Rupert Murdoch's Next Target - The New York Times
By Logan Murphy Monday Aug 13, 2007 12:15pm
Via The Huffington Post:
If the Gray Lady didn't have enough problems battling industrywide woes, now she has Rupert Murdoch to worry about.
The media billionaire has made no secret of his desire to take aim at the New York Times once his News Corp. acquires Dow Jones & Co. and its flagship Wall Street Journal in a $5-billion deal expected to close this fall.
Murdoch said during an earnings conference call last week that he wanted the financial newspaper to have "more coverage of national, international and nonbusiness news . . . all to better compete with the New York Times and other national newspapers."
In private, Murdoch has been more blunt. Read more...
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Yeah, cause people buying a specialist financial newspaper really want a general right-wing fugue: Murdoch is a media genius. [/sarcasm]
Seriously, the man is retarded. If he didn't make his money pandering to the lowest common denominator and bribing politicians to give him access he wouldn't be anywhere.
Imagine, the "old gray lady," TOPLESS.
Down under cock up the ass of America.
I suggest those who like to read should pick up "The Fifth Estate" by Jeffrey Archer. It is the story of two media mogels battling each other for worldwide conquest of the media empire, one of whom is vicious and will stop at nothing to assuage his ego. Many have said, and Iwould agree, tht it is the battle of Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner. (It was written before Turner retired.) an excellent read. Those knowledgable in the subject of the media will particularly enjoy it.
Duncan @ 1:
Sure he's retarded - retarded LIKE A FOX!
(boooooooooo!)
.
I see Murdoch thinks he owns that top hat in his game of Monopolizing news agencies.
.
That's what the New York Times needs.. to be turned into another supermarket tabloid for parasites who think their doing the world a favor.
fucking whorporate laissez-faire capitalists. People like Murdoch are the reason we have lead paint on our children's toys.
Will Maureen O'Dowd be a page six girl or will she be out-and-out replaced by Michelle Malkin?
It's the same thing as a dictatorship (gee imagine that) nationalizing the news, but it's called "enterprise" in this "free" nation.
Remember those quite little things like anti-trust laws, laws to prohibit the concentration of media services...all those little niceties that help preserve democracy.
Hang on...
The article implies that Murdoch wants to compete directly with the NYTimes with the WSJ, not actually buy the NYTimes.
Freedom of the press has been bought to the tune of $5 billion and counting.
What's Murdoch's blood line?
http://home.texoma.net/~h2358/Hargo%20Shar-pei.jpg
The New York Times! The New York Times! Oh, no - not the "old grey lady"!
You mean, the same newspaper that has helped lie us into every single war we've waged for the past century-plus? You mean the same newspaper that gave us Judith Miller and WMDs? You mean THAT New York Times?
Also, please explain to me what the hell "All the news that's fit to print" means. "Fit" for who, and "fit" for what?
Pardon me if I don't bring out the Kleenex box and play my violin over this development.
Even if he is "competing" with NYT, he's doing so to weaken them further and buy them out.
Aren't there laws against media monopolies? Or did they all go the way of the dodo in these last six years?
Murdoch is drunk on power. The American peopel need to sober him up and get their news from everywhere EXCEPT Murdoch's evil empire.
who's that wrinkled evil looking fuck?
who cares, journalism's been dead for years now.
There will come a time when the meek shall inherent the earth..Sorry it isn't TODAY. JCB
Gee, Rupert Murdoch must be happy - he has so much money. He sure looks happy.
I think he has some kind of disease.
Will NOTHING satisfy this rapaciously evil, evil man?? I suppose he won't be satisfied until he can "take over de vorlt!!"
MAN, I wish someone would just cap that old bastard.
yes the NYT employed judy 'the pushover' miller. and yes they still employ michael 'the pentagon's beeyatch' gordon. and yes, they helped hype bush's lies before 911, but....
hmm, i seem to have forgotten where i was going with that.
Unless he has his own cash to do the deal, which he might, nobody is going to be generous with any lines of credit until this market settles down, and it might just settle down, down, down…
Don't worry kids, the Times has fact and common sense on it's side, how can a conservative Murdoch compete with that?
