Murdoch Watch…or not

Michael Hedges April 22, 2008

The Murdoch Watch rhythm has pitched up a few beats, now louder than car radios in a Paris traffic jam. Fortunately most of it is in America where we don’t have to hear it. A British columnist, however, is asking if not enough attention is paid to the dealings of Mr. Murdoch, The Elder.

Not without surprise, Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli is expected to announce his resignation, likely today (April 22), according to Time. His was the last major editorial promotion by the feckless Bancroft family before they took Mr. Murdoch’s billions to the nearest Lamborghini dealership. Naturally, the Bancroft’s secured a promise from Mr. Murdoch not to dump any top editors without consultation. But who can hear the cellphone buzzing over the roar of that Diablo’s engine?

Brauchli fell victim, according to the Time article, which quoted unnamed WSJ sources, to Mr. Murdoch’s “new vision.” The redesigned WSJ hit the streets yesterday (April 21). The world yawned.

With his own “new vision”, vastly different, Tribune Company’s new chairman Sam Zell seems poised to sell New York City magazine Newsday to Mr. Murdoch The Elder.  In New York City News Corp already owns two television stations, the New York Post (which ftm colleague Phil Stone excoriates here) and, of course, the Wall Street Journal. Zell needs the cash and Newsday is an unnecessary complication to bringing the Tribune Company out of the last century. And nobody expects US regulators to give Mr. Murdoch any trouble.

A source told Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal that only “clean up work” remained.

Guardian columnist George Monbiot asked one of those questions everybody knows the answer to. Why, he asks, do media people rarely allow (or utter within hearing) a critical word about Mr. Murdoch?  (read George Monbiot’s column here)

Monbiot had been looking for reviews of Bruce Dover’s book Rupert's Adventures in China. It’s about Dover’s adventure as a News Corp vice president in China, a timely subject as media watchers grouse about press freedom, or lack there of, in the Middle Kingdom. Mr. Murdoch The Elder, according to Dover, has played toady-toes with the Chinese regime since the early 1990’s and dropped about US$1 billion in the process. Reviews or even mentions of the book are few and far between. (read brief mention of Dover’s book here)

"When you see the reaction…to the book," Dover told Monbiot for the column, "one can better understand why in some respects the Chinese so admired Murdoch - an emperor who inspires fear in his followers need not raise a hand against them."

News Corp continues to escape the watchful eye as US journalists ignore a civil lawsuit coming to trial in California. A News Corp owned Israeli technology company NDS Group is facing judge and jury over claims by satellite company EchoStar that NDS hired hackers to sabotage News Corps rivals. It’s a great industrial espionage story with German and Bulgarian hackers, spies and lots of money. NDS Group recently sold its encryption system to German pay-TV channel Premiere, which will soon have Mr. Murdoch The Elder in its board room.

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