Profits First, Ideology Second?

Elizabeth Warren turned down an invitation to attend a Fox News town hallamp160 She did so quite publicly of course via Twitter writing that quotFox News is a hateforprofit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists it39s designed to turn us against each other risking life and death consequencesquotamp160 Her announcement came in the wake of a number of Democratic presidential candidates including Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg attending events hosted by the networkamp160 While some praised Warren for her decision Susan Page the Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today appearing on MSNBC39s Hardball with Chris Matthewsamp160took the more realpolitik view and argued that it was a calculated effort by Warren to stir up a Democratic primary base that is very antiFox Newsamp160 Warrenamp160was apparently evenamp160quotfundraising on that stance against Fox Newsquot later that same dayWhat the commentators failed to mention is that Warren like many other Democratic politicians has been no stranger to accepting contributionsamp160from either individuals or political action committees PACs associated with News Corp the parent company of Fox Newsamp160 For instance in the 2018 election cycle Warren took 3163 in contributions from folks associated with News Corpamp160 Is that a ton of moneyamp160 Perhaps not but it39s more than the 2500 Warren made a show of eschewing when she learned that it had come from Beverly Sackler the widow of Raymond Sackler the former head of Purdue Pharma a company that manufactures opioidsamp160 Granted the money in question with the News Corp markings did not come from Murdoch39s personal account but the point remainsamp160 Perhaps just as fundamentally if one is going to grandstand he or she should expect some scrutiny in returnThose associated with the major media companies though make some contributions that many of their viewers would probably find rather surprisingamp160 In the 2018 election cycle individuals and PACs associated with News Corp the company being widely criticized for pushing the entire world right gave more than twice as many contributions to Democrats as to Republicansamp160 On the other side of the coin those affiliated with Comcast the parent company of NBCUniversal and therefore MSNBC contributed 12 more to Republicans than Democrats in the last election cycleamp160 The highest dollar recipient of News Corp PAC money in 2018 was none other than Minnesota Democratamp160Amy Klobuchar who was followed closely by Jerry Nadler with Mazie Hirono not far behind the latter two politicians being inveterate targets of conservative commentators39 ireThis is nothing unique to the Trump eraamp160 The story was basically the same for Comcast and News Corp then News Corporation in 2012 with Comcast also displaying a marked preference for quotcommittee members and representatives in states where it has a large cable footprintquotamp160 Over at the Walt Disney Company the owner of ABC there was almost identical support sent the way of both Republican and Democratic candidatesamp160 All the companies preferred to support incumbents on the whole while News Corp39s people sent again about twice as much money to Republicans over Democratsamp160 Is there really a chasm between the CSuites of these companies and the professed convictions of their anchorsamp160 And all the while is some conception of quotit39s the bottom line stupidquot making fools of those watching at homeCompanies hedging their bets politically is nothing new and it happens across industriesamp160 It39s much of the reason whyamp160Beto O39Rourke was second only to Ted Cruz in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry in 2018 or why Wall Street is hardly a stranger at playing both sidesamp160 But it seems odder when it comes to media given that in the minds of so many people media often takes an ideological turn particularly todayamp160 Perhaps some scales may have fallen from eyes when Les Moonves during his tenure as Chairman ofamp160CBS Corp was recorded at a Morgan Stanley conference saying that quotDonald Trump39s candidacy may not be good for America but it39s damn good for CBSquot before continuing to assert that quotI39ve never seen anything like this and this going to be a very good year for usamp160 Sorryamp160 It39s a terrible thing to sayamp160 But bring it on Donaldamp160 Keep goingquotSimilarly Rupert Murdoch39s preference particularly in his earlier days was clearly for the bottom lineamp160 After the death of his father Sir Keith Murdoch the younger Murdoch began corresponding with an editor who worked for his father Rohan Rivettamp160 His early letters to Rivett upon taking over his father39s paper encouraged the editor to focus on what sells rather than on quotadvocacy journalismquot amp160Murdoch in the words of biographeramp160William Shawcross wanted more quotcats up in trees in Adelaide and fewer uprisings in Ankaraquotamp160 This trend continued to mark much of Murdoch39s early careeramp160 Shawcross also suggests that quotMurdoch had always liked to be on the same side as the party in governmentquot which might explain say The Sun under Murdoch avidly endorsing the 1970 Labour candidate Harold Wilson with the headline quotWhy It Must Be Labourquot but then earnestly congratulating Edward Heath the conservative victor when election results rolled in the next dayamp160 Even in 2016 when an election victory by Donald Trump seemed far from certain Murdoch made a call to Clinton headquartersamp160suggesting a possible openness to siding with the Democratsamp160 Not to mention that Trump and Murdoch disagreed sharply on immigration interventionist foreign policy and free tradeMichael Steele got into hot water when he was still chair of the Republican National Committee for suggesting that Rush Limbaugh was more an entertainer than he was a true evangelist for conservative principles a view also shared by Michael Smerconishamp160 The assumption implicit here is that entertainers and media companies alike sometimes play up ideology for no other reason than because it sellsamp160 Rush Limbaugh39s 400 million eightyear contract signed in 2008 was larger than the entire 2013 sale price of The Washington Postamp160 Those who point to Rachel Maddow39s friendship and breakfasts with Roger Ailesamp160as evidence that the media is one monolithic club without any ideology at all go way too far and they forget that ideologically committed journalists and producers are a dime a dozenamp160 But these are often not the people making the calls on the business sideThe facts can39t be denied when it comes to looking at the campaign contributions and lobbying choices made by those at the large media companies Despite bashing Mazie Hirono on the air News Corp39s PACs are helping to pay her campaign bills and while Maddow and friends take issue with the Republicans on prime time Comcast39s PAC has been sending 115000 the way of the Republican National Committeeamp160 But as any businessperson knows it39s easier to fight city hall when you helped the current occupant get thereClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Profits First, Ideology Second?

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Erich J. Prince

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