I almost spit soda out my nose on that one :)
An Average Joe @ 4:
No, it's based on Robert Maxwell. The other of course is Rupert Murdoch. Its not Archer's best effort and its a bit too similar to Kane and Abel. Still it is a great read and it does have some interesting insights into Murdoch (as a fictional character)
I wonder if TNYT is now rethinking their decision not to investigate or report on the bulge in bush's back during the debates, or their egregious indifference to the bogus whoppers of Judy-Judas Miller. Everything is connected, every little decision affects bigger decisions down the line for the movers and shakers and power brokers.
How's this for a strategy to compete with Murdoch? Tell the fucking truth to your readers!
I don't like sounding chauvanistic, but I hate the idea of so much of American media being owned by any one entity. When that entity is not American it is worse for our nation than 20 million illegal aliens ever could be.
Unfortunately, the illegal aliens have little or no voice. This lessens any impact they could have in America. Murdoch has entirely too much voice already.
I favor any law that would limit foreign ownership of American media.
John @ 24:
I'm sure boosh has often spit coke out of his nose.
Isn't there some kind of anti-monopoly statute that can be enforced?
Murdoch is not going to get the NYT. First of all, it would never get past federal regulators. This is about Murdoch and his victory lap. Since he's getting so much press right now, he's using it to embarrass the NYT management and point out that earnings are not great. The huff post is fun to read some times but they tend to report a lot of rumor and heresay.
How many of you people still pay for DirectTV or have a MySpace Page?
YOU ARE SUPPORTING MURDOCH ALREADY.
I don't have either and I avoid giving this nasty bastard ANY of my hard earned money.
If I can avoid WalMart; I can avoid Murdoch.
Come on Guys.... TV is not that good. I save THOUSANDS of dollars not buying it. Instead I have class A computer.
Marco @ 9:
I thought that was page 3 girls, unless due to largesse they had to continue one other breast on a second page.
What's wrong with all our news coming from one source?
At least the message will be consistent.
Our Country's founding fathers would not be relying on the reporting of the news from some crony profiteering inter-locking connected board of directors or CEO’s from the East India Trading Company, Britain or Austrailia.
Whats next?
Rupert Murdoch, Diebold and the CIA editing Wikipedia?
http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/08/wiki_tracker
Keep tracking those IP addresses of those who make Wikipedia changes.
And other Common Sense
would tell Americans with a brain to put a stop to sending U.S. tax dollars to the evangelical S&M youth camps where counselors drag a teenage girl from a truck.
http://maxblumenthal.com/archives/188
And Common Sense would tell Americans...
not to rely on voting guides from fundmentalist extremist delusional groups or cults that indoctrinate young children through fear and brainwashing tactics... The very same groups that have been telling poverty stricken people, for centuries, to prepare for the Rapture.
Doesn't he understand the importance of competition? Guess not.
The media in general are like the pusher man. They've had us hooked on their stuff for a long time and they liked that money we handed them when we needed a fix. Now we have a new "drug" and the pusher man is losing his customers. He's all pissy because he can see the writing on the wall and there isn't a hell of a lot he can do about it.
Rupert's pushing 80. The only thing the Times should be worried about is updating his obituary.
Being that the NYT long ago stopped doing journalism, it would be poetic justic for it to be acquired by this evil old man. Murdoch is a shit for brains who seems to be one of the few people around who fail to see that newpapers as propaganda outlets are a dying industry or that the newpapers are dying because they have embraced propagandizing.
pissed off patricia @ 34:
understanding and caring are two different beasts.
and the reptilian mind has no circuitry dedicated for "caring"
i'm sure he understands, he understands that he doesn't give 2 shits about anything but his man purse and its contents.
Let him have it. It's a piece of shit anyway.
Let him have ALL the freaking print media.
The internets/tubes are bringing more truthful
journalism that print media. Fuck him.
so how long before this fucker owns everything?
I can't wait to see the WSJ in-depth coverage of the Playboy mansion sexual misconduct case. Show me those charts! Oh yeaahhhhh....
Murdoch has to be stopped!
His dominance in print and TV is an infection that must not be tolerated. The Fox News Channel is the cornerstone of his empire and it is there that we need to focus. I posted a practical plan to sap Fox News of its power by denying it the steady stream of Democrats and progressives who have been appeasing the network with their appearances.
