- Rupert Murdoch has claimed his Fox News channel is not
biased in favour of George Bush and that News Corporation, his global media
empire, is a "fair and balanced" company.
-
- Speaking at the company's annual general meeting in
Adelaide,
Mr Murdoch insisted Fox News' reporting was more balanced than that of
other US networks.
-
- "It's full of Democrats and Republicans, the others
only have Democrats. We don't take any position at all," Mr Murdoch
said in response to a question about Fox's impartiality.
-
- "We're not in the least bit biased, we're a fair
and balanced company."
-
- Mr Murdoch's comments will astonish critics of the
notoriously
right-wing television network, which was the subject of the controversial
US documentary, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism.
-
- The film, which accused Fox News of abandoning
traditional
reporting values and ushering in an era of partisan news coverage, has
become a cult classic, topping Amazon.com's list of bestselling
DVDs.
-
- It alleges presenters are encouraged to accentuate points
that might be helpful to the Bush administration, and includes a claim
from one former Fox contributor covering news from Iraq that he was ordered
to "keep it positive" and "emphasise all the good we're
doing".
-
- But Mr Murdoch admitted News Corp newspapers, which
include
the New York Post as well as the Times, the Sun and the News of the World,
had supported Mr Bush's foreign policy and said they would continue to
do so.
-
- "With our newspapers, we have indeed supported
Bush's
foreign policy and we remain that way," he said.
-
- Mr Murdoch gave a clue to his view of John Kerry, when
asked what would happen to the US economy if Mr Bush's Democratic
challenger
won the election.
-
- "I have no idea. He says he has plans but he won't
tell us what they are," Mr Murdoch replied.
-
- He said financial markets would probably respond more
favourably if Bush retained his presidency.
-
- "I think you'll get a lift to the market and you'll
get continuation of his tax reduction program, which will help, and
interest
rates will stay low, probably," Mr Murdoch said.
-
- Fox News was widely criticised for its cheerleading
during
last year's war in Iraq. Its star interviewer, Bill O'Reilly, told viewers
the US should go in and "splatter" the Iraqis, while US soldiers
were referred to as "heroes" and "liberators".
-
- Ofcom's predecessor, the Independent Television
Commission,
launched an inquiry into the channel amid allegations of bias.
-
- But it concluded the channel did not contravene its
regulations
on impartiality.
-
- MediaGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
-
- http://media.guardian.co.uk
- /site/story/0,14173,1336212,00.html
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