27 Questions for Rupert Murdoch

Among my decades-long conservative friends who tolerate my iconoclastic brand is Cliff Kincaid, indefatigable editor of Accuracy In Media. For the many millions of Americans who depend on Fox and Murdoch owned other media for “fair and balanced” news, Kincaid will attend today’s Annual Meeting of Murdoch’s News Corporation to ask the following 27 questions:

Questions for News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Fox News Executives at News Corporation Annual Meeting, October 20, 2006. Submitted by: Cliff Kincaid, Editor, Accuracy in Media.

1) New York magazine calls Rupert Murdoch a friend of Bill Clinton and Hillary. Rupert Murdoch told Time magazine that he is someone "reputed to be more conservative than I really am…" On what issues do you have liberal views?

2) Federal Election Commission records show an April 2006 contribution from Rupert Murdoch to Harold Ford Jr. in the Tennessee Senate race. Why are you supporting the liberal Democrat over the Republican in that race? (FEC records also show Rupert Murdoch contributions to Democratic Senators John Kerry, Charles Schumer, and Hillary Clinton, and Democratic Rep. Ed Markey.)

3) In an article titled "Is Murdoch Going Liberal?," the New Yorker magazine referred to "The News Corp. progressives," a group of liberals inside the company, which has "greater access to Murdoch on a daily basis" than conservatives. The magazine identified members of this "progressive" group as "Murdoch's deputy Peter Chernin; the two co-chairs of Fox's film division, Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos; and Gary Ginsberg, whom Murdoch refers to as his 'ambassador to the Clinton Administration.'" The magazine said that "Murdoch has told associates that it was Ginsberg who persuaded him to hold the fund-raiser for Hillary." What did Ginsberg, a former Assistant Counsel to President Clinton, say to convince you to hold the Hillary fundraiser?

4) Commenting on the News Corporation fundraiser for Hillary, Jeff Cohen asked, "What does Hillary want from Murdoch? Obviously, softer coverage from Fox and elsewhere." Cohen, a liberal, asked another question many conservatives were asking: "She certainly doesn't need his help getting funds; she raised $6 million in the first three months of 2006." When Senator Clinton made an appearance at a Fox News event celebrating the creation of the Fox News Sunday show, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace crowed that her presence "makes a statement about how we're regarded in top Democratic circles." So why is the company raising money for Senator Clinton?

5) Rupert Murdoch has often been described as a "right-wing media mogul." But the company does business with the Chinese Communists. You and your top lieutenant Peter Chernin, president of News Corporation, have been long-time supporters of Democratic Party politicians. In what areas of the company are your right-wing views reflected?

6) Rupert Murdoch has been critical of the anti-American slant of the foreign media. So why does BSkyB air Al-Jazeera? And why is it going to air Al-Jazeera International? (Please see background on Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazeera International at the end of this document).

7) Will any of News Corporation's other media properties, such as DirecTV, air Al-Jazeera International?)

8) Rupert Murdoch gave $500,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative. What is the purpose of this contribution? And will you balance that with a contribution to a group critical of the man-made global warming theory?

9) The New York Times reported that your son James is "steadfastly liberal" and that he "has supported Bill Clinton and Al Gore whose daughter he befriended at Harvard." How liberal is James Murdoch and what plans does he have for taking the company in a more leftward direction?

10) James Murdoch's BSkyB is bringing Al Gore's Current TV to Britain. James Murdoch is also the one who reportedly invited Al Gore to the News Corporation executive meeting at Pebble Beach, California, this summer. How close are they? And how liberal is James Murdoch?

11) James Murdoch wrote an article for the Guardian attacking the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute for dispensing "inaccurate propaganda" about the global warming issue. But many conservatives regard the theory of man-made global warming as a hoax. Has James Murdoch been persuaded by Al Gore to embrace it?

12) James Murdoch has criticized the Western media for focusing on China's human rights abuses. Observers say this was an effort to ingratiate the company with Chinese Communist leaders because of News Corporation's extensive business dealings with China. What is your view on that?

13) Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns a significant number of voting shares in the company and says he is prepared to raise his stake. He claims that he forced Fox News to eliminate on-air references to the Muslim role in the riots in France by speaking directly to News Corporation chairman Murdoch. Was such a call made and what did Alwaleed say?

14) A News Corporation subsidiary, HarperCollins, published Alwaleed's biography by Al-Jazeera International journalist Riz Khan. The book includes a DVD in which News Corporation chairman Murdoch praises Alwaleed and dismisses as "politics" the rejection of the Saudi's $10 million contribution to a 9/11 fund after he blamed U.S. Middle East policy for the terror attacks. Does chairman Murdoch believe U.S. policy was to blame for 9/11?