This essay contains extensive documentation to prove that appearing on Fox is not only pointless, it is overtly harmful to progressive causes.
personally, i agree that the NYT has fallen flat on its face as of late.
but, the idea that murdoch would control another news outlet is chilling to the nth degree. yes, the NYT has failed in many, many respects, but the thought that news corp would own 2 of the largest national newspapers (on top of the rest of the news corp empire) should send a chill down a penguin's spine.
i would rather see the NYT close up shop and disappear forever than have murdoch control it. i would rather there be no more newspapers, versus having newspapers that spew disinformation, lies and threats in step with govt/corporate mandates.
considering the telecommunications act 1996, i have NO TRUST in the clinton's ability to deal effectively with media consolidation and governmental favors, gifts and gice-aways to media giants.
This thread needs a clarification.
The article cited here is NOT reporting that Murdoch is after the NYT to ACQUIRE it. He is after it to BEAT it in the marketplace. Speculation is that he will engage in a price war for subscribers and newsstand sales, as well as a reduction in ad rates to steal NYT advertisers.
He wants to kill the NYT, not buy it.
Right wing propagandist delusionist David Brooks will be set for life. Bob Herbert and Maureen Dowd.....better start updating those resumes.
As a resident of NYC the Times is the only paper publication I read anymore. That will be the end of that if Murdoch gets his hands on the Times. From then on out I will be getting my news online and from the blogs 100% of the time. You will know the day Murdoch takes over the Times the day you pick it up and see Britney Spears on the entire front page or some other diversion to take your attention away from GOP failures, corruption and wars.
This rich Australian is after all of our newspapers and He thinks that American consumers have little control over demand.
Pretty soon there will only one view, his.
We should all stop buying them, stop reading them and stop referring to them.
He will have little cash flow and need to sell in order to keep running.
This should easily be acceptable to Conservative and Liberals because Rupert is not even an American!
We need a lot of Monopoly-busting, particularly the Media.
Mark @ News Corpse @ 42:
Excellent!
Keep it up, dirtbags. Before you know it we'll be importing our news, too.
Mark @ News Corpse @ 44:
It's weird and frustrating to see all of this argument based upon a false premise. Oh, well, some of the discusssion was valuable anyway.
Ever notice how most liberals with money look good and happy whereas conservatives with money like Cheney, Murdoch, Limbaugh, etc....all look like shit and are miserable as hell. Guess all that fear, hate, deceit and greed takes a toll on you after a while.
Only Murdoch is not American. So what does being Conservative mean to him?
America is his revenue, that's all.
I'm wondering if the ad revenue hit the WSJ took last month is an indication of things to come for the Murdock raping of the venerable paper.
gag... barf....
Herbert @ 52:
He became a citizen... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch#Moving_into_the_United_States
"Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the San Antonio Express-News. Soon afterwards, he founded Star, a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976, he purchased the New York Post. On September 4, 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen, to satisfy the legal requirement that only US citizens could own American television stations."
But you are right. He became a citizen for the most cynical of reasons-to make gobs of money and be the real power behind the throne.
can you guess how much the us government is going to funnel to him to get the paper?Billions! He's a pawn in this, willing to do what the gov wants him to do. To tell a bunch of lies. Start buying weapons people. Otherwise they are going to wipe you out with plague or keep you in prison barges. Bet me. 4 years more and boom. Instant slavery
You have noticed, haven't you, that the article doesn't say he's trying to buy the NYT, he's going after its readership, its base.
Wow can you people connect the dots, George bush is going for total dictatorship. Something is going to happen before the elections. He will claim Marshall Law, and stay inpower enslaving mankind... Murdoch is just a means to an end. When he has one paper for news and one for financial reasons he's going to make sure everyone is feeling fine until we are all in chains and who's going to stop them?
Murdoch=Molech?
ysbaddaden @ 59:
you never know, he's probably a Bohemian Grover.
With all of the other ugly stuff that will be part of Bushco's legacy, the stacking of the FCC with the slugs of the Corporate Fascists may well stand out as the final nail in the coffin of freedom.
Here's Nick Johnson on the subject of mergers and acquisitions. Nick's one of the last real consumer advocates to sit as an FCC Commissioner:
Nicholas Johnson: At the time of the Time-Warner merger, when company executives were asked why they were merging, they said that according to their calculations, it would not be long before there would be five firms that control all the media on Planet Earth, and that they intended to be one of them.
