition in addition to a likely reticence on the...

Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns The New York Post, and Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the real estate developer and owner of The Daily News, who for years have been bitter tabloid competitors, are considering the unthinkable: cooperation. Representatives of Mr. Zuckerman and Mr. Murdoch have been in discussions for several weeks to find ways to combine some business functions of The Daily News and The Post, according to people briefed on the matter. They spoke anonymously because the talks are at a sensitive stage and both sides had hoped they would remain confidential. Talks between the two papers began in...

We do know that Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch is already on the Obama bandwagon, having declared the candidate a “rock star” and a winner with a good university record. Murdoch’s New York Post endorsed Obama in the Democratic primaries, after Murdoch, who had been supporting Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, figured she was a loser.

The Associated Press Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell, two media figures who led major newspaper acquisitions in recent months, are among four new members joining the board of directors of The Associated Press, it was announced Monday at the news cooperative's annual meeting. In other results, four incumbent directors were re-elected to three-year terms. They are William Dean Singleton, who is vice chairman and chief executive officer of MediaNews Group and chairman of the AP board; Jon K. Rust, publisher of the Southeast Missourian and co-president of Rust Communications; Michael E. Reed, chief executive officer of GateHouse Media Inc.,...

The man portrayed by the left as evil incarnate is saying Barack Obama will win by a landslide in November. This isn't supported by the polls at this time, but with more than five months to go, anything can happen. We already know one Murdoch who's hosting overseas fundraisers for Obama, so it wouldn't be a shock if her father jumped on board.AUSTRALIAN expatriate Rupert Murdoch today predicted a Democratic landslide in the US presidential election against a gloomy economic backdrop over the next 18 months. Mr Murdoch has yet to endorse a US presidential candidate but considers Barack Obama...

Rupert Murdoch was interviewed by popular WSJ tech writer Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the All Things Digital Conference today. Here are highlights of their discussion with Murdoch: "# Talk turns to politics. Where are we politically, asks Kara. What’s you assessment of the current situation. I think you have two candidates, says Murdoch, and they both have their problems. I think you have a unique situation today, where public opinion of the government and politics is at an all-time low. It’s abysmal, he says. And then here comes this candidate who positions himself as above it all. Murdoch...

CARLSBAD, California (Reuters) - News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday predicted a Democratic landslide in the U.S. presidential election against a gloomy economic backdrop over the next 18 months. Murdoch has yet to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate but considers Barack Obama very promising, the media magnate said in an interview by two Wall Street Journal reporters at an annual conference for high-tech industry insiders. News Corp recently acquired ownership of the Journal and its parent company Dow Jones & Co. "You have got the Obama phenomenon. You have got, undoubtedly, a recession ... The average American is...