News Corp.'s $1 million Republican donation: Fair and balanced?

News Corp., the parent company of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, contributed $1 million to the Republican Governors Association this summer, the Bloomberg news service reported this week. The Democratic National Committee said the gift, which made the company controlled by Rupert Murdoch the GOP group's biggest corporate donor, rendered Fox's claim of "fair and balanced" news coverage "utterly meaningless." A News Corp. spokesman said the contribution has no impact on its reporting — it merely helps politicians who agree with the company's pro-business agenda. Is News Corp.'s GOP donation a sign of bias? (Watch Keith Olbermann scrutinize the News Corp. donation)

Fox News isn't even pretending to be impartial any more: This should eliminate any doubt that Fox News is anything but a publicity organ for the GOP, says Matt Gertz at Media Matters. The cable news channel has already demonstrated where it stands through its "extreme promotion of anti-government rallies," and exhortations to viewers to "call Congress and the White House to protest Democratic policies." But now that corporate HQ is paying to help elect Republicans, it's time to abandon the "fair and balanced" lie.

"Fox News' corporate parent gave Republican Governors Association $1 million"

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Fox is fair — unlike its critics: "The real story here is that Democrats are having a fit over the RGA donation," says Tim Graham at NewsBusters, even though, overall, the News Corp. political action committee gives as much to Democrats as Republicans. Murdoch held a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2006 (and another of his newspapers, the New York Post, endorsed her Senate re-election bid). The only reason Democrats find News Corp.'s donation "scandalous and outrageous" is that they're used to having every network and newspaper on their side.

"WaPo highlights Dem outrage at Fox donations to GOP, downplays reality of 50-50 contributions"

Murdoch had to know this wouldn't look good: It's true that Murdoch has made "accommodations" to Democratic candidates in the past, says Howard Kurtz in The Washington Post. But $1 million? That's in a different ballpark from News Corp.'s donations to anyone outside the Republican Party. Coming so soon after the White House, for months, refused to "make top officials available for interviews and assailed Fox as an arm of the Republican Party," Murdoch should hardly be surprised that his generosity to the GOP has "revived" the attacks on Fox News.

"The cash question: Murdoch, Fox and the GOP"