Rupert Murdoch to White House: Drop Dead

With its decision this week to once again ignore the White House and refuse to air a primetime press conference, Murdoch's Fox TV has made it quite clear that it's no longer going to perform any public service function whatsoever.

Despite the fact that Fox uses the public airwaves for free and banks tens of millions of dollars in ad revenues each year off those public airwaves, Fox, with a Democrat now in the White House, is walking away from even making token gestures toward fulfilling the public service mandate that all broadcasters (supposedly) agree to.

Honestly, what public service does Fox provide? It has no nightly or weekly news programs. And it's now out of the business of airing White House news events. (Fox entertainment execs have decided the events are not important enough.) It airs a poorly-rated Sunday morning talk show, and rounds up the usual talking heads on Election Night. That's it. That's its contribution to the public conversation in America.

Rupert Murdoch no longer even tries to hide his contempt for responsible broadcasting.