ItÆs not yet true that there are only five firms that control all the worldÆs media, but it is true that there are six firms that control over 90 percent of all the worldÆs music. The trend clearly is in that direction.
There is now not only no objection to people owning more and more newspapers or owning more and more broadcasting stations, there is also no objection to the merger between publishers of magazines and books, television networks, video cassette rental companies, Hollywood studios, and so forth.
Read that again, and it sounds even worse: 6 firms own the world's music already, and Time/Warner expects to be one of 5 that own the news. If Rupert actually buys the Times, it's pretty much all over. And if you think the web will remain a bastion of free expression, you haven't been listening to the pathetic drones we've elected to Congress.
Guess I'm finally going to get that NYT subscription ... god I hate Murdoch
He'll make his play for the Times before the 2008 election, because after a Democrat is elected, the FCC will change dramatically.
Damn, does this country need another Teddy Roosevelt or what? Gotta break up ATT and the media monsters created by the BushCo corporate pirates. All that's at stake is what's left of American democracy...
lucid fiction @ 60:
I never thunk of Murdoch as a fan of the New Bohemians.
Howsoever, Moloch was a Caananite God that had children passed through the flames to him. Some say they were cremated alive, some say it was just like a christening without the crispening. One of the most famous sites for the rite was called Gahenna, which ultimately under ancient Israel became a trash dump, and a place to cremate the criminal dead, and is the word we translate as hell (derived from the Viking god Loki's daughter Hel; the keeper of the dead).
He's one ugly ba$tard!!!!! Off with his head!!! cried the Red Queen
What a power hungary, totally arrogant A-hole. Murdoch taking control of the NYT would be an utter catastrophe. We don't need anymore media consolidation. It's sooo detrimental to democracy, but of course we all know conservatives don't really like democracy anyway. If Murdoch buys the NYT, I will NEVER buy that newspaper again as long as I live. People should really start boycotting these media conglomerates. I would strongly suggest that if Murdoch ever makes a serious bid for the NYT, those with subscriptions should threaten to cancel. We should all protest, and protest loudly. As it is, I barely trust the media anymore. That would just seal it.
Orwell's Illegitimate Son @ 15:
Blame the Titanic. If it wasn't for her sinking, the Times wouldn't have called it/become a more viable newspaper amid the massive crowd of publications in New York.
Did it ever occur to anyone that perhaps Murdoch is out to destroy the USA?
He is what I call in my red book a CABRON of the higest order......
Aren't there laws against this sort of monopoly? Or did the republicans change that? Probably...
Here in small-town Jackson, TN, there are several dozens of us who get the NYT home-delivered each morning because it keeps us better informed that the local Jackson Sun or the Memphis or Nashville papers. The NYT is sold in the local bookstores and Starbucks. The only place you can find a Wall Street Journal is in a college library.
The Times doesn't have a lot to fear from Murdoch. It's the WSJ that long ago became journalistically irrelevant. The Times isn't perfect by any means, but at least it tries to be a _news_ paper and not a screed for the filthy rich.
Ali @ 70:
They've worked to get rid of all conflict of interest limits of corporations and media (oh and government). They really are braindead scum about keeping this nation free.
According to the linked story Murdoch wants the Wall Street Journal to cover more "non-business news". (To attract the New York Times readers)
Why does he think readers pick up the Wall Street Journal for? To read about Brad'n'Angelina and Paris Hilton?
This has to be illegal, if not, it should be.
People should just stop reading his news media and he'd go broke, but of course, Republicans are too dumb to figure that out. They have to have their Hannity fix.
Ethan @ 71:
The problem is that to those in power, in politics and the media, Murdoch's agenda at the Wall Street Journal will be made known. The NYT won't have to employ people like Miller and Gordon anymore because they'll be writing op-eds for the WSJ, subtly shaping the political discourse of the country. (I do think it's a bit unfair to criticize the times for Gordon and Miller, they are at least trying to represent both sides of a subject. Their coverage in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq definitely could have been more thorough.) At the WSJ, however, people like Gordon and Miller won't be somewhat balanced out and checked- they'll have free reign to spread a conservative tilt.
