Media Matters for America

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

CONTACT

Jess Levin (202) 772-8162

Washington, DC - Today, Media Matters for America denounced Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, who recently declared that Glenn Beck was "right" when he called President Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."

Media Matters released a video of Murdoch's statements: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLe-x6bA8G4

"Rupert Murdoch's comment proves that Glenn Beck speaks for the highest level of Fox's leadership," said Eric Burns, President of Media Matters. "If Murdoch wants any hope of redeeming what little credibility his network has left, he should apologize immediately."

BACKGROUND

Murdoch's comments are simply the latest example of Fox News' emergence as a partisan political organization waging a campaign to destroy President Obama and the progressive agenda.

As Media Matters has noted, Fox News president Roger Ailes spent the better part of his career working as a Republican media consultant, during which time he became known for appealing to racial fears and biases for political gain. Under Ailes' leadership Fox News routinely employs these same tactics in its ongoing campaign to destroy the Obama administration and the progressive agenda. Examples include:

Hannity just can't "get over" his Rev. Wright obsession. Sean Hannity -- who claimed he "broke the story" about Obama's controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, during the 2008 campaign -- mentioned Wright on at least 45 different episodes of his Fox News show between Obama's inauguration and July 31.

O'Reilly tease: "[S]hould white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor?" Bill O'Reilly stated, "Next on the rundown: Should white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor? Later, far-left Hispanic group says if you oppose the judge, you could be racist" [The O'Reilly Factor, 7/13/09].

Rev. Peterson: Obama was elected "mostly by black racists and white guilty people." On Hannity, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson said, "I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people" [Hannity, 2/3/09].

Previously, Fox News' senior vice president of programming Bill Shine unconvincingly attempted to distance the 24/7 political operation from Beck's comments by claiming that they "represented his own views, not those of the Fox News Channel," adding that "as with all commentators in the cable news arena, he is given the freedom to express his opinions."

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Media Matters for America is a progressive research and information center dedicated to monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the media. For more information, visit www.mediamatters.org.

Murdoch Agrees With Beck: Obama Is a Racist