15) Fox News Channel has banned a pro-American ad, entitled "Defending Freedom," from the Move America Forward organization because it was critical of former President Clinton's handling of the terrorism problem. Why is Fox News protecting Bill Clinton?

16) Hugh Miles, author of a book on Al-Jazeera, reports that Fox News and other U.S. networks have content-sharing agreements with Al-Jazeera. How much does Fox pay to Al-Jazeera for the right to air its terrorist videos and statements?

17) Bill O'Reilly claims the FBI "came in and warned me and a few other people at Fox News that al Qaeda had us on a death list…" Where is the evidence for this claim?

18) Bill O'Reilly claims that TWA 800, which crashed off Long Island in 1996, could not have been shot down by missiles because he saw the plane explode on TV. But the incident was not televised. Why won't he correct this falsehood?

19) The Fox News special, "The Heat is On: The Case of Global Warming," which aired on November 13, 2005, was criticized by conservatives as completely one-sided. It featured liberal activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as a special correspondent. Why did Fox News violate its stated policy of being fair and balanced?

20) BSkyB carries Channel 4 in Britain, which aired "Death of a President," about the assassination of President Bush. The film was widely criticized for being not only tasteless and irresponsible but as incitement of violence against the President. Why did BSkyB air the film?

21) Bill O'Reilly claimed on his show that Americans committed a massacre in World War II at Malmedy, a city in Belgium. But O'Reilly was wrong. The atrocity involved German troops killing Americans. Why won't he correct the record?

22) News Corporation hired the Glover Park Group, a public relations firm run by friends of Bill and Hillary Clinton, to block changes in the TV ratings system. Was this part of News Corporation's move to the left?

23) Bill O'Reilly has acknowledged on the air that Fox News received a set of the controversial emails sent by former Rep. Mark Foley to a 16-year-old male former congressional page but didn't do a story about them. Why?

24) The October 7 Fox News Watch program did a segment on how some news organizations failed to do stories about the Foley email messages, but did not mention that Fox News was one of those news organizations. How do you explain this omission?

25) Bill O'Reilly called himself a big mouth whose career was threatened by his sexual harassment scandal. How much did the settlement of the lawsuit cost the company?

26) Americans for Truth, a group headed by Peter LaBarbera, has asked Fox News Channel to be "fair and balanced" by giving $10,000 to a conservative group to match its donation to a homosexual journalists' organization whose leader recently compared pro-family critics of homosexuality to "white supremacists." The organization is the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. Fox News was listed as a "Feature Level" ($10,000) sponsor of the group's 2006 convention. Will Fox News balance that with a contribution to a conservative group?

27) Fox News anchor Shepard Smith gave an interview to Playboy magazine and attacked the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Do you approve of Fox News anchors giving interviews to pornographic magazines and venting their personal views?

BACKGROUND ON AL-JAZEERA: The Qatar-funded Al-Jazeera acts in support of global terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. Al-Jazeera International, the English-language version of Al-Jazeera, is currently negotiating carriage on cable and satellite systems controlled by Western media organizations. AIM has produced the DVD, "Terror Television: The Rise of Al-Jazeera and the Hate America Media," noting evidence that: - Al-Jazeera's first managing director, Mohammed Jassem al-Ali, was shown in a videotape captured after the liberation of Iraq taking orders from Uday Hussein.- Al-Jazeera's Kabul, Afghanistan, bureau chief, Tyseer Alouni, was charged, convicted and sentenced to prison in Spain for being an agent of al Qaeda, and was alleged to have links to members of a terror cell that planned the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America.- Al-Jazeera continues to pay Alouni's legal bills and defend him.- Al-Jazeera employee Sami al-Haj was captured in Afghanistan and is now in prison at Guantanamo Bay on terrorism charges.- Al-Jazeera was expelled from Iraq by its new democratic government.AIM also notes that: - Al-Jazeera has reported links to the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that gave rise to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. - Al-Jazeera may have inspired the British Muslims involved in the bombing plot targeting airliners flying to the U.S.- Al-Jazeera has been praised by the Islamic Army in Iraq, a terrorist group that includes former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, his intelligence service and former army officers.- Al-Jazeera promotes the so-called 9/11 "Truth" movement, which blames the U.S. Government for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.- Al-Jazeera has a content sharing agreement with the Telesur channel of anti-American Venezuelan ruler Hugo Chavez.