It's really frightening to me that one man can have such an effect on the media of a nation. Essentially, anything he wanted to make an issue, whether the majority of Americans cared about it or not, he could promote through Fox News and his papers and make an issue. People wonder how the Republicans have been able to shape the issues in their favor over the years, wonder no longer, it's Murdoch.
This is beginning to sound like a media monopoly and are there racketeering laws against monopolies? If not, then it's time to create a law to prevent media monopolies such as the Murdock Media Empire.
Duncan @ 1:
You are spot on with the "lowest common denominator". Ruppert owns the trashiest newspapers in the UK and he is distributing his trash in this country.
He is looking old. It will be interesting to see what happens to his empire after he dies.
can we please have some ownership restrictions? Murdoch won't stop until every paper and magazine follows his soft core and war cheerleading formula
WTF...is this guy trying to control freedom of the press or what?
Gee I always thought the devil would... I don't know, look sexier somehow... more debenair at least... Maybe, more like Errol Flynn or something... Guess its turning out he looks more like an old hound dog, all folds and winkles... Or maybe he just looks like an economist.. Maybe Alan Greenspan with indigestion.... who knew!!! At least the part about being filthy rich is pretty much as expected.......
Oh, we're talking about Rupert Murdock huh... Well he is trying to buy up the whole friggin world ain't he.. That's pretty much the Devils motiff as I understand it.. You know, take over the world...etc, etc.....Heck if Murdock buys up all the real estate and going business concerns on the property, the souls sort of get thrown in for free......Sort of a worldwide buyer version of buy two get one free sort of thing.............JD
Hitler's Germany comes to mind. He owned prior to the holocaust every newspaper and censored them.
Murdoch is one of the members of the mob rule.
I'm sure the New York Times will continue to serve me well if Murdoch buys it. My parrot never reads it anyway even though I line his cage floor with new copies daily. I think it will still serve a useful role.
Murdock is butt ugly inside AND outside. I mean, how is it possible he's ALIVE?
How about a NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM on everything Murdock owns?
SINK ALL OF HIS PUBLICATIONS!!! We can do it, spread the word!
this man doesn't care about what the people want. he's gonna grab everything and MAKE people see his world view in every nook and crannie...
My late grandfather said, "Give me control of the newspapers and I'll have everyone in the US playing with yo-yos in a week." Gandpa, meet Mr. Murdoch. What color yo-yo would you like?
Mr. Murdoch needs to hurry. He is old. Time is running out, and he can't take it with him.
"Murdoch said during an earnings conference call last week that he wanted the financial newspaper to have “more coverage of national, international and nonbusiness news "
Ambiguous word, "coverage".
sulphurdunn @ 87:
He can hear the whooossshhh of Old Mr. Death's scythe right behind him.
Comment authored by: Tiny Tim
Poor Rupert. I mean, the dude's face is literally melting. Wrinkles? Yes. Creases? Sure. But melting? Must be a life's worth of lies slowly burning the flesh off his skull. Either that or he sat too close to his office space heater.
ysbaddaden @ 64:
sorry for the late post.
That was great. bout lost my beer on the screen. Keeper of the dead? that is what i think when i see Murdochs
photo. Sooo, fitting, that his ambition to try and own whatever media he can get his hands on, is dead itself.
Real truth will ALWAYS prevail.
PS.
Doesn't he almost look like Grumpy from the 7 drarfs?
That explains why a conservative like Mitt Romney has a huge amount of the Time in his stock portfolio. That guy really plays for keeps, eh?
Another reason not to take money from goons like Murdock cause he will be looking for the big pay day.
this is neither here nor there, politically speaking. in fact, I haven't even perused the comments yet, just the article. but I thought I'd point out for irony and humor purposes - homeboy's totally making what they call in today's hip hop circles, the classic "thizz" face.
He one ugly Mofo...
Are there any anti-trust laws prohibiting this? Will someone please stop this madman?
What easier way for the Republican right wing to control the media than to own it. Intimidation has its limits, but the purse rules.
Who is going to speak the truth once Murdoch owns all the major outlets. AP and reuters will tailor their output so even the smaller independents will have no access.
The idea that bloggers can fill the void is laughable - few if any have the resources to get the information they need, few if any are any more unbiased than Rupert.
The Fourth Estate is dying - Murdoch will finish the job.
This is what happens when all this success goes straight to your face. JCB