Fox News: Selling what sells!

A lot of conservatives have long been singing the praises of Fox News because it was the first of its kind. The first mainstream news, albeit cable, to not slant to the left in everything it does. Fox News has also provided some great champions of conservative causes like Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly. The straight forward news provided by Brit Hume is also refreshing because of that lack of apparent liberal bias you find in almost every other mainstream news program. I have been a Fox News fan for a long time because of these facts and because I knew it was a breath of fresh air from the very beginning. Now that I have prefaced this article with that tid bit of information I can start my rant.

Fox News does have its negatives. It tends to sensationalize the news (as do most mainstream news sources now) it also is very lax when it comes to keeping offensive material that many would consider “not family friendly” off of the air. Some conservatives are upset when they turn on programs they’ve come to enjoy such as the O’Reilly Factor or Hannity & Colmes and they are exposed to videos of half naked women because of a story dealing with a teacher having sex with a student, or college spring break stories, or mardi gras stories, or whatever the subject is. I think to understand why Fox News would do that even though it’s going after a more conservative minded audience has to do with their owner Rupert Murdoch.

Mr. Murdoch, a native Australian, is a very rich man. He’s made his money as a media mogul. He is the owner of the News Corporation which owns broadcast and print media throughout the world. Fox, Fox News, the New York Post, Direct TV, and various other national and international entities. The man is a business man who is concerned with the bottom line. He knows that sex sells and so he sells it.

Now the real reason I’m writing this is because of an article out today on Mr. Murdoch and his dealings in China. I want to pose this question to you: Is Rupert Murdoch a good man who brought us a news network, Fox News, that isn’t as liberal biased and stands up for conservative values more than other news entities? Is Rupert Murdoch a savvy business man who isn’t interested in anything but money? Is Rupert Murdoch a bad man who exploits groups of people just to feed his pocket book and should we be concerned? Read this story below and you tell me what you think…

BEIJING, China (NYTimes.com) — Many big companies have sought to break into the Chinese market over the past two decades, but few of them have been as ardent and unrelenting as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Murdoch has flattered Communist Party leaders and done business with their children. His Fox News network helped China’s leading state broadcaster develop a news Web site. He joined hands with the Communist Youth League, a power base in the ruling party, in a risky television venture, his China managers and advisers say.

Murdoch’s third wife, Wendi, is a mainland Chinese who once worked for his Hong Kong-based satellite broadcaster, Star TV. Her role in managing investments and honing elite connections in China has underscored uncertainties within the Murdoch family about how the family-controlled News Corporation will be run after Murdoch, 76, retires or dies.

Regulatory barriers and management missteps have thwarted Murdoch’s hopes of big profits in China. He has said his local business hit a “brick wall” after a bid to corral prime-time broadcasting rights fell apart in 2005, costing him tens of millions of dollars.

But as he seeks to buy Dow Jones, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, his track record in China has attracted attention less because of profits and losses than for what it shows about his management style.

Murdoch cooperates closely with China’s censors and state broadcasters, several people who worked for him in China say. He cultivates political ties that he hopes will insulate his business ventures from regulatory interference, these people say.

In speeches and interviews, Murdoch often supports the policies of Chinese leaders and attacks their critics. A group of China-based reporters for The Journal accused him in a letter to Dow Jones shareholders of “sacrificing journalistic integrity to satisfy personal and political aims,” a charge the News Corporation denies.

For the rest of the story click here.

So what does this tell you about the man? He’s obviously a business man interested in the bottom line. I also get the feeling that he exploits whoever and whatever to make money. He doesn’t seem to mind that he’s dealing with communists. He doesn’t seem to mind that he’s dealing with a government with one of the world’s worst human rights records. He doesn’t seem to mind it one bit as long as he’s lining his pocket book. I wonder if this guy has any stake in Al Jazeera? Hey, if it makes money why not right?

This is why I encourage friends and colleagues to not depend wholly on Fox News for their information. While they’ve done a fine job in breaking the trend by much of the mainstream media, I have my suspicions about their motives at times. I know some people are just saying “Andy they’re just out to make money, what’s wrong with that?” When you sacrifice principles be they journalistic, or just moral standards when it comes to content I think you have to be very wary. That’s not to say there’s any perfect news source out there, but I know a lot of people who watch Fox News and think it’s the only thing worth watching. I’m just writing this to encourage you to evaluate news and information with a grain of salt.