Isn't that something, Fox Noise recusing itself from coverage of all the 2010 governors' races?

by Ken

You have to wonder if those wonderful folks at Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, who drive themselves so tirelessly to turn the world into the shithole they see in their heads (or the shithole that is their heads), really thought this through when they decided to give $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, a gift that seems to have startled even Politico superhack Ben Smith:

The company's media outlets play politics more openly than most, but the huge contribution to a party committee is a new step toward an open identification between Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and the GOP. The company's highest-ranking Democratic executive, Peter Chernin, recently departed.

The Benster apparently received a frosty e-mail from NewsCorp:

UPDATE: News Corp. Spokesman Jack Horner emails, "News Corporation 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 giant check to the RGA dwarfs low four-figure checks from Fox's PAC to Democrats including Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer.

Obviously this means that NewsCorp "news" subsidiary Fox Noise won't be covering any gubernatorial races in this election cycle. I mean, how can they? At least not without preceding each such on-air piece with a disclaimer along the lines:

"NewsCorp, the parent company of Fox Noise, is a $1 million contributor to the Republican Governors Association."

(Of course they could perhaps soften this disclaimer with the disclosure that their primary consideration was the free RGA toaster the RGA gives you at the $1 million giving level, in addition to the free RGA totebag. They probably won't mention, though, that the toaster is made in Malaysia.)

Now, what's got me puzzled is why, if the NewsCorp grandees thought the governors' races were important enough to pour those million smackeroos into, why were they so willing to forego Fox Noise coverage of them? If I've got the number right, there are a whopping 37 gubernatorial contests this year, and among other considerations the governors elected will be presiding over the reapportionment that results from the 2010 census. You'd think the amount of propaganda the Fox Noisemakers would have dumped into those 37 races would be worth vastly more than that measly million.

DISCLAIMER: Let me say upfront that, stunned as I am by the size of this unabashedly political cash gift by the parent company of a putative newsgathering company, I really have no idea about the real-world limitations, if any, dictated by law, regulation, or custom. Especially now that the putative newsgathering companies are buried so deep in those behemoth-style megacorporations, I really don't imagine that, say, GE, which still owns an 80 percent share of Universal NBC, is a political-cash-giving virgin. But then, as noted above, Ben Smith sure didn't seem to think the NewsCorp news represented business as usual.


AFTERTHOUGHT: WHAT? YOU DON'T THINK FOX NOISE WILL
REFRAIN FROM PROPAGANDIZING THE GOVERNORS' RACES?

Really? You think so? Gosh, that never occurred to me.


AFTER-AFTERTHOUGHT: RE. THOSE FOUR-FIGURE
FOX PAC CHECKS TO REID, SCHUMER & OTHER DEMS

I mean, like, what about them? Which four figures are we talking about? ("Four figures" covers a range from $1000 to $9999, which is kind of a significant spread.) Did we all know about this? Are we all cool with this? And in Ben Smith's phrase "Democrats including Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer," who exactly are the unspecified other Dems included in the inclusion? How many? How much? I'm just wondering.

For starters, would Senators Reid and Schumer care to comment?

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AFTERTHOUGHT: Fox's Role In Developing And Pushing GOP Talking Points Is Worth Far More Than A Measly Million Dollars

-by Howie

Without a Republican in the White House, the organizing messages come from lots of disparate sources-- McConnell, Boehner, the RNC, ideological splinter groups, lobbyists, the Chamber of Commerce-- but it's been Fox and Hate Talk Radio hosts like Limbaugh who have the biggest say and it is their messages that get the biggest resonance. When politicians like Boehner and McConnell were backing away from the Tea Party, it was Fox that fueled it with millions of dollars in free promotion to the point where it has become a vital component of the GOP and, in many cases-- think of the wreckages of the candidacies of dozens of mainstream conservatives who were replaced by fringe sociopaths like Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Ken Buck, Marco Rubio and Paul LePage. Last night I read this in John Amato's and Dave Neiwert's new book, Over the Cliff:

Fox News’s role in driving these crowd sizes cannot be understated; without its open promotion of the Tea Parties, it’s unlikely the movement would have attracted more than a quarter of these crowds in a much smaller number of cities. And as you might expect, on the day of the protests, Fox’s coverage was full-throated.

Things started off swimmingly with Fox Business Network anchor Cody Willard reporting from a Tea Party in Boston. He told his interview subjects: “I’m on your side. I’m trying to take down the Fed.” Willard became even more excited a little later, exclaiming: “Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating the country? The fascism-- the definition of it is big business and government getting in bed together. That is what these people are fighting. We have about 700 people here. They are starting to rally!”

Glenn Beck’s event in front of the Alamo in San Antonio was more of the same, only on a bigger stage. His star guests were gunwielding rocker Ted Nugent, conservative actress Janine Turner, and libertarian comedian Penn Jillette. Beck also set aside time to interview a Houston man named Joe Horn, identified by a Fox News graphic as having “shot 2 illegals burglarizing home” while Beck lauded him for his heroic defense of American principles: “Joe, what kind of world are we living in that people don’t understandyouhavearighttolife,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness?” (In reality, Horn had shot in the back two unarmed men he caught burglarizing his neighbor’s home, after telling a 911 operator, “I’m going to kill them.”)