Murdoch defends US political donations - "Fair and Balanced"

Murdoch defends US political donations - "Fair and Balanced"
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010
Published: October 15 2010 17:51 | Last updated: October 15 2010 22:22
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/32337e66-d879-11df-8e05-00144feabdc0.html

Rupert Murdoch has declared his dissatisfaction with Barack Obama and the Democratic party, saying that two $1m donations by News Corp were intended to encourage change in Washington.

Pressed by a shareholder advocate about donations to the Republican Governors Association and the US Chamber of Commerce, Mr Murdoch told News Corp’s annual meeting in New York it was “in the interests of the country and all the shareholders and [. . .] prosperity that there be a fair amount of change in Washington”.

The donations before next month’s US midterm elections had “nothing to do with the editorial policies” of News Corp’s media properties, which include Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, he added.

Sir Rod Eddington, chairman of the audit committee, said that News Corp would consider greater disclosure of future donations.

Mr Murdoch said that his comment last week that the RGA donation had been driven by his friendship with John Kasich, a former Fox News host and Republican gubernatorial candidate in Ohio, had been only “a throwaway line”.

At a meeting where different shareholders voiced praise and criticism of Fox News and Glenn Beck, its most divisive host, Mr Murdoch said he did not agree with everything that was said on the “simply unstoppable” cable channel.

However, he strongly defended the news channel and Roger Ailes, its president. He said Matthew Freud, his son-in-law, “couldn’t be more wrong” when he said this year he was “ashamed and sickened by Mr Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard” of journalistic standards.

Asked if he would retire when he turns 80 in March, Mr Murdoch said: “When my health gives out I will get out of the way, but not before – unless the board decides to remove me.”

He added that he had no intention to retire “but I assure you if anything happened to me very adequate planning has been made.”

The succession story at News Corp, where Mr Murdoch’s sons sit on the board, is watched as closely as at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Challenged by one shareholder about why he needed an $8.1m salary last year when Warren Buffett took a $100,000 salary, he said: “I have a fraction of Mr Buffett’s wealth.”

Mr Murdoch reiterated News Corp’s argument that “hacking” of telephone voicemails at its News of the World had been confined to a sole journalist, and that the New York Times, which recently returned to the story, was “motivated” by its rivalry with News Corp’s titles.

However, he added that News Corp would take immediate action if new evidence came to light.